A brilliant and emotional story with believable characters. I am hooked on this series and I look forward to reading more

This was the first book by this author I've read, and I will read more in future. Book was well written, emotional at times, and entertaining up to the end.

Lily has a unexpected inheritance,can she make it everything she dreams.The premises of this story is great. Likeable characters and a easy to read storyline.

An unexpected inheritance brings Lily back to Dune island where she tries to forgive and move on. More secrets threaten her happiness,can she resolve everything?

Kristin Harper’s Lily’s Secret Inheritance is a heart-warming and heart-wrenching tale about secrets, forgiveness and finding somewhere to belong perfect for Debbie Macomber fans.

Nobody is more surprised than Lily when her estranged aunt Dahlia dies and leaves her the family home and cranberry farm. Dahlia had betrayed Lily in the worst possible way and Lily doesn’t want anything from her aunt, so she fully intends to head to Dune Island, sell up and use the money to give her little boy a future. However, Lily should know that Dune Island gets under your skin and into your soul – especially with farm manager and high school crush Jake Benson determined to do whatever it takes to stop her from selling up!

Jake helps Lily turn part of the house into a produce store and his stories about Dahlia make her realize how much she’s missed her aunt and whether she had been too hasty in writing her off and shutting her out of her life. Coming back to Dune Island has helped Lily to see things in a different light and spending so much time with Jake has her wondering whether she should think about building a future with him and calling the island home for good.

Lily cannot remember a time when she was this happy – until she clears out her aunt’s bedroom and discovers that Dahlia was keeping another secret from her. Lily’s heart is shattered all over again as she wonders whether she should tell Jake the painful truth about her family’s past – or whether she should resign herself to the fact that she simply does not belong on Dune Island.

Kristin Harper’s Lily’s Secret Inheritance is escapism of the highest order. A gorgeous page-turner full of emotion, drama, charm and romance, Lily’s Secret Inheritance is a story about hope, second chances, healing from the past and falling in love that makes for perfect autumnal reading.

Find a comfy chair, a cozy blanket and make a huge mug of chocolate and lose yourself in Kristin Harper’s enchanting new novel, Lily’s Secret Inheritance.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
This was a really sweet book that I very much enjoyed. Author did a good job and it definitely is heartfelt and compassionate.

This is one of those rare occasions where I did not enjoy a book and simultaneously thought the author wrote well. Her characters were not stilted in their interactions, nor was it hard to empathize with the emotional upheaval the people went through. It is obvious how much I am in the minority since the book is quite highly rated online.
Lily is coming home after a long period of purposeful distancing. The story moves between the past and the present every time a new piece of information comes to light. Usually, I'm not too fond of multiple mentions of a secret every couple of pages without more information being provided. In this case, even as I liked watching Lily come to terms with her reality, I just wished she'd stop referring to her split with her aunt in such anonymous tones.
The reveals happen in parts putting together the whole final picture of the events that brought about Lily's precipitous departure from Dune island and photography. Dahlia was described as such an attractive character that it was hard to see how she could have let things stay the way they did.
It is a very family-based story with strong calls towards loyalty and trust. I would still recommend this book to others, even though it did not exactly work for me!
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my reading experience of this and another book by the author.

This book was everything I wanted it to be. It had me turned pages without even realizing. It was so good!

In an effort to deal with her grief and heartache, Lily has moved away from her family’s cranberry farm. Now, she returns, after decades, to sort out her inheritance, as she is the sole heir to the family estate. All her mixed emotions about coming back here come to the fore. The book moves back and forth between the present day and the past, when Lily was in high school.

Lily’s past a moving story of a young girl orphaned and living with her loving grandparents – Selma and Lars, and her unmarried uncle, Martin. When her grandmother, suffering from cancer, needs full time care, Dahlia is hired for the job. She bring with her troublesome son, Aiden.

