Starfish Pier is book six in the Hope Harbor series. Despite being my first visit to this charming seaside town, I didn’t feel disadvantaged in not reading the first five. However, I will be going back, because I adored this book.

The opening chapter intrigued me. What made Steven so guarded and why did Holly have poor balance. Both souls seemed wounded and my attention was grabbed. From there, Ms. Hannon threw in a pair of sociable seagulls, a grumpy neighbor, visionary taco truck owner and an alcoholic brother.

Wow. That’s a lot.

What followed, was me, sneaking away at every opportunity to read a few more pages. As a newbie writer, the way the subplots and secondary characters were woven in, felt like a masterclass in story development.

I liked that Holly had a disability, and Steven saw it, but didn’t find it in any way off putting. As a mom with little girl who has a small disability, I found the approach refreshing. He didn’t pity her, or patronize her. Steven just cared.

And Holly didn’t let her condition stop her, despite it adding several levels of difficulty. Both characters were refreshingly independent and lived their own lives, even while slowly becoming entwined with the other.

I found the alcoholism thread quite moving and liked how sensitively Hannon handled it, and in a non-predictable manner. So yes, I am now going back to start at book one, and I expect to thoroughly enjoy my time in Hope Harbor. If you can buy one of the books in the series, I expect you will too.

For more great reads, check out my most anticipated reads of 2020 (so far)…

To connect with Irene Hannon via her website, click here…

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