Review: Driftwood Cottage - Sherryl Woods

Series: Chesapeake Shores #5

Genre: Contemporary romance

Pages: 400

Published: March 2011 Mira

Review by Lis

Single mom Heather Donovan's dreams of home and family are tantalizingly within reach when she settles in Chesapeake Shores. The welcoming arms of the boisterous, loving O'Brien clan embrace her and her son. But accepting their support seems to further alienate her son's father, Connor O'Brien. His parents' divorce and his career as a high-powered divorce attorney have left him jaded about marriage.

Then everything changes. Will the possibility of a future without Heather make Connor look at love and his career differently? Heather's just about given up on her old dreams—of love, of family and especially of Driftwood Cottage, the home she secretly wishes were hers. It's going to take a lot of persuasion—and some help from the O'Brien family—to make Heather believe that some dreams are worth fighting for.

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This book has been in my to-be-reviewed pile for a while and honestly, due to the move it got a bit left behind in the review pile. Luckily I got to it in time! Driftwood Cottage is a book that reminds me of when I first discovered romance and used to buy bodice rippers in second hand bookstores or at flea markets. It’s been a long while since I read those and I found my tastes in romances have shifted. To be honest I never had the urge to lock two characters in a closet together and let them work it out so much as I had in this book. Or kick some sense in their stubborn no-good behinds. Communication can be a real bitch sometimes. Let me tell you why.

Driftwood Cottage is the 5th book in the Chesapeake Shores series that revolves around the O’Brien family. Despite that it’s a series, I had no trouble reading this book independently. This instalment is about Heather Donovan and Connor O’Brien who share a son, Mick, together. Connor has a career as a divorce lawyer and having so much to do with broken marriages has clouded his views on love and marriage. While they have a relationship together, Connor refuses to marry Heather – who of course dreams of love and marriage – he even kept Heather and Mick a secret from is family. Mostly. Both characters have issues and it’s not just Connor. However, when Connor refuses to move forward, she moves to Chesapeake where she is accepted into Connor’s family with open arms. Of course, Connor isn’t far behind. What follows is not much of a romance to me, but a repeat of the same old argument about marriage that get old very fast. Just when you think there’s no hope of them ever working The Argument out, something happens that makes Connor realize all he stands to lose. Of course. For a romance it was all very predictable and to me it was unfortunately very boring.

The one good thing about this book was the large, boisterous O’Brien family and their meddling ways. They not only supply the story with some much needed comic relief with their energetic ways, but gave me something to look forward to while reading this story. I found that they were the only character that were somewhat filled out, since both Connor and Heather were anaemic. This is most likely because they were way too stubborn and arguing in circles. While I do not think it was intended, I found both Connor and Heather very egotistical and self-centred. This is probably because they author focused too much on the argument of marriage and the issues while not really working them out in a good way.

I always feel bad when I have to give a less than sparkly review for a book, because I know how much work an author puts into a story. Unfortunately, this book did not really do anything for me. This might be because this type of contemporary romance is no longer for me or because the book wasn’t worked out to my expectations. In any case I can only recommend this book if you like contemporary romance with failed characters trying to overcome an obstacle in their relationship by arguing is circles. Who knows, it might just be what you are looking for!