Customer Reviews

Seaview Inn

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Hanna Mathews is one tough woman. She prides herself as being able to do it all. She has survived breast cancer and is a single mother with a daughter in college. But now things are getting to be too much.

Hanna recently lost her own mother to cancer. After her mother's death, she decides to go persuade Jenny, her eighty-five-year-old grandmother, to sell the Seaview Inn and go into a retirement home. She takes two weeks off work to go to Seaview Key. Then grandma talks her into doing renovations to the Inn. As if that's not enough work for her, she gets a call that her daughter is coming home from college-and she's pregnant.

One day Luke Stevens shows up at Seaview Key, and now Hanna has to deal with an old crush as well. Luke feels like the place was home twenty years ago and needs to be there to clear his head. But Luke has some issues as well. He was in Iraq, his wife left him for his best friend, his kids are mad at him for leaving, and he has a bum leg. While he is helping to do renovations at the Inn, he finds himself falling in love with Hanna as well as his old hometown.

Grandma Jenny might be old but she's feisty and sees things that others don't. She is having help to get the renovations done and the Inn up and running again. And with a little push maybe she can get two people to see things for what they are.

Hanna and Luke are learning it feels good to be home. People call you by your name and know you, unlike in the city where you are just another passerby. Plus there are the perks of the peace and quiet and those strolls on the beach-and don't forget the memories of sitting on the porch, enjoying the breeze and hanging out.

Luke and Hanna are trying to get their lives on track. The flirting has started and it could be love.

Armchair Interviews says: A sweet love story.

SEAVIEW INN by Sherryl Woods
Rating *** ½ (3.5/5 Stars)

April 12, 2008


This reviewer has wanted to read a book by Sherryl Woods for quite some time, and now got the chance to review SEAVIEW INN, Woods' latest novel for Harlequin's Mira imprint. A pleasant surprise, the story was filled with a number of interesting characters that shared nearly equally billing with the main character, Hannah Matthews. While in some novels too many characters can overwhelm a reader, in SEAVIEW INN there is no such problem. The length of the book allowed the author to create a number of vital characters that were pivotal to the plot without fashioning them into flat one-dimensional people whose only purpose was to add to the story line. Each character was as well rounded and real and absorbing enough to sustain interest for the reader.

SEAVIEW INN revolves around Hannah Matthews, a single mom who is in remission from breast cancer. Her mother had just died from the same disease, and it's not surprising that Hannah is a little scared, wondering if the cancer is going to reappear just like it did for her mother.

Besides dealing with cancer, Hannah needs to take care of her elderly grandmother. Grandma Jenny is getting on in years, and Hannah believes that Grandma needs to be placed into a home where people can look out for her. In the mean time, they need to sell the old Seaview Inn that has been in the family for generations. Grandma refuses to cooperate, and instead is trying to reopen the inn, to Hannah's frustration.

To complicate matters, Luke Stevens is back in town. Luke was at one time Hannah's best friend's boyfriend, but Hannah had always had a big crush on Luke, never letting anyone know because she didn't want to embarrass herself or ruin her friend's happiness. Luke doesn't tell anyone that he has just returned from Iraq some six months ago, and is still dealing with the injury he received in his leg, as well as the pain in his heart.

Hannah's college age daughter Kelsey is also having problems. She's announced to Hannah that she is pregnant, but she does not want the baby, nor does she want to marry the father, Jeff, despite the fact that she loves him. Kelsey returns to Seaview Inn to be with Hannah and Grandma Jenny to sort things out.

Grandma Jenny makes good use of Kelsey and Luke, as they help Grandma by getting the Inn back in shape in time for the grand re-opening. Hannah hopes this will help them sell the inn faster, but Kelsey has other plans - to run the Inn that she will eventually inherit after her Grandma Jenny passes away.

And now that Luke is back in town, Hannah's old high school crush has returned, but she thinks that her life will be cut short with the return of the cancer. She refuses to make any commitments to him, or anyone else.

SEAVIEW INN moves at a moderate pace, but has a lot of important subplots that keep the book moving along. What this reviewer felt while reading the book was that it was almost like a `cozy' read. This doesn't mean that there weren't any conflicts or climatic scenes. The theme of cancer and death was very evident in Hannah's story line; however, with Hannah's focus on the here and now, the reader will often forget she is recovering from a devastating illness. It is only when Hannah starts to contemplate her mortality, and her doctor and best friend constantly call her from New York to find out when she is returning for her follow up exam, that the reader is reminded that she is still not safe from the cancer.

This reviewer really enjoyed the book. The characters were natural and fit in well with the story. The setting, a beach side inn in the Florida Keys, was perfect. SEAVIEW INN is recommended for all readers who love contemporary women's fiction and want an escape. But be warned: there still may be a few tears while reading this book, but overall, SEAVIEW INN is a pleasant enjoyable read. - courtesy of Loveromancesandmore. Com - M. Lofton

Ms. Woods does an outstanding job in dealing with issues surrounding breast cancer, not only in how she shows how Hanna deals with the loss of her mother to this savage disease, but also in how Hanna personally battles it. I speak with some authority having witnessed my wife survive a particularly deadly version of breast cancer. Many kudos for this!

Also well done are the issues faced by wounded members of our military as they return and try to pick up the lives they left behind. Although this is not a major theme, it is well addressed throughout the book. Kudos!

She also expertly illustrates the multiple issues involved when couples find it necessary to divorce when children are involved. The multi generational repercussions are varied and deeply felt. I particularly loved the opening of the scene where Hanna finally is reunited with her father after decades of no contact. It brought tears to my eyes. However, for me, Ms. Woods dropped the ball when she allowed the scene to deteriorate from the very positive, upbeat opening to a much less positive conclusion. After such an upbeat beginning to her reunion with her father, I had a hard time understanding why Hanna suddenly turned negative and fled, at the same time refusing to meet with her step brother who was waiting in the wings and to meet her. Not realistic!

