Driftwood Lane

Earlier this week the latest and last addition from the Nantucket series from author Denise Hunter was released from Thomas Nelson. Although this is not the first time that I have heard of Denise, this is the first opportunity I have had to read one of her novels and the first thing that I can say is that I'm sorry that I have waited so long. Through out the chapters of the story I was introduced to real characters placed in a very plausible but difficult situation in life. This novel took something rough and turned it into a beautiful seaside romance. Each page was filled with the spray of the sandy shore waves and the bark of the newly inherited dog. I could hear the sawing of wood and hammering of nails and feel the stress and questionings stares with thoughts of tomorrow in the character's lives. I'm delighted to have been introduced to Denise's writing and plan on gathering more of her books in the future.

Driftwood Lane is book four in the Nantucket Love Story Series, but in my experience not having read the first three I can truly say this novel stands alone and only brings forth a desire to go out and buy the first three.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and Jeane Wynn of Wynn Wynn Media for providing a copy for review.

There were some cute moments, but this one was also a miss for me. (This series was definitely not my favorite.)

I???m not a fan of plots built entirely around one adult lying to the other (or both adults lying to each other) all through the book only to be wrapped up with a tidy bow at the end. The stories always come across exceedingly contrived, unnecessary and unrealistic, and I can never bring myself to believe that the leads are actually going to have a happy, healthy relationship when the story is over.

My other issue with this story was Jake, the male lead. He made bad decision after bad decision and just ended up being incredibly unlikeable. He was the creepy uncle who hid behind a tree or a bus at the kids??? school so he could see them without their legal guardian knowing. He asked the kids to lie to their guardian with him (and then unnecessarily let that lie go on until the end of the book). He was the guy who made (horrible) life decisions based off a rumor that one of the female lead???s relatives (who was not a part of her life anymore) had a mental illness; not her, mind you - her relative. He justified his lies / decisions by saying that the disease is hereditary (in reality, there is about a 10% chance of a child inheriting this illness from their parent who has it) and automatically assumed that the female lead probably had this illness too. He then decided that it was okay for him to snoop through her personal belongings looking for medications. Apparently we???re all supposed to forget these things because he???s buff, has a ???deep throaty laugh,??? and had good intentions, but I???m not buying it.

I like books with flawed characters but healthy relationships. This one had the first but not the second.