Ellesea Loves Reading: New Publication Spotlight: Summer in Bellbird Bay by Maggie Christensen

Monday, 28 February 2022

New Publication Spotlight: Summer in Bellbird Bay by Maggie Christensen

Summer in Bellbird Bay by Maggie Christensen

Can Bellbird Bay provide solace to these two broken souls?

When Ailsa McNeil’s marriage falls apart, an invitation to spend the summer with an old friend in Bellbird Bay offers her the opportunity to escape and regroup. What she doesn’t expect is to meet her friend’s twin brother, the first man to stir her emotions when she was an impressionable nineteen-year-old.

As a young man, Martin Cooper couldn’t wait to leave Bellbird Bay. He has spent the past thirty years travelling the world and has accomplished his dream of becoming a celebrated travel photographer. But it has come at a price and, when his career and personal life take a downward turn, he returns to his hometown to consider his future.

When an accident thrusts the two together, their earlier attraction resurfaces. Torn between the desire to protect herself from further hurt and her renewed feelings for the man she’s never forgotten, can Ailsa find happiness again or is it too late?

A heartwarming tale of family, friends, and how a second chance at love can happen when you least expect it.

getbook.at/SummerinBellbirdBay

Second chance romances are one of my favourite tropes, even better when the location is in a far-off land...

Ailsa McNeil knows something isn't quite right with her husband and marriage but is still blind-sided when Bob, who she married over twenty-five years ago, tells her what is wrong. Awash with emotions, she leaves their home to have a break with her friend, Bev, in Bellbird Bay. It's an opportunity to hang out with her old friend and Ailsa hopes the time away from her home in Canberra helps her to make sense of the situation she now faces. So, when her friend's twin brother, Martin turns up unexpectedly, it triggers a memory and buried feelings from when she first met him as a naive nineteen-year-old. It's a complication she hadn't bargained on, but does his reappearance in her life need to be a problem at all?

Martin Cooper is back in Bellbird Bay after a ten-year absence. Once again, he is seeking refuge at his twin sister's home, as he decides what to do next after his career and relationship crash. Seeing Ailsa McNeil again, isn't a welcome sight, as he battles to rebuild his life after the betrayals he's suffered. However, as they spend time together, maybe they both deserve a second chance at happiness?

Emotions are running high, in this, my first Maggie Christensen novel. The adorable and beautiful Queensland backdrop and the charm of Bellbird Bay create a heart-warming welcome to new and old readers alike. The characters and the community are a breath of fresh air and definitely made me want to pack my bags to escape winter. The charm of the coastal setting creates a distinct contrast to the problems facing the protagonists. It's somewhere that's both familiar and neutral to the pair… a perfect place to clear your head and think. As with any real-life situation, Ailsa and Martin have to navigate around people they would rather avoid, as small communities thrive on gossip and a need to know everyone's business. However, everything works out well with a satisfying, happy ending as both learn to put the past behind them, as they heal, learn to trust and love again.

Overall, Summer in Bellbird Bay, is a fine introduction to a new, to me author and leaves me wanting to satisfy my newly found craving for more fiction set in Australia.

***arc generously received courtesy of the publisher***

After a career in education, Maggie Christensen began writing contemporary women’s fiction portraying mature women facing life-changing situations, and historical fiction set in her native Scotland. Her travels inspire her writing, be it her trips to visit family in Scotland, in Oregon, USA or her home on Queensland’s beautiful Sunshine Coast. Maggie writes of mature heroines coming to terms with changes in their lives and the heroes worthy of them. Her writing has been described by one reviewer as like a nice warm cup of tea. It is warm, nourishing, comforting and embracing.

From the small town in Scotland where she grew up Scotland, Maggie was lured to Australia by the call ‘Come and teach in the sun’. Once there, she worked as a primary school teacher, university lecturer and in educational management. Now living with her husband of over thirty years on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, she loves walking on the deserted beach in the early mornings and having coffee by the river on weekends. Her days are spent surrounded by books, either reading or writing them – her idea of heaven!