Cady Webster is changing her life and moving from Denver to Magdalene, Maine. She has an underlying reason, but she is almost afraid to believe that it is a possibility. So she does it for herself anyway and finds the perfect place to renovate and live...the dilapidated lighthouse in Magdalene.

Coert Yeager is the Sheriff in town. And he also happens to be her first love. They share a checkered past that was left with broken hearts, betrayal, and pain. But it has been almost twenty years now and Coert has settled into this town, has a young daughter, but has been unable to ultimately commit to any of the women he has dated. He is not really welcoming her presence in his life either. He is angry and confrontational, but is feels loss, hurt, guilt, and betrayal. 

But there is a thin line between love and hate. Cady never got over him even though she had reason to upset. She is caring, kind, honest, and sweet. She never felt like she truly belonged, no matter how many people tried to love her. Her life changed drastically based on one decision and it was challenging. But it was her life and she came out in a good place. But she never could forget Coert. And his decisions caused just as much trouble, and the fact he is reactive and not a good listener did not help in the past or the present. He is a total KA alpha and honestly he is kind of a jerk early on. But I knew eventually we would get to his sweet, protective, caring side eventually.

It takes a while to learn about their pasts in flashbacks and all of their secrets. It also takes a long time for them to begin to actually communicate or share the truth with each other and even begin to face their past and as noted Coert really needed to be more open to listening). So it was a slow start between them avoiding, fighting, and flashbacks. But finally situations arise that force them to work together along with finally dealing with some of their issues, and things began moving.

Once they start figuring things out, it is like a light switches on and it is full speed ahead. They are "running to catch up" for time lost. But it is still an evolving process as they deal with past guilt, family issues, external drama, and try to rebuild what they lost. And there is also an underlying suspense and danger plot running through the story as well.

The town of Magdalene and the lighthouse shines through with vivid descriptions and interesting side characters. We catch up with the other couples Jake/Josie, Amelia/Mick, and Alyssa/Junior and kids from this series. We are introduced to Cady's large and quirky family, Coert's precocious daughter, Janie, and a sweet young man named Elijah.  I squeed with some fun cameos from another series! Yeah!

This is an epic (long) story of young love to second chance love. It's about reconnection with the "one" from the past, but as the people they grew to be in "the time between." But there is pain, heartbreak, betrayal, loss and guilt along the way. These two needed some communication help especially initially. But once everything is finally laid out there, they have a lot of time to make up for. And even though they have grown as individuals and matured, they still have some growing to do as a couple. And they were still coming to some self realizations as well. It's still not always easy or perfect, but it's real. 

The thing about KA books is that when I am done, I find that I am totally attached to the characters, the story, the town, and the journey. But due to the book length and long descriptions, I find myself reading steadily but the percentage read on my Kindle goes so slowly and it often frustrates me. It sometimes pulls me out of the story when it gets really descriptive over daily happenings or a location. And sometimes the same happened to me with the amount of sex scenes. And this one did feel like it took awhile to really get to the good stuff. 

But I enjoyed the book. It had an interesting premise and story. I enjoyed this series,  these couples, and Magdalene. But that is why I cannot give it a 5 even though it does truly feel like I just spent several days in Magdalene. I used to enjoy longer books especially by KA, but as I read more I find my patience wearing thinner and a need to get faster resolutions and feel like I am making progress as I read. But that is my personal habit, and I know many others love the long, ambling, descriptive KA style. But some things that  KA has always done well are alpha males, strong heroines and swoony epilogues.  I will admit that I closed the book with a big smile on my face and a happy sigh. 

I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review. 

Cady Moreland is starting the next chapter in her life by leaving Colorado and moving to Maine. Though she has never lived in Maine, she has ties there that pull her, that she considers Fate calling her. Eighteen years ago, her whole life was shattered when the one person she thought she could count on broke her trust and broke her heart.

Coert Yeager can’t avoid the new lighthouse keeper, despite his desire to have nothing to do with her. Though he has done his own living in the time between, the hurt is still fresh over what she did.

I loved the memories these two shared, and learning more about what led up to their breakup had me both loving them and hating what I knew had to be coming. This was a slow burn, even for KA. These two have years of no communication after a series of events that shattered both their hearts. Neither has really healed, even though both have tried. The anger Coert has held on to fuels several antagonistic encounters before either has time to think.

But there is also a good deal of Fate interceding to push these two together, and it doesn’t take much for Coert to at least step back into protective mode around Cady, even if he isn’t ready for anything other than professional contact.

When I said this was a slow burn, it is not just because Coert and Cady circle each other for some time before moving things forward, but also because it is a long read. KA is well known for her lengthy stories, and this is no exception. I will say, I felt the length less with this one than I have with some of her more recent novels, and part of that is the town of Magdalena itself, as well as the lighthouse. Yes, descriptions tend to be lengthy, but scanning particularly detailed ones doesn’t detract from the story and keeps the KA voice that readers have grown accustomed to.

