Great story about surviving after a terrible, tragic loss. This book tugs at the heartstrings in many ways. A couple of romances at the same time makes for an interesting story.

Cottage by the Sea was a heart-warming and hometown story with a great message. It involved moving on from loss and the reward that comes with that. For anyone who has suffered a great loss Cottage by the sea offers a ray of hope. NetGalley - I requested access to this book prior to publication. All opinions and reviews are my own and not solicited by the author, publisher, or NetGalley. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the chance to read the arc!

You must have derived from my details above that I adored this book. Let me tell you what I liked about it.....

First of all I LOVED the character, Keaton. The giant of a man with a heart of gold. I found it interesting that he didn't speak much yet everyone in the small town of Oceanside seemed to like him and respect him. It gave  the phrase "actions speak louder than words" more credibility to me. He rescued abused and abandoned animals. He was an artist. He used his talents to bless others in need. 

Annie, Mellie, Preston and Becca are all wonderful characters too. I felt horrible for Annie. I couldn't imagine how someone could survive a loss like she did and still be such a caring and helpful person. She really is amazing. 

Mellie is a real character..... her dialogs with Preston, Keaton and Annie are hilarious. The fact that she had such a large personality even though she was small physically was a delightful picture in my mind.

I can imagine what the town of Oceanside looks like as I live on the gulf coast of Texas. We have several small towns just like it. I also understand how the ocean sounds can soothe and heal a troubled mind like Annie said it did for her.

This book hit a beautiful chord in my heart. I loved it.

A survivor of an unforeseeable tragic mudslide is trying to move on with her life without her family.
Annie is struggling to rebuild her life. She moves to a cottage by the sea hoping the sea works magic and she will have peace - even with memories of family vacations surrounding her.
Keaton at 6'8", large man who was taught at as a child to stay silent so has spent life keeping to himself.
Besides working with his best friend, Preston, and friend Mellie, a recluse herself, rescue abused animals.
Annie begins working at a clinic and after a week is part of a team and has found her purpose.

Circles collide and friendships grow...changes are made.

Everyone has a choice- to accept love and friendship or can reject it.

Reading this book will place you
by the sea, hearing the breeze and seagulls and the waves crashing.

I highly highly recommend!!

This book was a truly wonderfully written book . Debbie Macomber always seems to be able to pull you in and get you invested in the book at an early point. Annie was the main character and was truly a women that had gone through much heartbreak. I love that she was able to go to her summer childhood home in Oceanside. Oceanside provided her some much needed respite and was able to help heal her broken heart. Even while Annie was going through so much she was able to help others in need, both human and animals. The book is a page turner and will play with your emotions throughout. Get your copy - you won't regret it!

Cottage by the Sea quickly caught my attention as I started reading it. Normally I read a couple books at a time and switch between them as my mood changes, but once I started this one I didn't want to read anything else. Also, I'm a huge sucker for the "gentle, quiet giant" trope, so I was loving Keaton as a character. I also really love stories set in beach tones, so I was all set.

While the plot had a bit of predictability in regards to Keaton's and Annie's relationship, I didn't really mind. It made sense for the established characters, and I also very much enjoyed the subplots about Britt's family and Mellie and Preston.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable read for me and it's definitely going on my list of favorites.

Twelve years ago, Keaton was mesmerized by the girl on the beach with the long braid. Having been teased and tortured for his size, he was used to brushing it off; however, when she decides to stand up for him, he vows to talk to her the next time she comes back. Summer after summer he waits, but she never returns.

After the tragic accident that causes Annie to lose all of her immediate family, her therapist and cousin suggest that she finds her happy place. After months of a dark depression and guilt of surviving, Annie drives to Oceanside just for a night. After the peace she feels, she decides to try and start over again in this little seaside town. Things aren't off to an easy start, but she is determined to focus on a fresh start.

My aunt was a huge fan of Debbie Macomber, having only read one of her Christmas novels, I knew I had to give this a shot. The story is sweet and progresses nicely. This book contained one of my favorite male character types: the gentle giant. My heart just melted once I meet Keaton and I knew that I was going to be in for an amazing story. The only drawback that I had was that the ending was a little choppy compared to the rest of the book. I am not sure if it was just from rushing or the writing just didn't flow as well from one chapter to the next in the end. My favorite part was all of the characters and the representation present among them. I feel like it was done tastefully and with an encouraging tone that shows you can overcome no matter what you face. Overall, an amazing read and one that convinced me that I need more from Debbie Macomber!

*NetGalley - I requested access to this book prior to publication. All opinions and reviews are my own and not solicited by the author, publisher, or NetGalley. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the chance to read the arc!

