Review: The Guest Cottage by Nancy Thayer

The Guest Cottage by Nancy Thayer

Published: May 12, 2015

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Format: via Edelweiss

Challenges: 2015 NG/EW

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

Sensible thirty-six-year-old Sophie Anderson has always known what to do. She knows her role in life: supportive wife of a successful architect and calm, capable mother of two. But on a warm summer night, as the house grows quiet around her and her children fall asleep, she wonders what’s missing from her life. When her husband echoes that lonely question, announcing that he’s leaving her for another woman, Sophie realizes she has no idea what’s next. Impulsively renting a guest cottage on Nantucket from her friend Susie Swenson, Sophie rounds up her kids, Jonah and Lacey, and leaves Boston for a quiet family vacation, minus one.

Also minus one is Trevor Black, a software entrepreneur who has recently lost his wife. Trevor is the last person to imagine himself, age thirty and on his own, raising a little boy like Leo—smart and sweet, but grappling constantly with his mother’s death, growing more and more closed off. Hoping a quiet summer on the Nantucket coast will help him reconnect with Leo, Trevor rents a guest house on the beautiful island from his friend Ivan Swenson.

Best-laid plans run awry when Sophie and Trevor realize they’ve mistakenly rented the same house. Still, determined to make this a summer their kids will always remember, the two agree to share the Swensons’ Nantucket house. But as the summer unfolds and the families grow close, Sophie and Trevor must ask themselves if the guest cottage is all they want to share.

My Thoughts

Sophie is blown away when her husband tells her he wants a divorce. She has always been a devoted wife and mother but when the news hits her she decides she wants time for herself and her kids, a summer of fun and relaxation for once without thinking of her husband first and their troubles at home. Due to a mix up she finds herself sharing a beach house with Trevor. Trevor whose eccentric wife has just died finds himself at the beach house trying to console his young son and his feelings about his mom. Two different people with two different sets of parenting come together seamlessly. From the start both just to fit together so well that you can’t help but want to see them get together.

I like how we see them deal with each other and their problems instead of sweeping them under the rug. They help each other where the one is weak the other is strong, building the ultimate friendship that is a must in any relationship but of course nothing goes off easy. There are problems they have to deal with, his… how will his son react…hers she still is married and does she want to start something so serious so soon plus she has  issues with the age gap…it’s only like 4 years [GET OVER IT Sophie!]

I have been a huge fan of Nancy Thayer for a while now but I must say this one is my favorites by a long shot. The characters are wonderful, the storyline is amazing and I just felt this was a complete and rich story and I couldn’t ask for anything more. This is a MUST summer read!