I also believe that, since the subject was on the table, the issues Hanna and her father had with Hanna's step mother and how these issues were resolved would have added much to the story line. As it is, much was made of the potential antagonism between the step mother and Hanna's side of the family, but only a sentence or two were used in its resolution. Ms. Woods also failed to show how Hanna and her father resolved the feelings of rejection Hanna had experienced over many years. Not good!

I did not buy the way Ms. Woods justified Luke's unilateral decision to abandon his medical practice, his wife, and his young children to volunteer for military duty as an orthopedic surgeon in Iraq. She tried to show Luke as a hero for this supposedly unselfish act. That did not work for me. What real hero would make such an important decision without discussing it first with his business partner, his wife, and his children, all of whom would be impacted greatly by that decision? This part of the storyline reveals no heroism. It shows lack of consideration, self-centeredness and selfishness, all traits no hero character should possess. How much better the story would have evolved if Luke's detour to Iraq had been the result of something like a recall to active duty over which Luke had no control. As this issue was one of the major subjects addressed in the story, I find its handling to be a significant detraction to the book. Not good!

Finally, the prospect was raised for Hanna to explore writing children's books as a possible replacement vocation for a job in New York. Why bring this possibility up if it was not to be pursued? Although it was the perfect solution to a major road block in Hanna's life, this issue was dropped as if a publication word limit had been reach without sufficient time to make any adjustments.

Bottom line: Seaview Inn is an outstanding, well written, intriguing story. However, like a batch of chocolate chip cookies where a few chocolate chips have been replaced with doggie do, the resulting product is ruined. Three Stars!

Breast cancer-survivor Hannah Matthews is back in her Florida Keys hometown to convince her aging grandmother that she needs to sell the family inn and move to a retirement community. But her grandma Jenny instead goes on a campaign to get Hannah to fall in love with the home she fled years earlier. Also back on Seaview Key is Orthopedic Surgeon and Desert Storm veteran Luke Stevens, who returned from service injured, only to find that his wife has left him for his partner. Hannah suddenly finds herself assisting Jenny in getting the inn ready for guests, and is shocked to discover that her grandmother has elicited assistance from Luke, the object of her teenage crush. As Luke tentatively reclaims his family with the assistance of Hannah, the two explore their feelings for each other, but Hannah is not ready to give her heart away, while her cancer is in remission.

Woods latest series set in the tiny hamlet of Seaview Key is an enchanting story of second chances. With a secondary romance between Hannah's pregnant daughter Kelsey and her college sweetheart, the story has plenty of heart and packs an emotional wallop as Hannah learns to trust again, as well as share her fears and feelings with Luke.

This wasn't my favorite of Sherryl Woods' books (I like the Sweet Magnolias series) but it was a well written, though formulaic story. We have the divorced breast cancer survivor, divorced injured soldier/surgeon, pregnant daughter, elderly fiesty grandmother, deadbeat runaway dad. But there's a reason there are formulaic books - people want to read about certain themes. And Woods has done a very good job with her character development, letting the reader really get to know the characters and want to read about their further adventures. There weren't many surprises along the way but that was alright. It's still a story worth reading.

I'm pretty picky about what I read, but after reading my first book by this author, Mending Fences, I was hungry for more of her. This is a great summer read, characters you can like and relate to. Became a great fan of the heroine, which is a must for me to finish a book.

A very fast read. I usually don't like books with too many characters
going at one time but this one worked. I'm a new fan of Sherryl Woods.
Waiting for more new ones from her. To the reviewer that was "bored"
with the book you must be really hard to please. The up to date story
line is great and refreshing. Please don't hesitate to read this one!
Enjoy!!! I assure you you won't be bored!

In New York public relations executive Hannah Mathews is frightened that the disease will return as breast cancer recently killed her mother, but also feels good that for now she is in remission. Hannah decides to visit her beloved Grandma Jenny in the Florida Keys where she hopes to persuade the feisty octogenarian to sell her Seaview Inn resort that needs renovation.

However, Grandma Jenny rejects her granddaughter's assertion to relax and enjoy her golden years. Instead the elderly woman plans to fix up the inn and reopen for business. Not long after she arrived, Hannah's college age daughter, Kelsey shows up at the Seaview Inn. Single Kelsey is pregnant, but plans to put the baby up for adoption. Luke Stevens, the man whom Hannah was in love with at high school, arrives in the Keys needing some R&R after working as a battlefield surgeon in Iraq although he fears that may not prove enough to eliminate the war demons.

SEAVIEW INN is a terrific contemporary romance due to the flawed lead characters who struggle with personal traumas and falling in love at a time when neither feels capable of giving the other all they deserve from them. Grandma Jenny is a delightful support player whose energy is admirable when it comes to her inn but especially as she pushes the ailing duet towards one another. Readers will appreciate this fine tale of love between a pair already overloaded with stress.

Harriet Klausner

This was a first read for this author, Sherryl Woods and I so enjoyed it. Once I got started, I wanted to continue to get to know the characters more. Each had their own baggage from their pasts, like most of us do, but they eventually were able to come to terms with what mattered most, family! This story takes place at an inn in Florida and with the cold rain and brisk wind happening in my back yard, it felt as though Sherryl transported there. I swear I could smell the beach across the street from the inn! Great summer read!

This was one of Sheryl Woods best books yet. I have read all of her books, and what I most like about this author is her ability to tackle problems that might make people sad but also make you think. This is a story about a woman dealing with cancer, the affect it has on her life, how her family helps her deal with it and move on with her life. I encourage everyone to read this.