Dahlia soon becomes a great support to the family, helping them deal with Selma’s passing and being a great encouragement to Lily in her pursuit of photography. When Martin and Dahlia marry, she becomes part of the family. Lily and she become quite close. It is a shock to Lily when she thinks that her aunt has betrayed her and the family. This causes her to leave Dune Island suddenly and for good.

Despite their estrangement, Dahlia and Lily, have kept in touch, but Lily does not realize the extent to which her aunt has made changes on the farm. When she returns, Dahlia’s assistant Jake, shows Lily the many changes made, to help her take a decision about the estate.

Given her history, and the kind of taunts and small town gossip that she has been subjected to in the past, Lily, now a widow, is very reluctant to return. She also does not want to expose her son to this place that she has never really told him about. Her financial situation makes it imperative for her to sell the estate.

Lily does not bargain for all the good memories that come flooding into her mind, along with the unpleasant ones. She also does not expect to feel such a draw towards Jake. As she sorts through her aunt’s belongings, she makes some surprising discoveries. Will they be enough to cause her to change her mind about selling the estate?

This is a heartfelt story about love, loss, family and community. It also shows how we can allow our sometimes wrong notions to guide our feelings and actions. But forgiveness and love always triumph. And we can change and grow and move forward with hope.

Lily’s Secret Inheritance by Kristin Harper is a heartfelt story. I thought the story was easy to read. I like the author’s writing style and the pacing was peppy. I found the characters to be realistic and relatable. I enjoyed Dune Island off the coast of Massachusetts and the Lindgren cranberry farm. The author really brought the scenes alive with her word imagery especially of the cranberries in bloom. The story is told with chapters in the present (now) and chapters in the past (then). We get to see what happened at the end of Lily’s senior year of high school that caused her to break from her family. I like that we get to see Lily face real life issues. Her reactions and emotions felt genuine. We follow Lily as she deals with the past and the related emotions. The question is can Lily learn from her past mistakes or will she let the past ruin her future. There is a man from Lily’s past there as well. Sparks fly between them. I loved the ending which left a smile on my face. Lily’s Secret Inheritance is a great book to read at the beach (or by the pool) or in front of a cozy fire. Lily’s Secret Inheritance is about family, secrets, trust, home, forgiveness, and second chances. While Lily’s Secret Inheritance is the fourth book in the Dune Island series, it can be read on its own (each book can). Lily’s Secret Inheritance is a touching tale about a family farm, a past dispute, a robust boy, a charming farm manager, preceding regrets, a surprising photo, and a decisive decision.

“ An utterly beautiful beach read about family secrets, finding yourself, and learning the true meaning of home.” This quote from the book blurb sums the book up perfectly.

I have absolutely loved this story, was pretty much drawn in from the very first chapter. The setting of Dune Island sounded truly picturesque and idyllic, would loved to have been experiencing it myself for real. Adored getting to know all of the characters, learning each of the stories and seeing them all interact with each other.

The story was very well written I thought and the characters were wonderfully developed and so very real, they almost felt like real people at times, not just characters.

I spent a fair bit of the story trying to figure out what the terrible betrayal was caused by Dahlia that shattered Lily’s trust and made her leave Dune Island when she was only 17/18. Suffice to say all my guesses were wrong but I was glad of that as it meant I was surprised as to when the terrible betrayal was finally revealed.

This is the second book I’ve read by this author and she is fast becoming one of my favourite authors and so I will very much be looking forward to her next book when it comes out.

