The Summer Cottage: Includes a bonus story

What a fantastic start to the Somerset Lake series. I’ve read several books by Annie Rains and I’ve yet to be disappointed. If you enjoy small town romance centered around friends and family, you will love this book. Trisha and her young son, Petey, come to Somerset Lake to start over. Trisha’s ex-husband is in prison for embezzling people’s life savings and the people in Sweetwater Springs consider her guilty along with him. When Vi Fletcher hires her to manage the family cottages and gives her a place to live, things start to look up for Trisha. It doesn’t hurt having the eye candy of Vi’s grandson, Jake, to watch and help her. I’m not going to leave any spoilers, but I will say, I loved the way the friends embraced Trisha and Petey. Grab your copy and get ready to fall in love with Somerset Lake and these wonderful characters. I received an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley and this is my voluntary and honest review.

It’s always a joy to read a book by this author, and this first book in her new series titled, Somerset Lake, was sweet, touching and wonderful. After her ex-husband, a financial advisor that embezzled his clients, was sent to prison , Trisha Langly and her young son Petey needed a place that felt safe with people that didn’t know about their past or would judge them . When the property manager’s position of a quaint group of beach cottage rentals in Somerset Lake is offered , it was the perfect place for a new start. Jake Fletcher, a lawyer and grandson of Vi, the owner of the cottage community has come to not only visit his grandmother on his way to his new life in Florida, but also to check up on her and the property. Property that the family wants to sell and have Vi move away from the home that has been hers for decades. Neither Jake or Trisha realized that from the moment they met, their lives would change forever. But what happens when the trust is broken and the unexpected happens? What happens when the heart of one is healed while the other person’s is broken? I loved a couple of quotes from the author. “Home is more about a feeling….about feeling loved.” “Feeling safe is also about being free to just be you…” This is a story that will touch your hearts, and leave you wanting to spend time in Somerset Lake. I was entrusted a copy of this book by Netgalley. The opinions expressed are solely my own.

Annie Rains has very quickly become one of my favorite authors. I enjoy her writing style and I connect well to her small-town romances and the characters she has created to inhabit them. Trisha Langly is looking for a fresh start. She and her young son have recently moved to Somerset Lake and she is working as the property manager for the Somerset Cottages. The move not only gives her the change of scenery she's looking for, but it gives her a job, a place to live and gives her the flexibility to spend more time with her son. She loves the elderly tenants and she is also quite taken with Vi, the owner of the cottages and her boss. Jake Fletcher grew up in Somerset Lake, but it's been years since he has been back. He suffered a great heartbreak and the lakeside town was the last place he wanted to be. He's now a lawyer, but has come back for the summer to check on his beloved grandmother and hopefully convince her to slow down and sell the cottages. When Trisha and Jake initially meet, it isn't all sunshine and roses. Trisha agrees to work with Jake to do some updating to the cottages, but she would really prefer to work alone. Not only does Trisha begin to take a liking to Jake, but her son, Petey does as well. While Jake had a purpose for coming, after meeting Trisha, now he's not so sure that his grandmother wants to sell, nor does he want to disrupt what Trisha has been doing to better the cottages. Will all the work they are doing be for naught in the end or will they be able to get both the cottages and their love life back online? This was such an enjoyable story! It was so realistic and I also enjoyed that it was a spin-off of Rains Sweetwater Springs series, but if you haven't read that one, you won't be missing anything by starting here. I enjoyed all of the characters in this one and little Petey just made me smile! I would highly recommend this title.