Dockside at Avalon’s Willow Lake

Dockside by Susan Wiggs

Lakeshore Chronicles #3

Fiction/Romance, Published 2007

Read April 2010

Challenges: Series Challenge IV

Shelf Life: 2 yrs, 1 mo. – Purchased 3-19-08

Verdict: 4.2/5

• #1: Summer at Willow Lake
• #2: The Winter Lodge
  

From the Cover:

With her daughter grown and flown, Nina Romano is ready to embark on a new adventure.  She’s waited a long time for dating, travel and chasing dreams.  But just as she’s beginning to enjoy being on her own, she finds herself falling for Greg Bellamy, owner of the charming Inn at Willow Lake and a single father with two kids of his own.

Greg lost his first marriage to a demanding career.  Now he’s determined to make a new start before it’s too late.  Juggling work, raising his young son and helping his newly grown daughter face life’s ultimate challenge, he has no time to fall in love.  Still, with Nina Romano, love feels just right this time around.

Thoughts:

I’m so behind on this series (not to mention my reviews).  It seems Susan Wiggs is pumping out a new book every six months or so and I’m steadily getting further and further behind (Lakeshore Chronicles is now up to 7, not to mention a few of her other series I desperately want to get to), but I soon forget all of this when I pick up one of her books and don’t put it down until the story concludes.  I should mention that some of her new releases are republishings, but I’m still happy to see all the pretty new covers.

The Lakeshore Chronicles books make me think of summer camp, slowly intertwining yourself into another world for a short time and then not wanting to leave all your new friends as the summer season comes to a close.

In a way these books are stand-alones, but there are mentions of other members of the Bellamy family that were explored in previous books and it is this reason I would recommend reading them in order.  It’s always nice to see how  characters’ loves and losses ended up after their happy or not so happy endings.

As far as the romance scale is concerned, Susan Wiggs includes no vulgarity or explicit sex scenes.  Most of the romance is romantic tension between the characters, usually a case of both loving each other without wanting to admit to it.  So with that out of the way, there are multiple unplanned teen pregnancies throughout the series so far.  Nina is at the end of her roller coaster situation with her daughter moving on to college and Daisy, Greg’s teenage daughter, is just on the outset of her ride.  Maybe there’s something in the water at Willow Lake?

Next Up: Snowfall at Willow Lake where we find out the story behind the much detested Sophie, Greg’s ex-wife.

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Lakeshore Chronicles 1

Summer at Willow Lake

Susan Wiggs

Fiction/Romance, Published 2006

Read March 2008

4.5/5

From the Beginning:

“Olivia Bellamy tried to decide what was worse. Being trapped at the top of a flagpole with no help in sight, or having help arrive in the form of a Hells Angel.

Her plan to raise the flags over Camp Kioga for the first time in ten years had seemed so simple. Then the cable and pulley snagged, but Olivia was undaunted. She had set up an old aluminum ladder and climbed to the top, only to discover she still couldn’t reach the snag. Shinnying up the pole was no big deal, she told herself — until she accidentally kicked over the ladder.”

Overall Opinion:

During college Olivia blossomed into a butterfly, so unlike the caterpillar she had been during her adolescence, not to mention every summer at Camp Kioga. Olivia, known as Lolly at camp, ate her way through her parent’s divorce and was often made fun of by the other campers. Now, transformed with a new look, she is a very beautiful and successful businesswoman with her own home staging business. Olivia has also had three failed engagements. After her latest breakup, her grandparents want Olivia to renovate Camp Kioga for their 50th wedding anniversary. As soon as Olivia leaves the city and enters the gates of Camp Kioga, she is once again faced with all her old insecurities, including her first love – Connor Davis, who she reluctantly hires as the project manager.

A myriad of people have joined Olivia at the camp to help out with the renovation project. I love the way Susan Wiggs portrays all of her characters. Several family members and friends are forever intertwined by their adventures at Camp Kioga. The book switches back and forth from the present to the past, filling in the blanks for several of the Bellamy family members. Although Olivia is the main character, the book is not always written from her viewpoint.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book and at almost 600 pages, I read this book in about 2 days. I’m definitely looking forward to following up on the rest of the Lakeshore Chronicles.

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