Cottage by the Sea is an exceptionally well written book, as any Debbie Macomber fan would expect. I was pulled into the plot immediately. I loved the quirky cast of characters and the setting. Have the tissues handy as you just might need them.

I love this book. Its sad, touching, romantic and loving. This book is about self growth, friendship, communcation, and courage. Out of tragedy, a young woman goes back to her happy place, a place where as a child she and her family shared glorious happy, laughter filled days. As a grieving adult Annie returns to the cottage by the sea, where she finds friends and a community that help her through the greiving process, and she helps them overcome the obstacles that prevent them from being happy.

This book dealt with several tough issues that showed what love and patience can do to heal a person.

Will leave 5 star review on Amazon under name of Connie

So moving and beautifully written. I was brought to tears many times reading this story. I highly recommend it.
The value of family, friendship and love are well represented along with all the things that can and do go wrong in life. I will be thinking about this book for a long time.

Debbie MacComber gives her readers well developed characters with realistic flaws & issues that engage our hearts & sympathies from the beginning. Keaton is considered an oddity because of his height, large build & extreme shyness. He doesn't like being put on the spot & stumbles over his words if he is. Annie is a wonderfully energetic teenager when we first meet her, an annoyed young woman next & last a depressed sad young woman fighting her way out of grief & trying to survive. These two are drawn to something in each other from the beginning. Annie also manages to bring secondary characters into her circle with their own flaws that she is able to help them with. I enjoyed going on Annie's journey back to life & happiness with her. Her character managed to draw Keaton & Mellie out of their respective shells & help them. There were several times I struggled to fight back tears, bite back laughter, & smile while reading. Ms. MacComber has managed to touch my heart with another terrific book.

Cottage by the Sea is another winner by Debbie Macomber. The story starts out with Annie as a teenager with her brother and parents at Oceanside. A place they go for a week every summer. You are also introduced to Keaton who sees Annie and is instantly drawn to her. Keaton is very large, over 6 1/2 feet tall and is very shy. It takes a while but Keaton finally gets up the nerve to talk to her even though he doesn't talk much. As per usual, the boys around make fun of him. Annie tells them to stop and Keaton is more enamored.

You are first introduced to Annie as an adult telling her mother that she already has plans for Thanksgiving and can't come home. She has plans to party with friends. This decision saves her life as her parents, brother, sister-in-law, and niece are all killed in a mudslide. For the next 16 months, Annie deals with deep depression knowing her life is forever changed. She knows she has survivor's guilt but just can't seem to start feeling alive again until her cousin tells her to find a place that had happy memories for her. Annie recalls her childhood visits to Oceanside and decides to see if it could be the place. It helped her in the past and hopes that it will help this time.

At Oceanside, Annie feels some of the weight lift. After she heads back to Seattle, the depression starts back in. The one good thing about the trip is that Annie starts to think about going back to work as a Physicians Assistant. As Annie starts to look for a job, there happens to be an opening in Oceanside. She applies for the position and gets an interview right away. Annie interviews with the doctor only to find out that he would like to retire, but they can't find a doctor to replace him and the last PAs they hired left quickly. She is required to sign a one year contract.

Since she got the job, Annie really wants to rent out the cottage her family stayed at during the summers. She finds the house and cottage in disrepair when she knocks on the main house. She knows someone is in there but won't answer the door. When Annie goes to the realtor to inquire about the cottage, Keaton is there painting the office. Annie doesn't remember him, but he remembers her. As she inquires about the cottage, the realtor tells her that she doesn't have much of a chance. Keaton knows the owner well, Mellie, and offers to talk to her for Annie.

Thus starts the romance of Annie and Keaton. Annie understands Keaton's silence and accepts him as is. As time goes on, Annie starts to integrate herself into the town. The story continues as a beautiful love story with both Annie and Keaton growing as people together.

I loved being taken on their journey. Debbie Macomber writes real people with real issues. Cottage by the Sea truly grabbed me from the get go and never let me go. I finished the book in a day and life has been crazy lately. I really wanted to finish the book, but didn't want it to end. My only wish was that at different times, if she delved deeper into Keaton. He was such a great character that I wanted to know more!

Annie had the worst tragedy in her life happen to her, and after, felt her life sinking lower and lower. She decided to go to the cottage where she spent summers with her family- a place that made her happy to try and heal. There, she felt herself slowly feeling more like herself and while she is getting back to health, she also helped others recover from their wounds.
A feel good book, just perfect for summer reading.

This book starts out with a tragedy. On Thanksgiving morning Annie loses her entire family in a horrific mudslide. With overwhelming guilt for not being there with them, she decides to move to a "Happy Place" where she spent many summer vacations with her family in an oceanside cottage.

To her delight the same cottage is still empty and she manages to rent it for a year from a troubled neighbor Mellie. In this process she meets Mellies behemoth friend Keaton and the attraction is mutual.

After Annie finds a job at the clinic as a P.A. she rallies to the side of a troubled family - that almost costs her job.

When the clinic offers her an opportunity to become a M.D. her dream, she must decide to go back to Seattle for schooling or leave Oceanside and Keaton and all of her new friends.

You must read to find out how this situation is handled!

This is an excellent read, and I love the undercurrent of matchmaking, and helping with animal abuse.

This kept me reading, and I cound NOT put it down. Order your's today or buy as a gift.

Once again Debbie Macomber has written a winner. Cottage by the Sea is a romantic novel that deals with heart-wrenching life experiences for Mellie and Annie as well as for Keaton and Preston. Loss and love in life are two of the most profound relationships that all individuals encounter in life. Debbie Macomber weaves these experiences beautifully into her novel. I couldn't stop reading it.

Cottage by the Sea by Debbie Macomber
#CottageByTheSea #NetGalley
Starts with works by the author. Story starts out with a glimpse of a summer day and Annie is leaving but she's left an impression on the almost 7ft tall Kenton.
Annie is a physician assistant in southern CA and she's supposed to go home to the northwest coast sooner than for Christmas. Her brother, would be there with his wife, Kelly and child, Bella.
Her cousin Gabby would be arriving soon and they'd be spending Thanksgiving together in southern CA. They wake to a call telling them her parents house had slid down a hill and nothing was left-they were all gone, parents, brother and his family. We called our daughter when we saw this on the real news to find out if they were ok as it was in the same area they live-they had driven by the place but the road had been closed and detours were up, devastation had already happened.
..
11 months later and she finds her moving back to Seattle, waiting for attorneys and body remains....they encourage her to envision a happy place til she recalls the summer trip...her first kiss, at the cottage at the sea...
With an opening she nails the job of PA and is able to rent the cottage with Kenton's help. She remembers him and Melly.
Like how she gets others together as they both need help from one another. She finds herself in a heap of trouble by intruding on others...love prescious treasures Keaton has given her.
She is given a chance of a lifetime and you listen to her talk to others to help her decide which path to take...also love how she helps Mellie with her problems...get such good feelings reading this.
Unpredictable, many twists along the way, good all around read.
Received this review copy from the author via NetGalley Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Ballantine Books and this is my honest opinion.

Cottage by the Sea took me to my happy place! I loved the quirky, realistic characters and the way they unwittingly helped each other overcome personal obstacles to form a family.