“Love is a messy thing. That hopelessly devoted, deep-in-your-bones kind of love we used to dream about when we were kids—it turns out that it’s hard. It aches. It takes time. Like a house that weathers the ages, it must be built, brick by brick.”
Snarky and ambitious Dawn Campbell almost had it all: a job producing lavish celebrity events, a hip downtown apartment, and a studmuffin of a boyfriend. But after losing all three in one fell swoop, Dawn finds herself resorting to the unimaginable: returning home to Bridgeport, an oceanside town where the air smells sweet but not much happens.
When a chance encounter brings her into the sturdy arms of John Brown, her childhood best friend, old feelings come rushing back. As the sparks fly, life finally starts to look up for Dawn...until she meets his wife.
Marguerite Brown has everything that Dawn doesn't a killer fashion sense, a breathtaking beauty, and a French accent—oh, and the kind of temperament that makes great white sharks seem docile in comparison. Determined to release John from an unhappy marriage, Dawn turns on the charm and makes a plan to finally win back her one-that-got-away.
But after Dawn stumbles upon a secret that, up until now, Marguerite has meticulously kept hidden, the two women are thrust into an unexpected friendship. An Imaginary House by the Sea follows Dawn’s journey towards self-rediscovery, finding purpose, and building a more complex, steadfast kind of love than she could have ever imagined.
Thank you to Cecily Gates for sending me a copy of this book for review. I ran a giveaway of this book on my blog a while ago and wished I had some way of winning so I could read it haha! So when Cecily contacted me asking me to review her novel I jumped at the chance. I thought it sounded exactly like my kind of book and the title and cover are so intriguing!
We join Dawn Campbell as she is packing up her life in the city to move back home to her childhood town of Bridgeport, after losing her job, apartment and life there. Straight away she reconnects with her childhood best friend and crush John Brown. hoping to start where she left off and thinking she feels the sparks flying again, Dawn thinks she will finally end up with John, that is until she sees the shiny wedding ring on his finger, and meets his beautiful French wife and two children to go with it.
I loved that at the beginning of each chapter we went back in time to Dawn’s childhood in what seemed like letters to John telling us what had happened but him how she felt. It was great to see a younger Dawn and be able to see how although some things have changed for her since then, a lot of things are still the same. Everything we see from the past is an important event and they shape the story and make us understand more.
At first I wasn't sure what to make of Dawn, she seemed nice but also had her selfish ways about her but I think as she got her life back in Bridgeport and after a few words with Marguerite, she started to see where she was going, she changed and I loved her.
Dawn and Marguerite’s relationship was great to read, at first they hated each other, which was understandable as anybody could see how Dawn and John felt about each other (or so we thought that was the reason), but as they got to know each other and Dawn learned Marguerite’s secret they formed a heart-warming relationship. Dawn makes some mistakes when it comes to John and his family but they shape the person she ends up becoming. Dawn was real and you could really connect with her, she wasn't perfect, but who is?
John I did like from the start, the love he had for his family was lovely to see, everything he did he put them first. As well as Dawn he makes mistakes but he does everything he can to try to fix them.
John I did like from the start, the love he had for his family was lovely to see, everything he did he put them first. As well as Dawn he makes mistakes but he does everything he can to try to fix them.
I thought the ending was going to be quite predictable and I thought I had guessed it from very early on in the book, but I was wrong! There are so many twists and turns that by the end of the book you actually have no idea what is going to happen.
Cecily is a brilliant author, her writing seems so effortless, the story just flows and you are hooked from just a few pages in. This story has a bit of everything, sadness, romance, anger, heart break, humour and drama, so you it keeps you hooked right the way through. It is the perfect emotional read that you can’t help but love. If you are a lover of chic-lit, romance, comedy or drama then I would recommend you pick up this book. I can't wait to read the next book in the Bridgeport series.
The lovely Cecily Gates has given me 2 ebook copies of An Imaginary House by the Sea to give away, enter below for your chance to win!
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