An emotionally rich love story with themes of lost and found family in a stunning Norwegian island setting.
Twenty-nine-year-old Ella Nilsen has never known her parents—or even how her mother died. Raised by her emotionally distant Norwegian grandmother, Hilda, Ella has long accepted that the topic of her parents is off-limits. When Hilda passes away, Ella is shocked to find that her inheritance includes a summer cottage perched above the sea in a place called Lyngør, a remote island in Norway. To sell it, she’ll have to visit the cottage and take stock of what’s there—and maybe Lyngør holds the key to her mother’s mysterious passing, if she can get the locals to talk.
For as long as he can remember, Leif Arnesen, a thirty-four-year-old boatbuilder in Lyngør, has carried grief and shame from his father’s death, an accident that upended their small community. When Ella breezes into Lyngør looking for answers, her very presence stirs up old ghosts and earns her the villagers’ suspicions. As sparks begin to fly between Leif and Ella and their relationship blossoms quickly, everything Leif knows to be true threatens to capsize.
Perfect for fans of Jennifer Probst’s Our Italian Summer and set amid the rough and wild beauty of the Norwegian archipelagoes, Kimbra Drake’s Where the Heart Meets the Sea asks what happens when we’re forced to rewrite the stories that have defined our lives—and what we do with the next chapters.
What did I think?
Where the Heart Meets the Sea is a stunning novel that completely captivated me and swept me away to the Norwegian coast. With an abundance of secrets, a dash of mystery and a heartwarming romance, this fabulous book really does have it all.
I loved the main characters of Ella and Leif. Ella only planned a short visit to Lyngør to sell the cottage she inherited and to scatter her grandmother's ashes. Boatbuilder Leif is drawn to Ella like a moth to a flame and their blossoming romance clearly upsets some of the locals. With long buried secrets threatening to resurface, her visit to Lyngør makes Ella question everything she thought she knew about her mother and grandmother.
This is a real diamond of a novel; it is so multi-faceted that I'm surprised the pages didn't actually sparkle. There is plenty of drama, lots of romance and jaw-dropping revelations to enthrall and entertain the reader from start to finish. I loved it and couldn't put it down.
Atmospheric, emotional and uplifting, Where the Heart Meets the Sea is an unforgettable novel that charmed and delighted me. A very highly recommended read.
I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.
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