The Inn at Ocean’s Edge by Colleen Coble

Claire’s visit to a luxury hotel in Maine awakens repressed memories, threatening all she holds dear.

        In 1989, Clair Dellamare disappeared from her own fourth birthday party at the Hotel Tourmaline on the island of Folly Shoals, Maine. She showed up a year later at the same hotel, with a note pinned to her dress but no explanation. Nobody knows where Claire spent that year—and until now, Claire didn’t even know she had ever been missing.

        But when Claire returns to the Hotel Tourmaline for a business meeting with her CEO father, disturbing memories begin to surface…despite her parents’ best efforts to keep them forgotten.

        Luke Rocco lost his mother under equally mysterious circumstances—at the same time Claire disappeared. After a chance encounter reveals the unlikely link between them, Claire and Luke set out together to uncover the truth about what happened that fateful year.

        With flashbacks swimming just beneath her consciousness and a murderer threatening her safety, Claire’s very life depends on unscrambling her past…even if her family refuses to acknowledge it. Someone—maybe everyone—is hiding something from Claire Dellamare, and it will cost her everything to drag the truth out into the light.

 

        The Inn at Ocean’s Edge is the first book in Colleen Coble’s Sunset Cove series, but is absolutely not the first book I have read by her. I absolutely loved both her Under Texas Stars series and her Mercy Falls series, and the main reason why is the same reason I loved this novel. Colleen is a genius when it comes to writing mysteries! Somehow she manages to make them interesting, believable, and impossible to truly figure out because of all the little intricacies she throws into them. Although I did begin to understand what happened the closer I got to the end of The Inn at Ocean’s Edge, it was so deep, so involved, and there were so many different little twists and turns Colleen wrote into the story that I couldn’t get it all on my own. And as a little side note, that is one of the best ways for a mystery to work. In my opinion, they are the most enjoyable when you can figure out some of it on your own, so then you feel pretty smart and like you know what’s going on, but at the same time they still keep you guessing to a certain degree so that you remain interested. Colleen does a wonderful job of that.

        Claire and Luke are the PERFECT characters for this story. Claire is so strong and resilient, constantly fighting to find out the truth about her past, and Luke is by far one of the sweetest guys I have ever met. Once they get together, there’s no stopping them. And the way Luke treats Claire will make you melt into little puddles. All. The. Time. The two of them are the perfect dynamic duo, and that is part of what makes this novel just as wonderful as it is. Their strength, passion, and bravery are some of the best things about this book. But not the absolute best…

        My favorite part of this novel is the mystery. It is so intriguing and intricate, and I still can’t stop thinking about it! Because of all of the things that combined to make this book one of my all-time favorites, I have to award it all five bookshelves. Colleen did an amazing job with this book, and I cannot wait for the next one to finally release! I would recommend The Inn at Ocean’s Edge and the rest of the books to come in the series to absolutely anyone who loves a good mystery!

        Happy reading!

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All credit for the italicized synopsis goes to Colleen Coble and Thomas Nelson Publishing.