Lakeside Cottage [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Susan Wiggs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2005

If you trust your heart, you'll always know who you are...

Each summer, Kate Livingston returns to her family's lakeside cottage, a place of simple living and happy times--a place where she hopes her son, Aaron, can blossom. But her quiet life gets a bit more interesting with the arrival of a mysterious new neighbor, JD Harris.


JD has a good reason for being secretive. In a moment of sheer bravery, the Washington, D.C., paramedic prevented a terrible tragedy--and became a national hero. He's hardly able to remember who he was before the media frenzy...until he escapes to this lovely, remote part of the Northwest.


Now Kate and Aaron have rekindled the joy of small pleasures and peace, something JD thought he'd never have again. But how long will his blissful anonymity last before reality comes banging at his door?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Wiggs's appealing summer romance, single mom (and newly unemployed journalist) Kate Livingston and her edgy son, Aaron, arrive at her family's lakeside cottage in Lake Crescent, Wash., to discover unexpected company in the form of a troubled teenage girl and a handsome but mysterious neighbor. Callie Evans has run away from an abusive, unloved childhood; former military medic JD Harris is hiding from the relentless media scrutiny he's received following a sudden heroic action. Each is warily drawn to Kate's good-heartedness, and Kate responds with characteristic warmth and commitment. But their growing bonds are threatened when Callie becomes ill and Kate discovers the famous identity JD has tried to conceal. Wiggs (The Ocean Between Us) strains when her characters interact with the world at large: Kate's overnight success in top-level freelance writing is unrealistic, while both JD's fame and his phobia about it are exaggerated. In contrast, the characters' intimate personal interactions are pure gold. Especially appealing are Wiggs's evocations of timeless summer pleasures and her sweet yet complex depictions of Aaron's healing at the hands of his new father figure and foster sister.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Kate Livingston is planning on spending the summer at her family's cottage as she always does, but her brother and mother have moved away, so she and her son will be there alone. And she has lost her job as a columnist. J.D. Harris is using his best friend's cottage to lay low. A military medic and Green Beret, he was in the right place at the right time to save the life of the president. A national hero, his face is plastered all over the TV, newspapers, and entertainment rags, and his life is no longer his own. J.D and Kate are attracted to each other, but nothing is simple. Kate's son is difficult. In retreat, she has no idea who J.D. really is, and when he realizes that Kate is a journalist, he is angry and disappointed. Wiggs' thoroughly captivating tale draws readers into her characters' lives and minds in a way that makes them real and true and unforgettable. Maria Hatton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Center Point Large Print (November 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0739456849
• ISBN-13: 978-0739456484
• ASIN: 1585476692
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,876,717 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Susan Wiggs's life is all about family, friends...and fiction. She lives at the water's edge on an island in Puget Sound, and she commutes to her writers' group in a 17-foot motorboat. She's been featured in the national media, including NPR's "Talk of the Nation," and is a popular speaker locally and nationally.

When her recent novel, FIRESIDE, hit #1 on the New York Times, the author reportedly reacted to the news by "putting on my lipstick and sweeping the patio." Why? Because she knew that within a matter of minutes, her girlfriends would show up to pop the bubbly and help her celebrate. [Update: FIRESIDE has been chosen of one of Amazon.com's Top Ten Romances of 2009.]

According to Publishers Weekly, Wiggs writes with "refreshingly honest emotion," and the Salem Statesman Journal adds that she is "one of our best observers of stories of the heart [who] knows how to capture emotion on virtually every page of every book." Booklist characterizes her books as "real and true and unforgettable." She is the recipient of three RITA (sm) awards and four starred reviews from Publishers Weekly for her books. Her books make frequent appearances on Amazon's "best of" lists. Several of her novels have been listed as Indie Next picks and optioned as feature films. Her novels have been translated into more than two dozen languages and have made national bestseller lists, including the USA Today, Washington Post and New York Times lists.

The author is a former teacher, a Harvard graduate, an avid hiker, an amateur photographer, a good skier and terrible golfer, yet her favorite form of exercise is curling up with a good book.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Feel Good Story!, August 24, 2005

By 

M. Nix - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lakeside Cottage (Mass Market Paperback)

Jordan Donovan Harris was a Special Forces medic who saved the President from an assassination, putting him in the public spotlight. Now he wants to get away from the people hounding him. People who don't care who he is, only that he stopped a homicide bomber in the presence of the President. Hoping for anonymity, isolation, solitude, and a chance to get his life back, he goes to his friend's cabin at the lake. Jordan doesn't expect to meet Kate or the feelings she provokes in him.

Kate Livingston, fashion writer for the weekly Seattle News, is a single mother raising a son who has behavior problems, desperately in need of a father figure. When her brother moves, Aaron's behavior worsens. Missing one too many deadlines from attending one too many parent-teacher conferences, her boss at the paper fires her. Kate goes to the family cottage at the lake, deciding to stay the whole summer in order to figure out what to do with her future.

She meets the attractive JD as he is rescuing a hurt racoon. Later, she finds out he's her neighbor. JD has no intention of getting involved with his neighbor, but finds himself being drawn to her and her son, enjoying hiking and bike riding with Aaron.

Callie enters Kate's life when she's found staying in the house. A foster care runaway, Callie earns money by cleaning houses. She discovers JD's secret and promises not to tell anyone, although she feels he should tell Kate.

Lakeside Cottage can best be described as "feel-good". I was touched when JD took Aaron under his wing. I loved how Kate and Aaron accepted Callie into their lives. I enjoyed the building romance of JD and Kate, especially how hard he fought not to be romatically or sexually involved with her, while she wanted a summer fling. This is a great book that will keep you interested from beginning to end.

Terez
Reviewed for Enchanted in Romance

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lakeside Cottage, August 24, 2005

By 

AK "Bro" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lakeside Cottage (Mass Market Paperback)

Single mother and writer Kate Livingston and her little boy, Aaron, make their annual trek to the lakeside house that her family has owned for generations. This is supposed to be the first year they will spend alone in it, but that's not quite how it things go for them. An enigmatic stranger is their neighbor, and while J.D. is very attractive to Kate, she knows he is hiding something. They also take in an orphaned, teen-aged girl trying to reshape her life. If this little group can work through all their secrets and issues, they will have a patchwork family filled with love. Failure can only lead to heartache.

*** This leisurely paced novel is filled with sweetness, ambling across the summer as the characters grow. Overcoming heartache and painfilled pasts really supercedes the romantic plot. How the press can completely disrupt lives is also a focus of the story. Somehow, like the family portrayed, all the elements mesh into a cohesive whole. ***

Reviewed by Amanda Killgore, Freelance Reviewer.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent reading!, March 11, 2006

By 

Donna K. "bookcrosser" (Long Island, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lakeside Cottage (Mass Market Paperback)

This story had an interesting blend of drama, action and romance. I especially appreciated that the protagonists were in their late-30's and had mature ideas about responsibility towards family/children and about life's priorities, shaped by the experiences of their careers and other circumstances they've dealt with. It's admirable that the focus was on doing what was best for each of the children, and I was touched at the difference Kate made in Callie's life, and JD made in Aaron's. In the process, everyone's life was enriched and past wounds were able to heal.