📚Contemporary Small Town #Mystery. Rosie’s #BookReviews of The Harbor House by Mia Kent.

The Harbor House by Mia Kent
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Harbor House is book one of the Thistle Island series of contemporary small town mysteries.

Recently redundant magazine features writer Robyn answers a job advert for a lady’s companion on a small island off of the North Carolina coastline. As she settles into island life, Robyn discovers a washed up bottle with a message inside. Fellow islanders explain that there have been other bottles with messages and they can all been seen on display in the town. Interested in the story behind the bottle, Robyn agrees to help research the messages, and her journalist background kicks in with ideas to solve the mystery.

This is a light novella style story, with little time to really get to know Robyn. There are some interesting secondary characters, but I felt the story was a little rushed in places. I would have been happy with a bit more depth to the characters and storyline and a longer tale to enjoy them in.

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Book Description:

A message in a bottle. A small-town mystery. And a summer where life takes an unexpected turn.

Robyn Wright isn’t merely knocking on the door to middle age—she’s hammering on it with both fists.

And to make matters worse? Her boyfriend of more than a decade won’t seal the deal. Her former dream job is now barely paying the bills. Her eighty-year-old father is getting married again…to a woman young enough to be Robyn’s daughter.

Summer is approaching. And so is the time for a change.

When Robyn takes a part-time job as the companion to an elderly woman who lives in a beautiful harbor house on a small island off the North Carolina coast, she’s expecting a few months of solitude and a chance to reset…until a walk on the beach uncovers a message in a bottle and a decades-long mystery that Robyn feels compelled to solve.

And in unraveling the story of the lost lovers from so long ago, she might just uncover a few surprises about herself along the way.

Sink your toes into the golden-sand beaches of Thistle Island, where strangers are friends, sunshine is plentiful, and the ocean is always just a few steps away. This feel-good small-town women’s fiction series is perfect for readers of all ages.

Author’s note: This is a continuing series that follows the lives of the residents of Thistle Island throughout multiple books that are best read in order.

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