Accidentally Perfect

January 24, 2022
Clarke (the Anderson Brothers series) gets the Hideaway Harbor series off to a soft start with this overly expositional outing, which weighs down its heroine with the dual responsibility of finding a happy ending and boosting her new hometown’s population to attract love connections for her friends in installments to come. Lillian Mahoney is the brains behind the massively successful Living Sharpe lifestyle brand, though handsome, lazy spokesperson Niles Sharpe gets all the credit. When a falling out with Niles threatens her professional future, she escapes to her sister’s vacation cottage in charming but dying Blink, Maine. Ridiculously, local boat builder Caleb Wright immediately suspects Lillian to be a gold-digging scammer, based solely on seeing her strike up a conversation with a sweet old man she has no way of knowing is the town’s wealthiest landowner. Caleb’s determined to catch her in her con, leading to several silly confrontations until Caleb (finally) realizes that Lillian is actually a bright, well-meaning woman determined to revitalize the town. With a little help from a blueberry pie contest and the Living Sharpe empire, Lillian may turn Blink into a vacation destination yet—albeit not without some amusing mishaps along the way. Though a bit light in its own right, this sets things up nicely for future series outings.

January 7, 2022

Lillian Mahoney has never met a problem she could not fix, but after her career implodes, she finds herself in the tiny town of Blink, ME, far removed from power lunches, executive assistants, and the bright lights of New York City. Enveloped by the community of Blink, Lillian envisions revamping this tiny town and helping the people she is starting to see as friends. And then there is gorgeous Caleb Wright, who makes her heart race and inspires indecent thoughts. Left behind before, Caleb isn't ready give his heart away again. Can these two opposites discover that completely wrong can sometimes be accidentally perfect? VERDICT With the book's quirky characters and unique vistas, fans of Clarke's (Dear Jane) will be delighted by the "Hideaway Harbor" series launch.--Judy Garner

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.