Till Then Smile Often

Being from New England I have always lived within 30-45 minutes from the Ocean. I am a nature girl to my core, from hiking the mountains in New Hampshire, the Lobster towns of Maine, to the shores of Cape Cod. Being able to wake up to the sound of the waves, seeing the sun rise and reading a good book is my idea of a perfect day. 

 When I was asked if I would like to review Joanne DeMaio’s follow up to Blue Jeans and Coffee Beans I jumped at the chance. You can read my review of the first book here. **NOTE: I received a free Advanced copy of the book, in return for an honest review. I am opinionated, I tell it like it is, all opinions are my own. 

 

Goodreads: During two August weeks, denim designer Maris Carrington and coastal architect Jason Barlow prepare for their much-anticipated wedding. Guests arrive early, turning keys in charming cottage doors to begin their New England summer escape. The wedding is a reason for old friends to gather again; to meet in their shabby beach hangout and get the jukebox cranking; to walk that weathered boardwalk beneath a starry sky; to breathe the sweet salt air. “Cures what ails you,” one of the friends, Neil, always said long before his life was sadly claimed. But his legacy was not.

When Maris discovers Neil’s long-lost journal, its passages reveal a heartbreaking secret. Can truths be found within its timeworn pages? Can this leather-bound journal unite the friends as their lives begin to fray? A bittersweet family reunion, a surprising encounter from a devastating accident, a shocking confession leaving one marriage shattered–all will test the once close-knit circle. Suddenly this safe haven on the tranquil Connecticut shoreline churns with emotional turmoil, threatening even the beach wedding just days before it is to happen.

Yet like a silver cap on a breaking wave, love and friendship wash ashore with hope, ever shimmering, in The Denim Blue Sea.

 

My Thoughts: Picking up just about a year after the first book ended we catch back up with the characters of Stony Point. Maris the denim designer is in the midst of planning her wedding while trying to create new denim designs. She is inspired by the waves of the ocean, and the breaks in the waves. 

Her fiance Jason struggled in the first book to move forward after losing his brother in the same accident that took his leg. Walks on the beach and talking into the ocean with the hopes of his brother answering helped him stay connected. Finding his brothers lost journal is important, so he can continue his brother’s vision in the restoration business they started together.

My favorite couple from the last book Lauren and Kyle return with their relationship stronger than ever, but secrets shared and found in the journal have the power to destroy what they have worked so hard to repair.

This book makes you feel like you are at the beach, that you could be friends with this group. It reinforces that good friends and family are all that matter. It reminds you that people are flawed and they make mistakes, but they try. It left me in tears and touched my heart. This is a feel good happily ever after that leaves you dreaming for a vacation on the beach. 

 

Insider Inspiration from Joanne: This photo is a favorite of mine, capturing a blue-sky summer day on the boardwalk at Connecticut’s Point O’ Woods Beach. This gem of a beach inspires my fictional seaside setting of Stony Point. But even more than that, I based The Denim Blue Sea wedding reception scene on this very stretch of boardwalk. It seemed the perfect place for old friends to gather and toast a future filled with vast possibility.

 

Joanne DeMaio is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary fiction. She enjoys writing about friendship, family, love and choices, while setting her stories in New England towns or by the sea. Her fifth novel, The Denim Blue Sea, was recently published. Currently at work on her next book, Joanne lives with her family in Connecticut. To learn more about the author, visit Joannedemaio.com. She also enjoys hearing from readers on her Facebook Page and on Twitter. 

Find The Denim Blue Sea on Amazon. 

 

Does this sound like a book you want to read?