Series: Moonlight Bay (Book 1)
Jenna Fossey has left her past behind and has headed to Rose Cottage on Moonlight Bay where she plans to transform her life. She's not a new-age-y person but she finds herself trying yoga, and then she adopts a vegan diet, before learning to meditate to become more mindful and attempting to sail to get in touch with nature. All of these provide lots of laughs but none of them provide a solution.
Jude St. Pierre loves the natural beauty of South Carolina and his family business depends upon it. As Jenna's sailing instructor, he has his hands full trying just to keep them from capsizing. But as they find their rhythm, he starts to wonder if the city girl could love a country boy like him.
Terrific story of love and family and finding ways to deal with the past. Jenna recently inherited a great deal of money from a grandfather she never knew existed. She was raised by a single mother, and never knew her father. The inheritance upended Jenna's world, so she took a year to travel the world and decide what to do with her life. In her travels, she learned a lot about Eastern religions and adopted many of those traditions. Once back from her travels she decided to travel to Magnolia Harbor to find out about her father and connect with the only relatives she had left. Nervous about their reaction, Jenna arrived under an assumed name. Shortly after she arrived, Jenna learned that her father was an avid sailor who died while out sailing on his boat. She decided that learning to sail would be a good way to connect with him. A chance encounter had her hiring Jude to be her instructor.
Jude is a many with a lot of things on his plate. He and his father run Barrier Island Charters together, but Jude does most of the work. His father is an alcoholic who is also very set in his ways, making it difficult for Jude to grow the business the way he wants to. Jude was also involved in trying to preserve his Gullah heritage on the island. He was fighting to get land and cabins added to the historic register. He also wanted to prevent a large resort developer from buying the land and destroying the habitat. He also watched over some of his elderly relatives. Jenna's appearance made him suspicious, believing her to be a corporate spy for the resort developer. Her determination to hire him to teach her to sail, since he isn't a sailing instructor, just added to that suspicion.
I enjoyed the development of the relationship between Jenna and Jude. She was attracted and drawn to him before she met him, just from watching him race his sailboat. I loved her vision of him as a pirate, especially once I learned of his ancestry. Jude was just as attracted to her, but determined to resist. Besides his conviction that she was a spy, she also ran up against his issues about women tourists and relationships with locals. Though his head told him to stay away, his heart kept pulling him closer. I loved seeing them together. Even though they were opposites in so many ways, they still managed to connect on others. I loved watching Jude introduce her to his Gullah heritage and her fascination and appreciation of what she learned. I appreciated the fact that Jenna confided the truth to Jude early on so that their relationship wasn't built on lies. The relationship built slowly, with caution on both sides because of their fears. Added to that were their different races and economic statuses, creating some real challenges to a future together. I ached for them both when Jenna's attempts to do something good ran up against Jude's pride, and her confession to her aunt and uncle created some painful questions about the truth. I loved Jude's big moment at the end as he let go of his fears and went after the woman he loved. The epilogue was a fantastic look at the difference investing in love can make.
I loved seeing how so many threads were woven together to create such an amazing story. There are family relationships that need to be mended. Jenna wants to connect with her aunt and uncle, but there are things about her father's death that needed to be cleared up before that could happen. Jude had a difficult relationship with his father, his brother Colton was less than understanding or helpful, and he has been angry at his brother Micah for deserting them. Micah wanted to make amends to all of them, having missed them in his years away. I loved how Micah was there for Jude when he really needed him. There were some racial and cultural tensions also. Jude's determination to preserve the Gullah traditions and lands weren't truly understood by those he tried to convince. Jude also had trouble believing that his race didn't matter to Jenna. Micah faced his memories of being the only black boy at the white church when he was younger, and now being the spiritual leader of that same church. Finally, there were those who fought for a better life against somewhat overwhelming odds. Jude had great plans for the business, but couldn't overcome his father's old-fashioned way of doing things. Ashley wanted to stay in her home and raise her son there, but the problems mounted at an alarming rate. Her pride and independence won't allow her to accept any help that even hints at charity. Through it all, love and patience ended up forming a community stronger than ever. I can't wait to read the next book in the series.
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