Loved this one. I was so immersed in this book and was sorry to put it down. A truly lovely story. Highly recommend this one. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Lily grew up on Dune Island, raised by her grandparents when her parents died. They owned and operated Lindgren Cranberry farm, with her Uncle Martin and Aunt Dahlia. She left the island when she turned eighteen and never returned, until now. Lily married and had a son, Ryan, before her husband died of cancer and she is now struggling to pay the hospital bills and get out of debt. When she is informed that her Aunt Dahlia has died, she and her eight year old son are the last Lindgren's left. She has inherited the Cranberry farm and needs to meet with the lawyer before she get possession of the farm. Lily doesn't want to return to the place she called home for eighteen years, and she definitely doesn't want Ryan to see the place, so leaves him with her sister-in-law's family and heads to Dune Island, to sell the farm and move on with her life. When she meets with the lawyer, an old school friend, Steve, she finds out that her aunt and the manager, Jake, have made some changes to the farm and she needs to tour the farm and the financials before she can sell it. As she looks through some of the things Aunt Dahlia left for her, she begins to rethink her life.

I have read several books by Kristin Harper, and she has become a must read author for me. Lily's Secret Inheritance is a beautifully written story about coming home again, secrets, and family. Lily is a great character, who I really related to. She had to deal with situations that anyone could find themselves in and her problems were realistic. The story is told from Lily's POV, with a dual timeline, so we learn about Lily's past growing up on Dune Island. Her childhood seemed idyllic growing up working in the cranberry bog with a loving family, but every small community has gossips and kids can be mean to one another, so Lily had some memories that were far from pleasant. Jake had been working the cranberry bog since he was a teenager and the Lindgren farm was where he planned on spending the rest of his life. He was scared and angry that Lily was planning to sell it and all his hard work and ideas would be for naught, but as they got to know each other, there were some feelings beginning to stir. Due to circumstances beyond her control, she has to stay longer than she planned and Ryan eventually come to stay with her. He is a breath of fresh air and sees the farm in a totally different way. I loved his enthusiasm, meeting new friends, finding out about the running of a cranberry bog, the bees and the upcoming July 4th celebrations. He was such a great character and wonderful addition to the story. As Lily began to remember her past and go through the things her aunt left for her to find, she realized that maybe she jumped to some conclusions, maybe her aunt had reasons to keep her secrets, maybe Lily could return home again. This is a wonderful story about family, secrets, jumping to conclusions, and coming home. Maybe the path you think your life should take, isn't the one that fate has in store

After reading and loving Harper’s #ALetterfromNanaRose, I had to read this one and am just as in love! Heart warming and with a single mom hitting close to my heart, this one is another keeper!
Thank you, #KristinHarper, @Bookouture & @netgalley for my copy! All opinions are my own. Thank you, #TeamBookouture, for including me on the tour!

I absolutely love this author's books and have read every one of them. They are the kind of book you'll read for relaxation, automatic reads for me.
We visit a past and present time line. Family is important in this story. So charming, I loved the setting,characters and fast pace.
I enjoyed reading about the cranberry farm. A return home that she hasn't been to since she was a teen has our main character looking at things in a new light. Things that seemed secretive are explained and forgiveness is key. Second chances makes for a fully satisfying book you won't be able to put down until it's over . Emotional read that reminds you not to jump to conclusions and make assumptions. Warm and relatable book that I highly recommend.

Pub Date 15 Sep 2022
I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
ll opinions expressed are my own.

Kristin Harper delivers another heart warming story - coming home, reconnecting and second chance at love.
Single mom Lily returns home - shocked to inherit her aunt's estate after years of estrangement.
Her old flame helps her convert part of the house into a local produce store. The cranberry becomes the center of town - Lily reconnects with her town, the community. And Jake.
A very sweet starting agian, second chance romance

BLOG TOUR REVIEW

Review for 'Lily's Secret Inheritance' by Kristin Harper.

Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Kristin Harper, Bookouture publishers and Bookouture anonymous

Publication Date 15th September 2022.

This is the second book I have read by this author. It is also the fourth book in the 'Dune Island' series but can be read as a standalone. I have previously read 'Summer At Hope Haven' which is the first book in this series and I would definitely recommend it.


