A Home By The Sea, by Christina Skye

Rating:  A, warm
Grace Lindstrom has followed her fiancé across three continents, starry-eyed and full of dreams. But when he dies in a plane crash, Grace discovers that their life together was the cruelest kind of lie—and swears to never lose herself to that kind of love again. Until one night, when a chance encounter leads her to the kind of man she's always dreamed of—and the deep family ties she's never known.

Noah McLeod knows he can't offer Grace any kind of future—not when he spends every day putting his life on the line. But when Grace's grandfather suddenly falls ill and she's called home to the small island town where she grew up, he realizes he can't live without her. Aided by good knitting, good chocolate and deep friendship, Grace is slowly learning to trust again—but can she learn to love a man whose secrets run so deep?

Noah McLeod is a bomb disposal expert, who pretty much lives day to day, knowing the next bomb he has to disarm could mean the end for him.  Noah’s brother Matt was a DC police offer who recently was killed in the line of duty. His family is struggling to come to terms with his death.  Grace Lindstrom is a historical food researcher, who has just stumbled upon a mama cat with 3 kittens and a new born puppy, left to die by a dumpster.  Noah happens by, headed for his car after a long day at work, spies Grace in the snow dressed in formal clothing and sandals, and goes to assist her with the animals.  Noah’s heart literally goes boom when he meets Grace. 

Since a bad snowstorm is upon them, he gets his Jeep and they head to his family’s home which is close by. Grace is overwhelmed by Noah’s wonderful family.  It’s what she always dreamed a family should be like, and never having one of her own, she enjoys her time spent with them.  Noah’s mom Tatiana and dad Alex are truly wonderful people, and are more than willing to assist with the stranded pets.  Tatiana and Grace really hit it off, with their shared love of knitting.  Grace purchases some things for Tatiana to start a new project, while Noah picks the colors, hoping the knitting will help take her mind off son Matt.

Grace had a fiancé who was killed in a plane crash.  After he passed away, Grace found out that they had been living a huge lie.  He had many other women, along with one who was pregnant with his child.  Grace literally had the rug pulled out from under her when she found out the extent of his cheating.  Needless to say, she is not a very trusting person anymore and is afraid to risk losing her heart again. She buries herself in her work, and has applied for a project that would put her in the White House, working on historical foods, and recipes’ with other famous chefs. Grace is on cloud nine, celebrating with Noah when a call comes in that her beloved grandfather has been in a serious accident in Summer Island, Oregon. 

Grace gets back to Summer Island as quickly as possible, where she finds Gramps in a coma.     Her friends Cara and Jill are both there for her. Cara is having a baby and is due in a few weeks, and Jill is working on some new menu items. They purchased the old Harbor House, and plan to turn it in to a knitting shop and café.  Grace decided that Summer Island is where she needs to be, so she tells the folks in DC that she is unable to take the wonderful position offered her, due to a family emergency.  Grace jumps right in with her longtime friends in their new business at Harbor House. 

With Grace in Summer Island,  it doesn’t take Noah long to come to the conclusion that he has met the woman of his dreams.  Noah takes time off work and heads out to Oregon.  Their love really grows once they are together again, and Grace gets beyond her mindset of not becoming attached to a man again.  Grandfather is slowly getting better. He runs a huge animal rescue business near his veterinarian practice, where he will certainly need her help once he is out of the hospital.  Noah pops the question, after an earthquake does some damage in the Summer Harbor area.  They vow to be together, if they can just get past the next couple of challenging months that lay before them. 

The end comes with some unsolved issues, which I am sure will be addressed in the next book, since we know this is a series.  I particularly enjoyed the characters, the pets, the locale of Summer Island and the plans for Harbor House, which now is up in the air after the quake.  Another thing I loved is how Christina Skye works the hobby of knitting in to the story.  I have cross stitched for many years, and can never find the right works to tell others that stitching is my passion, and how it serves as a tranquilizer to calm me down.  Just running your fingers over new hand dyed threads sends a warm satisfaction through me, and dreaming about what the creation will look like when I am done. It’s simply nirvana for me to stitch, and I am sure those of you that have a  love for any of the needle arts would agree.