I enjoyed this one very much, although I have to admit that it was a little slow to hook me. This story is high on character development and lower on action. Abby and Laura, mother and daughter, have a lot in common, but they don’t know it until they get to know one another. And that isn’t easy, because Laura abandoned Abby when she was a toddler, and Abby doesn’t trust her not to abandon her again, so she tries to maintain a distance from Laura.
Both women became pregnant without that ring on their finger and so had a difficult time of it as single mothers. They both also grew up in the small community of Hartley by the Sea, where gossipping was a way of life. Both tried to escape the small community and the gossip, only to return to face the wagging tongues because they were out of options.

There isn’t much about this book I didn’t like. The setting by the sea was calm and beautiful, and I liked the characters, particularly Abby and Laura. Laura refused to reveal the father’s name when Abby was born, but that came out towards the end of the story, and I found out my ‘inkling’ was right. And the story had a happy ending!

This could make an interesting book club selection. I breezed through the book, but I think that there is a lot that book clubs could discuss; mother-daughter relationships, the stigma of single parenthood, forgiveness, and others. There is a set of discussion questions in the back of the book.

This is the third book in a series, but I did not read the previous books and I can tell you it definitely works as a stand alone!

This book review is included in a tour by TLC Book Tours. I was provided a copy for review purposes.