I was originally drawn to this book by its gorgeous eye catching cover and its intriguing synopsis and title. The synopsis stated that thus book is 'Perfect for fans of Carolyn Brown, Barbara O’Neal and Mary Alice Monroe.' I am a huge fan of Carolyn so am looking forward to seeing if this lives up to this statement. I am also a fan of Kristin and if this is as good as 'Summer At Hope Haven' it is sure to be a great read. I must admit I was also biased due to the publisher being Bookouture. I have yet to read a book published by Bookouture that I haven't enjoyed. Hopefully this won't be the first... Watch this space! (Written before I started reading the book).

This novel consists of a prologue, 28 chapters and an epilogue set over 3 parts. The chapters are short to medium in length so possible to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!

This book is based on the fictional Hope Haven, Dune Island, Massachusetts, USA 🇺🇸.

This book is written in third person perspective and the main protagonist is Lily Lindgren/Perkins. The benefits of third person perspective are that it let's you see the bigger picture of what's going on and you get to know more characters more, what they are thinking and what they are doing. It feels like you get to see the whole picture and not miss out in anything.

This book is quite fast paced with absolutely stunning and vivid descriptions that really set the atmosphere. Speaking of the atmosphere I absolutely loved it and it was the perfect setting for this page turner. It is set in a cranberry farm that was part of Lily's aunts home. I must admit I have never tried cranberries before but this book has made me want to!! Who knew how many different things you can make with them but I must admit the choc-cran ice-cream sounded the nicest 😋. It is emotionally charged and filled with family, romance, lies, secrets, drama and of course plenty of cranberries!! It also included lots of information on the history of the Cranberry farm which I must say was absolutely intriguing to read. I love learning about history and although this was a fictional book I still found myself lost in the history of it all. This book really does show how one small thing can affect so many people and change so many lives. It is also about moving forward, learning how to look to the future instead of the past, forgiveness and second chances. It is beautifully written and one of those books you could read on a beach or in front of a fire. It is beautifully written with such realistic descriptions it made me feel like I was right next to Lily the whole time feeling the sand on my toes and the wind in my hair. I loved that we get to travel back into Lily's childhood and Kristin weaves these chapters in beautifully at the right times. The ending was absolutely beautiful and I am hoping to find out more about where Lily goes from the end. It genuinely felt like I had gone on holiday to Dune Island and I was devastated to come to the end and realise I had to unpack my suitcase! This book would make an absolutely gorgeous movie! I'm looking forward to reading the previous and future books in this beautiful series.

It is set over multiple time lines. When books show what has happened in the past and what is happening in the present I find it really helps the reader (if it is well done) understand why things are happening and what has lead to the present activities and decisions. It also shows the bigger picture.

Although this is the fourth book in the series I have had absolutely no problems reading it without the others. Any details or events that have previously happened are mentioned in just the right amount of detail to let a new reader know what has happened and yet not too much to bore a previous reader.

The characters were well rounded, solid and realistic. The main characters in this book are Lily and Dahlia and as a mother myself I can relate to them both. They are such strong female characters which I love seeing in novels. I loved watching Lily's character development throughout the book. My heart went out to her at the beginning of the book but by the end it was absolutely breaking. However, there were times where I thought she was a bit overprotective and overbearing. It is hard to say too much without giving too much of the storyline away. I did want to say I wish Dahlia had....so frustrating! Oh well I'll try and say as much as I can about my character thoughts. I enjoyed reading the chapters from the past and discovering how Dahlia and Lily met and I thought it was lovely to see such a beautiful friendship and then relationship develop. It also made the 'now' chapters even more emotional as you go from seeing Lily surrounded by a beautiful family to her with just Ryan and Jake on the island. I absolutely adored Ryan who was a typical boy. My son is around the same age and I can feel is frustration about not being allowed to do certain things when I would have no problems with my son doing the same. My thoughts on Jake changed throughout the book from starting by thinking he was aloof and stand offish to thinking he was handsome, sweet and would make a fantastic father. Each of these characters worked perfectly together to make this book an absolutely beautiful read. I am looking forward to meeting them all again and hopefully soon!

