The One Real Thing by Samantha young
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Another amazing story from Samantha Young. I'm already desperate for the next instalment!
I absolutely adore Samantha Young’s writing and the stories she tells are beautiful. With so many layers to this book, I found that I was kept on tenterhooks throughout. You know you've found a great story when you don't want to put the book down and The One Real Thing definitely kept me enthralled.
The story sets out by introducing us to Jessica Huntington. A general surgeon who, having lost her way in her career, now finds herself working within a women's correctional and rehabilitation facility. Jessica thinks that she enjoys her job and she does until she comes across the seaside city of Hartwell. After finding hidden letters within a book from the prison library, Jessica decides to find the recipient of the unposted letters which are now forty years old.
With leave due, and Jessica’s plans unexpectedly cancelled, she decides to hand deliver the letters in the hope that they can bring some peace to those involved in the emotive story held within them.
Arriving in Hartwell, Jessica immediately finds peace within the boardwalk. Staying in Bailey Hartwell’s Inn, Jessica soon finds a loyal friend in Bailey and the pair quickly become firm friends. But it's Cooper Lawson who really captures Jessica’s attention. After running into him, and seeking an escape from the rain in his bar, Jessica and Cooper experience an immediate mutual attraction. Cooper knows for certain that he's not prepared to let Jessica slip through his fingers and decides to do everything he can to make her his. Jessica though has a casual relationship back home and despite only using Andrew, another surgeon, purely for sex, they had agreed to be exclusive.
With a close-knit community comes drama though and Jessica realises that there is no such thing as a secret in Hart’s Boardwalk and that's where we meet the key players in this book. From the quiet and secretive Emery, to Iris and Ira, we experience a real feeling of belonging, that is also felt by Jessica, who soon starts to realise that that she can't turn her back on this town and especially Cooper.
With uncertainty comes romance as Cooper decides he is done waiting for Jessica to come to him. From the moment they connect, Jessica knows her life will never be the same as her heart starts to flutter to Cooper’s beat but unbeknownst to Cooper, Jessica has a secret and a painful past that she is reluctant to reveal, that is until the unscrupulous Ian Devlin finds out. The Devlin’s are the town’s painful reminder of its vulnerability as the family try to make the Boardwalk theirs, by whatever methods they choose and that includes blackmail. What they don't foresee is the strength in unity courtesy of the rest of the Boardwalk community.
With the fight against Ian Devlin comes the realisation that for Jessica to stay in Hartwell and with Cooper she must reveal her secret to him and boy is it s big secret.
I really felt for Jessica throughout this book and when her secret was finally revealed I cried for her pain. Fortunately though her HEA is within her reach but only if she can trust Cooper to accept her for who she is.
Throughout this book, the scene for the next instalment is set and I can't wait to read it. Set to be a romance between bitter hotel rivals: Bailey Hartwell and Vaughn Tremaine. Now that's going to be one teasingly sexy story to read!
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