Tome Thursday: As Deep as the Ocean

Hello everyone!

I'm back with another book review, and starting this week I'm launching into a trilogy of books which I read while away on vacation.

Honestly, they were the PERFECT books to take along to the seaside with me (among many, many others) and there's something about the idea of a vineyard overlooking a beautiful bay, that just makes your heart sing.

For those of you who don't know, my admiration for Serenity Woods as an author goes right back to when I first picked up The Perfect Gift from her Three Wise Men series.

Since then, I've pretty much devoured any Woods book I can get my hands on. Multiple times.

So it should be to the surprise of no one that this new trilogy I'm about to review for you all was also penned by Ms Woods.

Titled as the first of the Blue Penguin Bay series, a fictional bay, by the by, As Deep as the Ocean plants us smack dab into the gorgeous New Zealand - with handsome men, obviously.

Now as you know, I've reviewed a lot of Serenity Woods' books by this point in time. Unfortunately, I have yet to properly list them all in one single blog post or somewhere in a tab to the side (I'm debating rearranging my blog to make it a bit more search-friendly, but that's still in the works!), but if you type the author's name into the search window, you'll be offered a multitude of posts featuring her work.

For now, let's get started on As Deep as the Ocean, shall we?

To begin the story, we have to set some history to it:

when a marriage went south, the Kiwi man returned to his roots and bought a vineyard down in New Zealand. On his passing, he left the estate to his three daughters, who he'd never seen again after the divorce from their bipolar mother, including a sizeable sum of money for each, tied up with some special strings we'll get to later.

Unfortunately, the mother never allowed her daughters to read the letters their father sent, destroying those AND the ones sent by the three girls, not that either side was aware of it.

At the point in time this novel begins, Fred, Ginger and Sandi have flown to New Zealand after the death of their mother by overdose of pills; they received an email from the vineyard estate manager, Mac, who discovered that his father had forged a will which left the estate to him instead of the girls, and because Mac is basically a practical and honourable guy, he couldn't just let it go.

The women arrive, ready to feel antagonistic towards the son of the man who duped them, only to find him apologetic, willing to help them, and handsome.

This last bit is important, because Fred and Mac immediately start the sparks going between the two of them, not that either is going to do anything about it, because ... the family history, vineyard history, etc.

Still, the vineyard, connecting restaurant, and bed & breakfast all look promising to the three sisters looking for a fresh start, if only they could get a cash infusion to get some repairs and renovations going.

And here's the special strings their dad tied 50 000 dollars to each by: they each receive those after marriage.

Yup.

Sounds completely bonkers, doesn't it?

Not as bonkers as Mac suggesting to Fred that they marry for the first 50 000, making it a strictly business arrangement.

Which is all fine and dandy except how will it EVER be just business when she's making moon eyes at him and he's trying not to be as attracted to her as he is?

Yeahhhhh RIGHT.

Anyway, the marriage goes through, and with the first check in their hands they can now all pitch in and try and get the whole thing going again. As for Mac and Fred ... well.

Let's just say they put the heat in summer.

Obviously their attraction overrules any rational thought, but to actually move forward and have a real, honest marriage, they each have some hurdles to get through.

Mac needs to put to rest the anger and hatred he feels for his father, who always seemed to hate his only son (because he could see the boy was better than him and was jealous; idiot); and Fred ... Fred needs to stop feeling guilty about the death of her mother, which happened after a bad argument the pair had when Fred discovered the letter destruction scheme. That, and for some inexplicable reason (to anyone rational that is) she keeps dreaming about her parents glaring at her in disapproval because she married Mac - the son of the man who duped the lot of them.

So basically Fred almost breaks the marriage because of this, but luckily she has two other sisters who talk some sense into her and explain that they could see the attraction right from the get-go and hoped this would turn from business to real.

Feeling better than she has in ages, Fred catches Mac before he leaves, and he wants to talk to her, too.

Namely about a pair of golden rings he shows her, asking her to be his wife for real, because he loves her.

DUH.

A quick, fun, flirty, sexy read to take with you to the beach, this is another enjoyable book written by Ms Woods to the eternal delight of her readers. And if I come across as dismissive in my last paragraph, please know that isn't the case: I can understand Fred's reasoning just as much as Mac's. I'm just glad they worked it out in the end!

Be on the lookout for a review of book two, As Beautiful as the Bay, next Thursday!

xx

*image not mine