Congratulations Kristin on an absolutely stunning page turner!!

Overall a stunning page turner which takes you on holiday and floods you with emotions..

Genres covered include Women's Contemporary Fiction, Women's Romance Fiction and Women's Writers Fiction amongst others.

I would recommend this book to fans of the above but also for fans of Carolyn Brown, Barbara O’Neal, Mary Alice Monroe and Nicholas Sparks, being a huge fan of his I believe other fans may also enjoy this.

316 pages.

This book is £1.99 to purchase on kindle and £8.99 for paperback via Amazon which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!

Rated 5 /5 (I loved it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.

Feel free to add me on Goodreads or follow me on my website or Facebook for more reviews

#LilysSecretInheritance #DuneIslandSeries #KristinHarper #Bookouture #NetGalley #BookReview #BlogTour #BooksOnTour
@KristinHarper @Bookouture @Bookworm1986 @bookworm86

https://kcmw86.wixsite.com/bookworm86

https://m.facebook.com/Bookworm1986/?ref=bookmarks

https://m.facebook.com/Bookwork86/?__tn__=%2As-R

https://www.instagram.com/bookwormwhitlock86/

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/34299953-kirsty-bookworm86

Lily’s Secret Inheritance by Kristin Harper

Thanks #NetGalley , my favorite publisher #Bookouture and #KrisitinHarper for an ARC to review.

Single mother Lily is surprised to inherit the family home and farm after her estranged aunt Dahila’s sudden death. Facing financial problems alongside grieving her husband’s death, Lily can’t wait to sell and return to her life away from painful memories and betrayal.

I have read A letter from Nana Rose for #KrisitinHarper and I absolutely loved the author’s writing style, story setting and the way she portrays her characters. Here again #KristinHarper weaves an emotional deep tale of understanding, forgiveness and second chances through real set of blood and flesh characters in the visually endearing Dune Island.

what will be Lily’s decision, what truths she will discover about her past?

Author Bio:

Ever since she was a young girl, there were few things Kristin liked more than creative writing and spending time on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with her family. Eventually (after a succession of jobs that bored her to tears), she found a way to combine those two passions by becoming a women’s fiction author whose stories occur in oceanside settings. While Kristin doesn’t live on the Cape year-round, she escapes to the beach whenever she can.

Oh my, I loved revisiting Dune Island with Lily's Secret Inheritance. Lily is a single mum to Ryan, who left Dune Island before Graduation. Following the sad death of her Aunt, she returns with the determination of selling the property to clear her debts.... I laughed and cried throughout.

Lily hasn’t been back to Dune Island in decades but when her estranged Aunt Dahlia passes away, Lily has no other choice but to return. Lily is a single mother and was completely surprised to discover that she has inherited the family home and cranberry farm. Dahlia betrayed her family and so many years and so much unforgiveness festered throughout the family. Lily’s intent was to sell the family home and use the money for her young son’s future. But when Lily returns to the house she realizes the farm manager Jake Benson, and also her high-school crush so many years ago. Jake loves the farm and doesn’t want Lily to sell it, but can he convince Lily to keep it? Soon many buried family secrets come to light and Lily starts to wonder if she was wrong in harboring unforgiveness for so long.

I was ready to return to beautiful Dune Island so this story arrived at the perfect time. This book has all the feels and I was completely enthralled from the first page to the last. This rapidly moving story was very heartbreaking, inspirational and an absolute joy to read. Dune Island is a beautiful little town and one I would love to visit. This author does an absolutely amazing job of vividly describing the Island and I could almost hear the waves lapping on the shore and feeling the sand at my feet. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot twist and turns with the little mysteries woven throughout the story it kept me flying through the pages. This time slip novel is a story of second chances and reconciliation with family and friends and that always warms my heart. This is such a fabulous story and I highly recommend it.

Thank you Kristin Harper for such a wonderful installment to what has proven to be a beautiful series. I really enjoyed it and I absolutely recommend it.