The Path to Sunshine Cove by RaeAnne Thayne

 

The Path to Sunshine Cove by RaeAnne Thayne

Published by Harlequin ISBN 9781335665430

Harcover, $27.99, 336 pages

Sometimes you just need a comforting read, a book that you curl up with at the end of hard day. RaeAnne Thayne's new novel, The Path to Sunshine Cove, perfectly fits that bill.

The setting is Cape Sanctuary, a California coast town "defined by whimsical houses, overflowing gardens, wind chimes, and Japanese fishing balls." Jess is in Cape Sanctuary for work; she travels the country helping people clean out and reorganize their homes. Her task is to help Eleanor, a woman who lost her husband six months ago, and now wants to downsize her beautiful home.

Eleanor's adult son Nate and his teenage daughter Sophie live in a home on the property and are taken by surprise when Jess shows up in cute little Airstream trailer to help Eleanor. Nate is gruff with Jess, and not happy to be blindsided by her presence.

Jess will also visit with her sister Rachel, something that doesn't occur too often. Jess unexpectedly shows up at Rachel's home, just as Rachel is dealing with two young daughters and her three year-old son, who is on the autism spectrum and having a bad day.

We are given clues that something traumatic happened to Jess and Rachel, and that incident caused the two sisters to become estranged after the death of their parents. Jess joined the army and served in the Middle East, and Rachel married her high school boyfriend Cody and started her family.

Rachel is an Instagram influencer, and projects a happy, wonderful life to the world. But her son's diagnosis and husband's consuming job as a construction company owner has been causing her stress she is unwilling to admit to anyone, particularly her sister.

Jess is a loner, with only one close friend, her fellow soldier and business partner. She finds herself attracted to Nate, and enjoys the company of his mother and daughter, but is wary of becoming more involved with the family.

Thayne does a wonderful job with the sibling relationship between Jess and Rachel, and the marital relationship with Rachel and Cody. Cody wants to help Rachel, and he is a good father to his children, but Rachel can be too rigid and it could drive him away. I think many women may be able to see some of themselves in Rachel.

You know what you are going to get in a RaeAnne Thayne novel- characters you care about, in situations that you can relate to (and some you thankfully can't), in a beautiful setting. I enjoy learning about other people's jobs, and I found Jess' career going into people's homes and helping them organize fascinating. I have a friend who is so good at this, all she needs is an Airstream trailer.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Women's Fiction Winter Blog Tour.

Friday 5ive- March 19, 2021

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post featuring five things that caught my attention this week. This week was always a big celebration week back in my Catholic School days- we had St. Patrick's Day on March 17th (there was a large Irish population in my city and our principal was Sister Walter Anne O'Malley) and St. Joseph's Day is celebrated on March 19th. (The nuns at our school were Sisters of St. Joseph).

1) I made a new recipe from the New York Times this week- Skillet Hot Honey Chicken with Hardy Greens. It was so easy and quick to make, and since we don't like hot, I used a very mild pepper. You can use whatever pepper you like. We like bone-in thighs, and the crispy skin with the honey/apple cider vinegar sauce on the greens (we used romaine lettuce) was delicious. We paired it with salt potatoes. It's a great weeknight quick dinner and the recipe is here.

2) We made a trip to Wine Geeks in Armonk on Saturday. It's housed in a converted gas station, and the interior keeps that look with stacked metal shelving for the wine. I really liked the unique look of the shop, and we had a nice chat with the knowledgeable and friendly store owners Derek and Carol Todd. They had a well curated selection of wine and spirits, and if you ever find yourself in Westchester County, stop by.

3)  I did three book Zooms this week. On Adriana Trigiani's Tuesday edition of AdrianaInk's Facebook Live this week, she hosted two funny ladies -Laraine Newman from the original Saturday Night Live cast, (talking about her Audible.com original book, May You Live In Interesting Times about New York City in the 1970s and her time at SNL) and Susie Essman, (who plays the foul-mouthed and most popular character Susie Greene on Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm). All three of these ladies are so interesting, the conversation could have gone on all night.

On Wednesday, I listened to Pamela Klinger-Horn interview Lauren Willig (Band of Sisters), Kate Quinn (The Rose Code) and Elizabeth Wetmore (Valentine) about their historical fiction books. All three women's books deal with women working together to deal with difficult situations- Band of Sisters is about Smith College alumni helping French villagers in WWI, The Rose Code shares the story of three women working at Bletchley Park in London during WWII attempting to decode German war communications, and Valentine deals with the aftermath of a vicious attack on a young Mexican teenager and the effect that had on her and other women in Odessa, Texas in the 1970s. I loved all three books, and the discussion was enlightening.

Thursday's Zoom was a discussion with Michael J. Fox talking about his memoir (that deals with living  with Parkinson's Disease) No Time Like The Future with his friend mystery writer Harlan Coben, talking about his book Win (a book that will surely keep you up at night to finish). The men have been friends for years, so the conversation was easy and both men's books would make good gifts. Maybe they will write a book together about golf someday. (My husband would like that.)

4) We finally got around to watching the comedy Ted Lasso on AppleTV+. This is the show we all need during the pandemic! Ted Lasso (played by Jason Sudeikis, who is winning all the awards for his fabulous perfomance) is a small college American football coach who is hired to coach a Premier soccer team in England, even though he knows NOTHING about soccer. The female owner of the team, brilliantly played by Hannah Waddingham, wants to decimate her ex-husband's team that she won in her divorce. It is such a happy show that will put a smile on your face, filled with hilarious laughs and Ted Lasso is a guileless, sweet character. The writing is pitch-perfect and the acting by all is wonderful. If you don't have AppleTV+, you can get a free 7 day trial- you can watch all 10 half-hour episodes in seven days then cancel. Trust me, after all the serial killer documentaries you have been watching, you need this.

5) I read two books this week. The first is Silence Is A Sense by Layla AlAmmar, about a 24 year-old Syrian refugee in Great Britain. She spends her days looking into the windows of her neighbors in her apartament complex. The trauma she suffered during her escape from Syria and her journey across Europe have caused her to not speak, which most people take to mean that she is deaf. It's a stunning book, and I've never read a book that put me more into the head of a character as this one. My full review is here.

You always know what you're getting in a RaeAnne Thayne book, and her new novel gives us characters to root for in a beautiful setting, and a situation some can relate to in The Path to Sunshine Cove.  Jess travels the country helping people downsize and organize their home and when she ends up in her sister Rachel's town, they have a chance to repair their broken relationship. Rachel's Instagram life is not as beautiful as it seems though, as she deals with her young son's diagnosis on the spectrum, two young daughters, and a husband busy building his career as a construction company owner. The sisters have yet to deal with the tragedy that took their parents years ago, will they let that tear them further apart or bring them together? My full review publishes Tuesday. 

Stay safe and socially distant, wear a mask, wash your hands and get the vaccine when it's your turn. We are getting so close to getting back to good times, can you feel it?

This post was shared with The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader's Weekend Cooking posts.