I like the book but it just did not give me the warm and fuzzy that I usually get from Debbie Macomber. Maybe it is because I had just finished one of her books that did give me that feeling. There are some heavy issues that the characters bring to this story.. It weighed me down. I needed to be in a different mind to give the book a higher rating.

After a horrible tragedy and needing to find herself, Annie decides to takes a job in the town where her family always vacationed growing up. Keaton remembers the little girl which the braided hair that her was too afraid to speak to during those summer vacations. When the two reunite as adults the sparks are there and the two take a long and emotional journey to find love and acceptance when the rest of the world seemed to be against you. With beautifully written characters and a true and honest storyline, Debbie Macomber once again brings the reader along for a wonderful but emotional ride.

Great novel about survival, hope, love and healing. The best part of this book is the young woman’s discovery of helping others is how to heal, grow and move on. The romance is a plus.

This is the perfect summertime read!
Who hasn't spent time on the beach somewhere as a kid and met the best looking boy or girl and fallen in love right on the spot.
However, we all went back home to our real lives and saved it in our memories to think about every now and then.
Keaton has lives on the beach always, and has never forgotten that beautiful girl named Annie. When he sees her again one day watching the ocean, he thinks it is almost a dream. He has loved her and thought about her since the first time he met her.
Annie comes back to live in the beach house she and her family rented every week when she was young and is trying to look for happy memories of her family who have died is a sudden tragedy.
Coincidence? I think not.
This book will have you cheering on the friendship and also at times shedding tears as each chapter unfolds. Excellent quick read!

Annie's life was struck by a tragedy so deep that you could feel her anguish and despair. When she finds herself in Oceanside, I could almost feel the sand under my toes and feel the burden lift from Annie's soul as she realized that she had found her place in the world where she could move forward. I enjoyed following Annie on her journey and the characters that she meets, from tall Keaton who remembered her from childhood to her landlady and neighbor Mellie. The characters made me smile several times as I got to know them. A sweet story.

Debbie Macomber does it again! She has a gift for weaving a story that keeps her readers up long into the night- I can never put her books down! In Cottage by the Sea, I felt immediately drawn to Annie's character as she dealt with horrible grief. In seeking to recover, she returns to a seaside town, a small beach town where she has happy memories from her childhood vacations. It is here that she finds a way to settle in and start to live once again. Annie feels a strong connection to Keaton, who is a "gentle giant", and a talented artist. She also is determined to make friends with her very reclusive landlady Mellie who she remembers from her childhood vacations. Many in town are drawn to Annie by her kindness and by her skills as a physician assistant, particularly a local troubled teen Britt and her younger brother. This is easily a book I will read again and again!

Cottage by the Sea by Debbie Macomber
This book brings you comfort and warmth like a favorite sweater. But all of this authors' books do the same.  I enjoyed the setting and would love to live there. Small beachside communities can restore a persons heart as it did in this book. Sometimes it seemed a little too simple sounding but the last part of the book explains this away. Thank you Net Galley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the opportunity to read this novel.

This book has a wonderful story line and characters that you hate to see leave. A story of turning tragedy into something positive. Highly Recommended

Lovely. I curled up on the weekend and DEVOURED this story. Fun, loving, well written. Loved it. I think this author is (again) one of my favorites

Cottage by the Sea is a heart wrenching story about four people who have suffered greatly. The story progresses as the main characters gradually heal and find love. This story is definitely a tear jerker.

I just love Debbie Macomber books, you can always count on her for a sweet sweet story that renews your belief in love and romance.

In Cottage By the Sea, Annie was living the carefree lifestyle in LA, doing whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted to. Then tragedy struck, over Thanksgiving weekend, her family was gathering at there home near Seattle when a mudslide wiped out her parents home. Annie lost her parents, her brother and his wife, and her baby niece. Suffering from survivor's guilt (she was asked to come but refused to because she made plans with her cousin to shop and hang out) and depressed, she decides to take her cousin's advice and go find her happy place. She decides to head to Oceanside, 3 hours outside of Seattle and rents a cottage that her family rented every summer when she was a child. There, she meets Keaton, a gentle giant who first fell in love with her years ago, when she was a teen and visited the island. She befriends her agoraphobic landlord and finds her niche as a physician's assistant in the local health clinic.

I'm not going to lie, Keaton comes off as pretty darn creepy in the beginning of the book. Too creepy. Luckily, he evolves beautifully as the story gets told as do all the characters. In typical DM fashion, I was won over by the cast of characters and the Pacific Northwest setting that she uses in all of her books.

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2367896338

Debbie Macomber has once again written a story that you won't want to miss. Cottage By the Sea is about psychologically wounded people coming together to help one another heal their wounds and find love in the process.

Macomber does it again with another feel good story. Hope, redemption and starting anew. A happy read especially with the doom and gloom today's news brings us. I was sorry the book came to an end.