Romance on a sunny Greek island
The Lesvos Island collection is a series of standalone romances set, as the name suggests, on the beautiful Greek island of Lesvos. Eye of the Storm is the third installment and the first book I’ve read by this author. I’ve been to Skala Eressos on Lesbos twice on vacation myself, and this book refreshed my memories of great beach vacations with gorgeous sunsets.
After losing the most important person in her life, and still trapped in the same mire of grief and guilt two years later, doctor Pat Richardson-Rose decides to take some time off on the Greek island of Lesvos to get out of her funk. Robin Pérez just wanted to vacation in Skala Eressos, but many abandoned or neglected animals had grabbed her heart and wouldn’t let her go. Together with her good friends, she renovated an old empty barn and built an animal rescue and recovery center. Biggest risk? That one day the real owner shows up and wants to evict them. But hey, no risk, no fun.
Pat is totally caught on the wrong foot when fierce, sassy, and attractive Robin awakens feelings in her that have been in deep sleep for two years. This is confusing her in her state of grief and guilt. She is overwhelmed and doesn’t know how to handle it. Robin, on the other hand, is caught off guard by her attraction to the difficult and bitchy landowner. Their romance is a fierce push and pull, with barely a second to relax. For me, it was a bit too much, the constant back and forth was tiring.
The characters were an interesting group of women. Robin and her friends have accomplished a lot together. But, it’s not all sunshine and the group has to deal with the question of whether everyone really has the same goal with the animal shelter. The dynamics and drive in this group of friends is palpable and well developed and even though I didn’t like them all equally, they are a cool bunch.
The story of Pat is gripping your heart and made me cry. Grief is exhausting, but guilt is a dangerous guy who keeps you like a warden in his prison. And often it takes a lot to convince you otherwise so that you can start your life again.
The flow of the story was a little bit bumpy, because of the jumping from one to the other POV (both MCs) a bit too often and it wasn’t always easy to see who was in charge now. Otherwise, it’s an entertaining story with some tough subjects like loss, grief, and guilt, but also about friendship, family, accepting help, starting over, and finding love at an unexpected time and place.
My rating is 4 stars
Many thanks to the author for receiving an ARC for an honest review.
