Home For the Summer by Mariah Stewart

 I haven't blogged some of the books I've been reading from my own collection in some time...too long!

  First up is Home For the Summer by Mariah Stewart which has been in my pile since 12-12-13 according to the date I wrote in the flap. Was it worth the wait? Well....
  Home For the Summer is part of a series of books called The Chesapeake Diaries. I love these family saga stories where you get to see the same characters again and again through the books. Although this is the first book I've read in the series, it sounds like there is some good stuff I missed- and I'd like to read more.
  In this book, Lucy is a wedding planner from the west coast. She returns to her mom's inn to help plan a huge, upscale wedding for a couple while also having a little flirtation with her old schooltime friend, Clay.
 My only complaint about this book was the wedding planning. It went on and on in great detail, everything this couple wanted, except it doesn't really add anything to the plot. I don't really care about every detail that goes into planning a wedding. The main focus should've been on Lucy and the secret she kept for years about something that happened to her as a teenager at the inn. In the final chapters she reveals it to Clay, but it falls a little flat. It's revealed...Clay says it's okay, it's over....and it is. I would've liked her to have been more tormented by the inn and her secret, instead I got a detailed list about everything in the wedding guests gift baskets.
  Great writing though. I could really picture this beautiful little town and inn, I just wanted a little more beef to the storyline. Would I give Chespaeake Diaries another chance?? For sure. I'm not giving up yet.