REVIEW: The Sea Glass Cottage by RaeAnne Thayne

In The Sea Glass Cottage by RaeAnne Thayne, While in her teens, Olivia Harper tragically lost her father, and a short time later she lost her older sister too. It took a lot of time to move past the grief. Watching her sister’s daughter, Caitlin, grow up helped immensely and gave not only Olivia something positive to focus on but her mother, Juliet, as well. But now Caitlin is fifteen and rather moody. When Olivia left Cape Sanctuary to start her career in corporate America in Seattle a few years ago, everything seemed fine. Well, as fine as things get in the Harper family. Juliet was working long hours at their family’s garden center and Caitlin was a smart, good-natured kid.

She thought Caitlin might finally break her silence and reveal just why she seemed so filled with resentment, but she turned away.
“Just because we’re related by blood doesn’t mean we have to be best friends.”

Then a phone call changes everything. Olivia learns her mother has fallen off a ladder at work and has broken a hip along with other injuries. Knowing how strong-willed her mom is, she knows Juliet will need help but won’t ask for it. So even though Olivia is dealing with her own problems, she races back to Cape Sanctuary. And what a mess. Caitlin is secretive and cranky. Juliet will need time to heal, meaning Olivia will have to take over running the garden center. On top of it, a guy from her past, the new fire chief, Cooper Vance, is back in town. As they all struggle with their new normal, their saving grace might just be that they now have the time together to try to mend past hurts.

Henry had to be the one who came to her rescue.
“Don’t make any jokes, but I really did fall and couldn’t get back up.”
“I’m afraid to move you. Should I call the paramedics? Did you hurt anything?”
“Only my pride. Who knew I had any left?”

The Sea Glass Cottage was the perfect comfort read. In a book which proved that no matter what personal issues we face, there is always hope and solace to be found, RaeAnne Thayne’s deeply emotional writing voice rang through loud and clear.

“We’re all afraid. The trick is figuring out that the thing you need is just on the other side of that fear. The only way you can reach it is by going right through the center of it.”
She was doing that. Letting fear stand between her and the life she wanted.

I will try not to fangirl too much, as I’m sure you know by now that I adore RaeAnne Thayne’s lovely stories. They are my happy place. And The Sea Glass Cottage–which is a standalone but set in the same town as The Cliff House–reiterated that point quite well. I think Thayne’s writing style fits women’s fiction such as this perfectly, where her books already focus on depth of emotion and each character’s hard-won journey to happiness. It’s not that the romance is secondary. It’s that it blends in with all of the other elements Thayne so wonderfully pulls together. And we did have two love stories, along with one potential future romance, that were simply sigh-worthy to enjoy here.

This was multi-generational as we had Juliet in her early fifties, who was mom to thirty-year-old Olivia and grandmother to fifteen-year-old Caitlin. We got to see the events through all of their POVs as well as through fire chief Cooper Vance’s eyes, which worked out great considering all the secrets and struggles they each had. I won’t lie. Some parts of the story made me tear up when the details of previous tragedies were revealed. But I absolutely loved watching the characters evolve.

After her workplace accident, Juliet had to learn to give up some control and to repair her relationship with Olivia. And she had a crush that she just didn’t want to admit to on Henry, a terrific guy. Teenager Caitlin had to come to terms with her mother’s sad legacy and subsequent death while on a trek to find out who her father was. And Olivia had some recent trauma to overcome as well as to find the place she truly belonged, where she could do meaningful work. Cooper (*loved* him!) had to get reacquainted with beautiful Cape Sanctuary, and reconcile his tough past with the accomplished man he became in the Air Force. Cooper was Olivia’s love interest, and let me say that even though neither made it easy, what a sweet couple they ended up being.

Note: There is a minor discrepancy between the book synopsis and the final story that astute readers may notice. Juliet was not in a car accident, she fell off a ladder at work, which caused her injuries.

Unexpected, surprising twists that kept me glued to the pages, and a cast of characters I was drawn to from page one, The Sea Glass Cottage was a heartfelt book (with a gorgeous cover!) I hope readers will cherish for years to come.

Book Info:

Publication: Published March 17th 2020 | HQN Books |

From the New York Times bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne comes a brand-new novel for fans of Debbie Macomber and Susan Wiggs. RaeAnne Thayne tells the story of an emotional homecoming that brings hope and healing to three generations of women.

The life Olivia Harper always dreamed of isn’t so dreamy these days. The 16-hour work days are unfulfilling and so are things with her on-again, off-again boyfriend. But when she hears that her estranged mother, Juliet, has been seriously injured in a car accident, Liv has no choice but to pack up her life and head home to beautiful Cape Sanctuary on the Northern California coast.

It’s just for a few months—that’s what Liv keeps telling herself. But the closer she gets to Cape Sanctuary, the painful memories start flooding back: Natalie, her vibrant, passionate older sister who downward-spiraled into addiction. The fights with her mother who enabled her sister at every turn. The overdose that took Natalie, leaving her now-teenaged daughter, Caitlin, an orphan.

As Liv tries to balance her own needs with those of her injured mother and an obstinate, resentful fifteen-year-old, it becomes clear that all three Harper women have been keeping heartbreaking secrets from one another. And as those secrets are revealed, Liv, Juliet, and Caitlin will see that it’s never too late—or too early—to heal family wounds and find forgiveness.