Customer Reviews

Three Down the Aisle (The Rose Cottage Sisters) (Silhouette Special Edition)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Melanie D'Angelo's heart had been broken, and she desperately needed a change of scenery to help her on the way to mending it. When her big sister, Ashley, recommended that she take a trip to their grandmother's cottage on Chesapeake Bay, Melanie jumped at the chance to get away from the memories of her dismal love life. Arriving at the run-down bungalow, she knew this was a great chance to restore the once-beautiful home as well as to restore her heart. She didn't count on her labor of love turning into a full-blown affair of the heart.

Mike Mikelewski had always been fascinated with the tiny cottage that obviously needed some care and restoration, and had once considered looking into buying it to fix it up himself, but his life was busy as a single father raising his young daughter and running his landscaping business and had never gotten around to looking into whether the charming little house was for sell or not. So he was surprised to find out someone had moved in and was living there. When he went to offer his services as a landscape designer, Mike was even more surprised to find the beautiful young occupant was in no way interested in having him anywhere near the premises.

As Melanie and Mike dance around each other, renovating and restoring Rose Cottage to its former splendor, they soon find themselves slowly falling in love. But would their former sour experiences in love and loss get in the way of their new beginning?

Sherryl Woods introduces her new series, "The Rose Cottage Sisters" in this first novel, "Three Down The Aisle." Examining the lives of the four D'Angelo sisters, Woods shows the reader how four different women with completely different personalities and professions can have four different experiences in love with the one binding tie of family loyalty. "Three Down The Aisle" is a delightful story that maintains it's high energy from beginning to end. It will be interesting to see if the three other sisters can find their true loves at Rose Cottage as well.

This 4 book series will tell the stories of the D'Angelo sisters - Melanie, Ashley, Maggie and Jo. And their stories will take place at Rose Cottage, their family summer home on Chesapeake Bay.

The first book is about Melanie who goes to Rose Cottage after she finds out her boyfriend is married - a fact he neglected to tell her. It has been years since any of them have been to the Cottage and it has really been neglected. A fact which has her neighbor Mike Mikelewski very annoyed. He is a landscaper and can not bear to see the state of neglect the property is in.

He too has his problems. He has a 6 year old daughter, Jessie. His wife was addicted to drugs before Jessie was born so Jessie has some serious behavior problems. Mike and his wife are divorced and he has sole custody of Jessie which is not easy for him at times.

Neither one of these characters is looking for entanglements. Mike especially doesn't want his daughter to be hurt by someone she may grow close to who will then leave her like her mother did. And Melanie makes it clear that she is only there for the short term.

The secondary characters, especially Pam (a close friend of Mike's and very protective of him) are very good. There are no easy answers as Mike and Melanie work their way to an understanding. This makes for a good read with people you care about and will see more of. It becomes especially good when Melanie's sisters come and put Mike through the wringer. After all, they're very protective of their sister and don't want her to be hurt again. With all of this "help", Mike and Melanie really have an uphill and interesting struggle.

Eagerly awaiting for the next book (Maggie's story) which will come out in April.

Enjoyed reading this romantic and fun book. Great relatonship between the sisters and between the single dad and his daughter. Also a good depiction of the strains and rewards a troubled child can bring to everyone around them. I'll definitely read the remaining books in this series!

mike lives in the cottage next door. his daughter is so deprived as his wife was into drugs and left them.
melanie was in her grandmothers cottage to recover from a bad love affair, with a married man. he approaches the house
thinking an intruder is there, he had never met her. he lets her know how sad he is at the state of the garden. her
grandmother would be saddened at its state. he's a landscape designer and wants to help restore it to its original state.

Romance novels require a conflict so the two main characters can overcome and get together.

Here he has divorced a drug addicted wife and she is just over discovering her lover of 6 months is married. Both of them see their own history as an insurmountable block to future romance. Huh?

When after 200+ pages these two wake up and discover (geez!) they can love again, the book ends without him saying "I love you." But she sees it is his eyes and he feels it in his heart. Uh, lady, are you sure about this guy?

So the two are rather unbelievable.

But he has a six year old daughter who saves the novel and makes it enjoyable. Almost comic relief and eventually yet another barrier in this two's tango, she is the best drawn, most realistic character.

Loved the concept of a Rose Cottage romance. This is the first book in this series and makes me want to read all of the sisters' stories.

Book was in good conditon, packaged well, received in a very short period of time, haven't read it yet but I am looking forward to it soon.