The Beach House: Coming Home by Georgia Bockoven
Series: The Beach House #4
Published by William Morrow on May 16, 2017
Pages: 352
Source: the publisher
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Bestselling author Georgia Bockoven is at her powerful and emotional peak in this novel perfect for fans of Nancy Thayer and Elin Hilderbrand.

Unlock the door to the beach house…a place where life slows down, people come together, and love is the strongest force of all.

After you’ve given your baby to strangers, what do you say when someone asks if you have children?

Fourteen years ago, Melinda Campbell was fifteen and a half, pregnant and terrified. Desperate to protect her baby from a malicious grandfather and needed at home to take care of her own critically ill father, Melinda makes the most generous, heart-wrenching choice of all: adoption. Now she’s living the successful life her father struggled to give her, but missing her daughter with a longing that shadows every joy.

Jeremy Richmond knows the beach house the way a painter knows his canvas, intimately and focused on detail. His life revolves around his adopted daughter, Shiloh, the girl who’s owned his heart from the moment he first held her as an infant. They were a picture-perfect family until Shiloh was diagnosed with pediatric lupus and Jeremy’s wife walked away.

When Shiloh tells her father she’s tired of fighting her illness and wants to meet her biological mother before it’s too late, Jeremy agrees to find a woman he has no desire to meet.

From the moment Melinda and Jeremy come face-to-face, they realize their worlds will never be the same. Will the beach house that has harbored troubled hearts for decades prove to be the balm they need to heal…?

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Why I Read It:

I’m a sucker for reading beach-themed books in the warm weather. Or books with a beach on the cover. Or books that have a setting by the shore. When I was presented with the opportunity to read this book, the cover and title drew me in. Plus this is a series that I’ve been curious about for years.

Review:

The Beach House: Coming Home by Georgia Bockoven was a fairly quick read, not necessarily because of its size, but because it was a book that I didn’t want to put down. I feel like this is mainly Melinda’s story, but it is great that we also get perspectives from Jeremy and Shiloh. Jeremy adopted Melinda’s daughter years ago.

I can’t imagine what it must feel like to give a child up for adoption and then ache for that loss every day, but the author has done a great job allowing readers to experience this thru her character, Melinda. When Melinda gets a random call from Jeremy offering her the opportunity to meet the child he adopted from her years ago, she jumps at the opportunity and only four days later, she arrives at The Beach House (from the title). Melinda doesn’t understand why Jeremy is suddenly allowing her to meet the little girl where there has been no contact before, but it soon becomes clear that Shiloh has expressed interest in finding her birth mother, and Jeremy will do anything to make his little girl happy. When Melinda arrives, she isn’t really sure what to expect. What she finds is a single man that is desperate to parent in the best way possible and a child that longs for answers that only Melinda can give. I loved watching Shiloh reunite with her birth mother and found joy in Shiloh’s happiness. It’s so great to read a story where there is a truly happy progression of events. There is a romance that develops between Jeremy and Melinda – I felt like I could see this coming – but in all honesty, it doesn’t come until late in the book and is not obstructive to the rest of the story. I feel like it is a separate subplot.

I absolutely adored the neighbors in the beach house next door: Cheryl and Andrew. I wish I had neighbors as wonderful as they were! As I was reading, I had the impression that these two had a great backstory, so I did a tiny bit of snooping and found that this book is part of a series. (I can’t believe I didn’t realize this before – I knew about The Beach House Series. Why didn’t I make the connection?) I suppose Cheryl and Andrew are part of a previous book? I’m super curious about them now! I loved Cheryl – she is such an easygoing character and such an instrumental part of reuniting Melinda and Shiloh. She also help Jeremy learn to trust Melinda even though she is an outsider and a stranger.

Also sprinkled throughout the story are parts of Melinda’s past, including the parts she shared with Shiloh’s birth father. She had a tough childhood, even though it was full of love. Knowing her backstory certainly helped to understand why she felt she had to give Shiloh up for adoption.

This is an easy read; something wonderful for the summertime by the beach or on my porch. I would love to go back and read the other books in this series, but I would love to point out that reading this one first was no problem for me. I don’t feel spoiled in the least. I was expecting more “beach” in the story, but I think the Beach House where  Melinda is staying (and the one next door where Cheryl lives, perhaps) has the history throughout the series and is certainly the reason that the name has been carried on.

I recommend this one for summer reading on the lighter side, particularly if you’re looking for something low on angst or drama.