Portobello Book Blog

Escape to Darling Cove was published as four ebook novellas over the past year and all four parts are now available in one paperback. I read the first instalment back in May last year and have really enjoyed reading the full story and meeting up with the characters again.

About the book

Eve has always lived on Ennisfarne, an idyllic island just off the coast of Northumberland and only accessible when tides are low. There she runs a bar overlooking Darling Cove, a heavenly horseshoe-shaped beach named after her seafaring ancestors, whose links to the Farne Islands stretch back centuries.

Logan is a famous photographer desperate to evade the limelight after a difficult break-up. Renting a cottage from Eve, he chooses Ennisfarne in the hope of anonymity but is immediately spellbound by its natural beauty.

The pair don’t get off to the best start, butting heads over Eve’s adorable but boisterous Chocolate Labrador. But when Logan’s true identity is revealed, Eve realises her new tenant isn’t quite the man she thought he was. Is it too late to start again or will Logan’s island escape be over almost before it’s begun?

The brand new novel from Holly Hepburn, author of Coming Home to Brightwater Bay, will whisk you away to a sublime seaside retreat you’ll never want to leave.

My Thoughts

Escape to Darling Cove is set on a fictional island of the Northumberland coast although once you’ve read it you may feel it’s as a real a place as Lindisfarne. Holly Hepburn has a knack for creating fabulous settings and the island of Ennisfarne was no exception. After I’d read it, I felt as if I knew the beach, the cove and the rock formations quite well. To be honest, just the lovely village shop with its fab deli would sell it to me as a perfect get away from it all holiday destination. Having read the first part of this book last year, I booked a few days holiday in Northumberland just so I could visit Lindisfarne!

As well as the main protagonists of Eve and Logan, there are some great minor characters such as Freda who runs The Nook, the village shop, and knows everything that’s going on and George, one of the island’s fisherman who you wouldn’t want to get too close to! Eve’s exuberant chocolate lab Huxley is one of the stars of the show and it made me smile that the book is dedicated to ‘anyone whose dog has ever rolled in something yucky’! That pretty much sums up Huxley.

Eve and Logan get off to a bad start when Huxley knocks him flying on the beach and he breaks an expensive camera. The dynamic between Logan and Eve is fun to read about as they really rub each other up the wrong way and misunderstand each other. However, when what Logan is running from explodes into the public domain, he realises that he very much needs the support of this small island community. And he gets it.

It was lovely to read about the truce and blossoming friendship developing between Eve and Logan, This was a slow burn romance and there were definitely some challenges along the way for them. With Eve being very much a home-bird and Logan and internationally renowned fashion photographer, it seemed that their lifestyles were very incompatible.

What I enjoyed most about the book was the strong sense of community. I always enjoy books set in villages or islands, with that community knowing everything about each other but also being there for one another. Ennisfarne had a great sense of community spirit and Logan soon found that even as a temporary resident, he was considered one of them. A lovely gentle read about the positives of belonging to a small community and finding that the things that make you happy in life aren’t always what or where you expect.

Thanks to Sara-Jade at Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to take part in the tour and for sending me a copy of the book for review. Escape to Darling Cove is available now in paperback, audiobook and ebook.

About the Author

Holly Hepburn is the author of seven novels including The Little Shop of Hidden Treasures, Coming Home to Brightwater Bay, and A Year at the Star and Sixpence. Follow her on twitter at @HollyH_Author.