Book Review - Summer at Oyster Bay by Jenny Hale

Amazon UK

Title: Summer at Oyster Bay

Author: Jenny Hale

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Bookouture

Publication Date: 9th June 2016

Rating: 4.5 Stars

They say falling in love is easy. But what if you know it’ll break your heart?

For Emily Tate, returning to her charming childhood home Oyster Bay is like coming up for air after the fast pace of her city life. At the farm her grandfather built, surrounded by sister Rachel’s chatter, Gram’s buttermilk biscuits, and the soft, white sand, Emily is reminded of exactly who she is and what she holds most dear. 

When Emily starts work at elegant Water’s Edge Inn, Charles Peterson, the handsome new owner, asks for her help. He wants to expand and needs Emily to teach him the local ways, so he can convince the planning commission. Emily vows to make him fall in love with her hometown, just the way it is. 

At work, Charles is reserved and serious, yet once Emily has him kicking off his shoes in the sand and sailing across the glistening Chesapeake Bay, she sees another side to him, and their easy rapport feels like the start of something big. 

But when it becomes clear Charles’s plans for the inn involve bulldozing Oyster Bay, Emily is heartbroken. Will she lose her home and Charles all at once, or can she save Oyster Bay, and give true love a chance? 

Summer at Oyster Bay is the sort of book that will warm you on a cold winter's day, with its tender loving charm. From the first page I was drawn into Emily's story, and loved learning about her family and her love of her family home Oyster Bay. 

Emily is clearly a passionate person about her family and her family home, that her grandfather built. She is determined that persuade her new boss at Waters Edge Inn, Charles Peterson, that he doesn't need their land to expand the inn.  As they go up against each other, Emily tries to show Charles just what it is she loves about the place, and in doing so introduces him to small family life, and taking time out to just have fun. 

Emily's sister Rachel is also lovely, but its her daughter, 4 year old Clara that I really adored and she brought a spark to each scene she was in. Not to mention horse Eli who was adorable, and later in the book there is another animal who soon becomes part of the family too. 

This is such a loveable book, that I found myself thinking about when I wasn't reading it. It's full of  small town American hospitality, and such a sense of family. It is a relatively short book and one that really was fast and very pleasurable to read, and to those of your familiar with Jenny Hale's back catalogue, Libby from Love Me For Me also pops up during the book too. 

I love the Chesapeake Bay setting of this story, and really hope that the author will return to the town and setting again in the future, as it feels as though there is an affinity with the area. It's certainly a part of the United States, that I would be interested in visiting if I ever had the opportunity. 

Summer at Oyster Bay, is a slow burn romance, but it is so much more than that too, with some comedy, some incredibly touching moments and the whole book just gave me a really good feeling. 

Thanks so much to Netgalley and Bookouture for this review copy. This was my honest opinion.