Seaview Inn
Sherryl Woods
Mira, Mar 2008, $6.99
ISBN 9780778325291

In New York public relations executive Hannah Mathews is frightened that the disease will return as breast cancer recently killed her mother, but also feels good that for now she is in remission. Hannah decides to visit her beloved Grandma Jenny in the Florida Keys where she hopes to persuade the feisty octogenarian to sell her Seaview Inn resort that needs renovation.

However, Grandma Jenny rejects her granddaughter's assertion to relax and enjoy her golden years. Instead the elderly woman plans to fix up the inn and reopen for business. Not long after she arrived, Hannah's college age daughter, Kelsey shows up at the Seaview Inn. Single Kelsey is pregnant, but plans to put the baby up for adoption. Luke Stevens, the man whom Hannah was in love with at high school, arrives in the Keys needing some R&R after working as a battlefield surgeon in Iraq although he fears that may not prove enough to eliminate the war demons.

SEAVIEW INN is a terrific contemporary romance due to the flawed lead characters who struggle with personal traumas and falling in love at a time when neither feels capable of giving the other all they deserve from them. Grandma Jenny is a delightful support player whose energy is admirable when it comes to her inn but especially as she pushes the ailing duet towards one another. Readers will appreciate this fine tale of love between a pair already overloaded with stress.

Harriet Klausner