Eve's Reviews > The Country Guesthouse

Series: Sullivan's Crossing, book #5

Hannah Russell (35) returns home early from a corporate retreat and finds her fiancé in bed with another woman. This put an end to her 2nd engagement. There are more bad news -- her best friend Erin unexpectantly dies due to pneumonia-caused complications and leave behind a 5-year-old son Noah. Erin was a single mother and estranged from her mother, so she named Hannah as her son's guardian. Hannah has no experience with motherhood but she accept the challange to take care of Noah.

Hannah has previously visited a lakeside house in Colorado and she enjoyed that place and people. She decide to go there again, this time with Noah. When they arrive, they discover that the home’s owner, photographer Owen Abrams and his adorable dog Romeo are also there. To their surprise they quickly find enjoyment in each others company.

Plot sounded interesting enough but the execution was not very good. Thanks to multiple POVs there were too many repetitions, no surprises. Dialogue sounded stilted and dry. I've read several Robyn Carr's books now and so many of her characters have lost someone, have some kind of partner or health issues. Little kids act like adults (its unreal how advanced 5- or 2-year-olds are in Carr's books). There are lots of bad and frustrating things thrown in together, yet, it lacked emotional depth. I felt like I am reading summary instead of experiencing and feeling things along with the main characters (telling vs showing). I never really felt invested in the plot and characters. It wasn't bad but I wasn't impressed either.