In October of last year, I was delighted to welcome Adrienne Vaughan as my guest with a lovely post to whet everyone’s appetite for Secrets of the Shell Sisters, the second book in her planned series of Rosshaven Romances – you can read it again here. And then, in November, I finally managed to read it and share my review – I found it absolutely enchanting, and had no hesitation in including it as one of my 2023 Books of the Year. So when Rachel’s email landed in my inbox, asking if I’d like to share that review just once more as part of the blog tour, I was – of course – delighted. If you’d like to get your hands on a copy too, it’s now available for kindle (just £1.99 at the moment, or free via Kindle Unlimited) and in paperback (and I can confirm that the cover will look quite beautiful on your bookshelves – it has pride of place on mine…!).
Let’s take a closer look at the story…
“That’s like believing in Father Christmas,” he said. “Or mermaids,” she replied gravely.
Meet the Morgans. Three very different sisters, who each blame themselves for their mother’s mysterious disappearance. Now over forty years on, they are in crisis.
Cassandra – the eldest − runs the family’s quirky, cliffside hotel for years. But the business is in trouble, and it seems a secret from the past is determined to resurface and destroy all she’s worked for.
Greer – the youngest – walked away from a glittering career to live alone in London. The mistress of a powerful man, she’s left stranded on the very day they were to start a new life together. Now she has no choice but to return to the family home – but what kind of welcome can she expect.
And Orla – the middle sister, whose obsessive shell collecting and messages from the ‘sea-people’ dominate her life. But Orla knows things. She knows Greer is coming home to a new future, that Cassandra’s dark secret will change their lives and their mother never really left at all.
And there’s another secret, something they all share … but of course, nobody’s telling.
And one more time for that review? My pleasure…
At one level, laced with deeply buried secrets, this book is an engrossing family drama. Cassandra is the Morgan sister who holds everything together, doing everything she can to keep the paying guests at Manorcliff content – though it’s clear the family business is struggling, with much needed maintenance work remaining undone, and increasing competition from the swish new hotel along the bay. Greer has been absent for some time, and hadn’t planned her return – but when her new life doesn’t work out as planned, the lure of home and family is too strong to resist. Third sister Orla is rather more of an enigma – very much an innocent, entirely lovable, collecting shells from the beach and listening to the stories they tell her. The relationship between them is quite wonderfully drawn – bound together by love and their shared past, with the loveliest moments of humour, but not without the unease or difficulties you’d expect in any family.
But this book is considerably more than that – the sisters’ lives are entwined with others, shaped by their differing experiences, with shadows from the past touching them all in different ways as they contemplate what the future might hold. There’s a large supporting cast of characters, some from the first book in the series (although this one is entirely readable as a standalone), all wonderfully drawn and developed, and it sometimes took me a little while to decide which of them were important to the story – but they all were, every single one, and the way the author guides the reader though the various relationships and the ensuing twists and turns of the story is just superb, holding your hand every step of the way.
There’s romance in each of the sisters’ lives, second chances so perfectly handled – but often particularly emotional and complicated. There’s mystery and intrigue too – more layers to the story, all so clever woven together. And then there’s the touch and more of real Irish magic, and a few moments that do require some suspension of disbelief – and if you’re beginning to think “too much”, I have to say I absolutely loved every single moment. There’s one particularly dramatic and otherworldly scene towards the book’s end that had me in tears – although there were elements to the story that I really hadn’t expected, I found the whole book entirely enchanting and deeply moving.
There’s something that makes me want to label this book in some way – family drama, romantasy, magic realism – but it’s really impossible to do so. It’s quite beautifully written, its perfectly described wild setting on the Atlantic coast integral to its highly original and compelling story. Emotionally, it’s absolutely perfect – and I can only urge other readers to give it a try, and hopefully love it as much as I did.
About the author
Adrienne Vaughan writes spell-binding, page-turning romantic suspense.
Her Heartfelt Series − The Hollow Heart, A Change of Heart and Secrets of the Heart – is set on an island off Ireland’s west coast and features a feisty investigative journalist, and her irresistible West Highland terrier. Adrienne studied at the Dublin College of Journalism and loves animals, especially dogs.
Her collection of short stories and poetry, Fur Coat & No Knickers was shortlisted for the Irish Carousel Prize for Anthology and her WWII short story, Dodo’s Portrait, was shortlisted for the Colm Toíbín International Short Story Award at the Wexford Literary Festival.
Secrets of the Shell Sisters is the second in a series of sweeping family dramas, each with a touch of Irish magic.
All her books are heart-warming, uplifting reads, featuring her trademark gripping style, and laugh out loud moments.
Adrienne, husband Jonathan, and two cocker spaniels divide their time between rural Leicestershire, the Wicklow mountains, and coastal South Devon. Agatha Christie – the cat – takes care of things while they are away.
PS: Adrienne’s keeping everything crossed there’s still time to realise her ambition to be a Bond girl.
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What a lovely interview with Adrienne Vaughan. I adored, Secrets of the Shell Sisters. It’s beautifully written. I loved all the characters in the book, but I was fascinate by the Morgan sisters. I loved their individual characters, and how they came to be together again. The more I read, the more I loved the shell sisters, and the more read the more I understood them and accepted their secret. — I highly recommend this book.