REVIEW: Summer on Sunshine Bay by Debbie Mason

In Summer on Sunshine Bay by Debbie Mason, Lila Rosetti Sinclair returns to her hometown of Sunshine Bay, pregnant and engaged to David, whose family just purchased an upscale inn that may cause the restaurant owned by Lila’s family out of business. Lila’s family believes they’re cursed and that all romances are doomed to end up in tragedy. Eva, Lila’s mother, is determined to prove to Lila that marrying David would be a mistake, but will it cost her her own second chance at love with Lila’s father?

I didn’t really like any of the characters, except for Luke and Lila’s father. Let’s start with David and Lila. First, they were together three years and Lila didn’t want to get married. So, what does David do? Sets out to get her pregnant so she would be forced to accept his proposal. She still doesn’t want to get married but wants to do so for the baby’s sake. In my opinion, if after three years the relationship doesn’t feel right, she should have walked away before it even reached this point. Once they reach Sunshine Bay, David is always busy working, and when he’s not, he’s not paying much attention to Lila, puts Lila’s family and their restaurant down, and basically has an emotional affair with one of his employees. But never fear, because Lila herself was having an emotional affair with Luke, the younger brother of her high school ex-boyfriend. To have two characters actively engaging in an emotional affair didn’t paint either one of them in a positive light for me. The communication between the pair was almost non-existent, and considering they didn’t spend a lot of time together once they reached town, I felt like I didn’t really get to know them as a couple and, in David’s case, as an individual since he was often pushed to the background.

Then we have David’s mother, Jennifer, who goes ahead and starts planning the happy couples wedding, with no input from Lila. She even sent out invitations before Lila even told her family they were getting married. This also left me confused, because it seemed like she didn’t send out invitations to any of Lila’s family, except for her father, who David had previously worked for. She does get a little more likeable further into the book, but she definitely doesn’t start off in a good light.

Lila’s mother, Eva, had always loved her father, James, but when James had to return to London after a family tragedy, he ended up marrying his childhood best friend. He’d like nothing more than to have a second chance with Eva, but she does everything in her power to sabotage it. The same with Eva’s mother, who pushes the man she loves into the arms of another.

As you can see, there’s a lot going on in this book, and at times it felt like there was too much going on. I was left wondering why anyone would want anything to do with either of these families, because they both had a lot of issues. The book also stretches believability at times, especially towards the end.

I wouldn’t classify this as a romance; it’s more like women’s fiction. That being said, I really struggled with this book, which surprised me because I’ve read other books by this author that I’ve enjoyed. With this one, I put the book down and picked it back up several times; I almost gave up and marked it as a did-not-finish because I was annoyed by most of the characters and their behaviors. I forced myself to get through it, but it’s definitely not something I’d pick up and read again. Based on the cover and even the description you’d think it’d be a fun beach read, but it was anything but that.

Book Info:

Publication: May 23, 2023 | Forever |

Lila Rosetti Sinclair returns to Sunshine Bay a bundle of nerves. After being gone for years, sharing the news that she’s engaged—to a man her mother has never met—is going to be difficult to navigate. But when her fiancé David surprises her with an engagement party at Windemere, the upscale inn his parents recently purchased and that just may put her family’s restaurant, La Dolce Vita, out of business, Lila’s got a whole new set of problems.
Eva Rosetti is so ecstatic to finally have her daughter home that she pushes aside her misgivings about having to come face-to-face with Lila’s father again. That is until he sweeps into town and feelings Eva thought far behind her resurface….
With a family business to save and a wedding to plan, Eva and Lila’s reunion is more than either bargained for, but with a little luck and a whole lot of support from friends and family, it may just turn out to be the best summer of their lives.