Christmas By the Sea - I Could Get on Board With That

TITLE: Christmas Secrets by the Sea (Seasons by the Sea #1)
AUTHOR: Jane Lovering
PUBLISHER: Farrago
PUBLISHING DATE: December 13, 2018

FROM GOODREADS: Sometimes you don’t get the Christmas presents you imagined…

Tansy Merriweather is down on her luck. She’s lost her business and her relationship, and instead of a glamorous London apartment, her home is now a campervan on a Dorset beach. And as if things couldn’t get any worse, a scruffy dog called Brian with a taste for sardines has adopted her as his owner.

When Tansy’s new-found friends at the cafe in the bay help her find a job as a location scout for a new TV show, things start looking up. However, she soon discovers that the show’s glamorous star, Davin O’Riordan, is as grouchy as he is handsome – and just as Brian starts forging a touching romance with Davin’s elegant whippet Seelie, Tansy begins to wonder exactly what Davin’s fans see in him.

As Christmas approaches, Tansy and Davin discover each other’s secrets, and a new bond begins to grow between them. But how will they cope with the storms headed their way – and can they save the cafe from closing?

MY THOUGHTS:  "Christmas Secrets by the Sea" is just the kind of book I like to read during the holiday season.  Christmas is present but it isn't  thrown in your face and there is a lot going on besides just cute romance.  In the beginning of the book, the reader is introduced to Tansy and a scraggly stray she eventually names Brian.  We know that Tansy is down on her luck, just recently losing her business, her home and her boyfriend.  She has chosen to park her caravan on Dorset Beach and wait out the holidays.  What she doesn't plan on is meeting new people and learning that sometimes you really can chose your own family.

There's lots to love about this book.  There is a wonderful small town feel and as Tansy discovers a new job scouting filming locations for a local production company, she meets many new, wonderful and nerve-racking individuals.  There is also a great puppy love story between Brian and a whippet named Seelie - talk about odd couples.  There is some romance thrown into this book so if that turns you off, then you won't want to give it a go.  But it's not over-the-top and it's actually a love-to-hate trope which I am finding I enjoy quite a bit.  And there are some pretty dark secrets which are exposed by the end and it only made me love Tansy and Davin even more.

I probably wouldn't pick a book like this up to read most of the year but it was a perfect fit for the holiday season.  And come on, with Brian and Seelie, you pretty much know it's going to be something I enjoy.  I'm curious about the rest of the series when it releases because if it focuses on some of the characters we've already met, I'm anxious to see where it's headed.

MY RATING: 4 PAWS