Small animal vet Sophie Jones has seen her daughter off to university in the USA. As a single parent with an empty nest, she surprises herself - taking a job in a tiny village of Applemore in the Highlands of Scotland. Hundreds of miles from home, she can try to escape the fear that her past might come back to haunt her. Divorced artist Ben Lewis accepts his grown up daughter's teasing that he's turned into a grumpy hermit. He's perfectly happy with his life in an old farmhouse overlooking the wild Highland beach. The last thing he needs is someone coming to live full time in the cottage by the shore - and their first meeting is a disaster. But circumstances keep throwing them together, and the attraction between them is undeniable. Escape to the Scottish Highlands with this sweet small town tale of second chances from the bestselling author of The Winter Cottage and The Telephone Box Library Author's note: The Cottage by the Shore is a standalone novel set in the village of Applemore - if you've read The Winter Cottage, The Highland Flower Farm, Midsummer House or Christmas at Applemore you'll recognise some familiar friendly faces, but you don't need to have read them all to enjoy it. For my readers in the USA: like all the Applemore stories, this is a sweet, closed door small town romance!
Author
Rachael Lucas has written 15 novels for adults and teenagers, including the Carnegie nominated THE STATE OF GRACE, the top ten bestseller SEALED WITH A KISS and many more. She is also the author (as Rosie Curtis) of sweet holiday romance We Met in December, an Amazon Editors' Pick. Her novels have been translated into many languages, including Korean, Hungarian, Italian, Turkish, French, German, Latvian, Estonian, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and more. Sign up for Rachael's newsletter at rachaellucas.com, and find her on Facebook at facebook.com/rachaellucaswriter for behind the scenes news and updates. Rachael lives by the seaside in the north west of England with her family and two very enthusiastic spaniels. When she's not writing at the kitchen table with a coffee by her side, she's out walking the dogs on the beach or the nearby pinewoods. She's a huge Kindle fan - her ten year old self would have been over the moon to be able to carry a whole library around in her pocket - and a lover of sweet, romantic, small town stories, which is exactly what she likes to write. She's a big Hallmark movie fan, wanted to be Anne of Green Gables when she was growing up, and Jo March was her literary heroine. (She still is.) Rachael's books are full of warmth and gentle humour, as well as beautiful small town settings which give her readers an escape from everyday. Rachael has been described as having "a gift for capturing complex emotion and both romantic and platonic intimacy" and writing which "exudes positivity and warmth" which has received starred reviews in Publisher's Weekly. The British Guardian called her "honest, romantic and hilarious". Her teenage boys think she's a bit disorganised, and that she forgets to cook dinner when she's writing. (Luckily they don't get to leave a review.)