The family that is introduced with this particular story is numerous and richly created. The sheer numbers of family members Cady has, as well as those she brings into her fold speak to her character and her resilience. This is not a family she was born into, rather it is one she joined later in life, and one that has adopted her completely as one of their own. I loved how quickly the entire Moreland clan connected with Maine and made Cady’s home their own.

I always look forward to new KA simply because her worlds are so rich. I felt like I was living in Magdalena, renovating the lighthouse with Cady. I felt like I was walking the streets of town with Coert, and waiting for him to return after answering a late night call-out.

I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Present day…

I took in the mess of the large, circular room we were in and at first saw nothing but the mess—decaying furniture, a soot-covered stone fireplace, a kitchen that might have been put in in the forties but had not only not been touched the last nine years, it perhaps had not been touched the last nineteen (or more).

Then I saw more.

The extraordinarily carved railing to the sweeping wood staircase that ran the curved side of the house. The red brick walls. The plank wood floors.

“Once upon a time, long ago,” the realtor was suddenly talking wistfully, “someone loved this place. Put that love into building it. Put that love into keeping it. Nine years and more when no one really gave a whit, and still you can see it once had a lot of love.”

Oh yes.

You could see that.

“It’s got a basement, more like a big crawl space,” the agent declared, surprising me with his quick change in tone back to businesslike and informative. “The furnace is down there. You can get down there through a door in the floor. The furnace was put in a while back, and full disclosure, though an inspection will catch it, it probably needs to be replaced.”

Through his words I stared at the fireplace, which scoured would be magnificent, and I noticed it didn’t have a chimney as such, but the smoke probably went out a vent in the wall.

“This floor has a powder room under the stairs,” the realtor kept on. “You can look at it if you want, but if you wanna save yourself that, I’ll just tell you straight, it needs to be gutted.”

I decided to take his word for it and told him that.

He looked relieved when I did before he stated, “Place has a garage, two car. Not in good condition, but think you saw that. Still, it’s close to the house and there’s a covered walkway to that door over there.” He pointed at a door that was across from the door we’d walked in. “Means you might feel a chill but you won’t get wet, unless it’s raining sideways, which happens.”

With a breeze that plastered my jacket to me on a sunny, early spring day, I did not doubt that.

“Garage has a loft space above it, which could be renovated as a studio rental if you’ve a mind to do that sort of thing. As for the property itself, it also has a building where the generators are stowed,” the realtor carried on. “Hook up for a washer and dryer and good space in there. Lots of it for storage. Which is good because there’s not a lot of storage in here for tools and Christmas decorations and whatnot.”

I glanced around seeing he was right. There wasn’t even enough cabinetry to house the things a decent cook would need in her kitchen. Though there was room for them. In fact, if you fought back the gloom, there was quite a bit of room.

“And there’s a place outside, could call it a studio, could call it a mother-in-law house,” he shared. “Whatever, it’s got goodly space, two bedrooms, big kitchen. Could be renovated to be a guest house. Or like I said, a studio if you’re artsy. Or you could rent it out like a B and B. I’ll show you all of that after we have a look at the lighthouse.”

“Thanks,” I replied.

“Now, since I mentioned full disclosure, you have to know it all,” the realtor continued.

Slowly, my eyes went to him.

When they did, he launched in. “Like I said, it’s automated. And like I said, you won’t really have to concern yourself with the functionality of that unless the electricity goes out, but then the generators automatically kick in. There are two. But you’ll need to keep fuel on hand to keep them going in case a blackout lasts awhile. And just to say, this is coastal Maine. We get weather. Blackouts can last awhile.”

When I nodded to share I took that in, he kept going.

“And if you’re, say, away on vacation, you need to make sure someone is playing backup in such a case.”

“Okay,” I replied when he stopped talking, thinking this probably wasn’t a good thing since I knew no one in Maine (or not anyone who wanted to know me) and thus couldn’t call on anyone to do something like that.

I also didn’t hold high hopes I’d make friends and win people. I hadn’t had a lot of success in that in my life.

And last, although Patrick believed it completely, I held no hope that the reason I was out there was going to come to fruition.

That being me having a happy ending.

That being what Patrick thought would be my happy ending.

Which might mean I’d have someone, a certain someone, or actually two (at least), even though I knew I never would.

The Will (Magdalene #1)
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Early in her life, Josephine Malone learned the hard way that there was only one person she could love and trust: her grandmother, Lydia Malone. Out of necessity, unconsciously and very successfully, Josephine donned a disguise to keep all others at bay. She led a globetrotting lifestyle on the fringes of the fashion and music elite, but she kept herself distant. 

While Josephine was trotting the globe, retired boxer Jake Spear was living in the same small town as Lydia. There was nothing disguised about Jake. Including the fact he made a habit of making very bad decisions about who to give his love. 

But for Josephine and Jake, there was one person who adored them. One person who knew how to lead them to happiness. And one person who was intent on doing it. 

Even if she had to do it as her final wish on this earth.

Soaring (Magdalene #2)
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