On Devonshire Shores

Book Review: The Seaside Homecoming

/ Kristi / Leave a comment

The Seaside Homecoming
On Devonshire Shores #3
by Julie Klassen

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Christian historical romance

Spoiler notice: The following review may contain spoilers for the previous books in the series, starting with The Sisters of Sea View.

Two years past, eldest Summers sister Claire left her family in disgrace and spent those two years as companion to an elderly relative. Now that the older woman has died, Claire can’t help but want to be near her family again, though she knows at least some of them won’t want to see her. When she ends up as a partner in a boarding house that rivals her family’s, it threatens to make the rift between her and her family worse. Meanwhile, she also has to learn to run a boarding house and deal with the secretive and suspicious man who owns it.

The wrap-up to this main series was almost everything I wanted it to be. The author did a great job of setting up certain elements to provide emotional climaxes to at least two of the story arcs contained in this book. I enjoyed this book a good deal more than the previous two in the series, I think mostly because the annoyances and pet peeves I had with them were not an issue here.

I think that a little more time could have been spent exploring the character of the boarding house owner, William Hammond, since he seemed to have a fairly deep background of which we only get glimpses. Or maybe the reason it felt shallow to me was because I didn’t fully understand his past or because things were hinted at or presumed by Claire that ended up being incorrect, and so it felt like there was more to know than there was. I don’t know for sure, but this is overall not a huge deal to the greater story. It only stands out to me because of his role in the book.

Anything I felt was still missing from the story will hopefully be part of the related Christmas book that the author mentions in the author’s note (coming out in September 2025), and I look forward to reading that next year. As for this series, though 2/3 of it was rocky for me, I think the conclusion made it all worthwhile. I suppose this book could be read as a stand-alone and only one real aspect would be harmed by a lack of past knowledge (besides the two sisters that have already found love and gotten married, there’s Sarah’s inner turmoil about a particular man she rebuffed), but I think that Claire’s homecoming wouldn’t be as emotional without the build throughout the series. Based on past experience, I have good reason to believe that most fans of Regency-era Christian romance will enjoy this book and series.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bethany House for providing me a copy of this book to review.

Find out more about The Seaside Homecoming

See what I’m reading next.

If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!

Book Review: A Winter by the Sea

/ Kristi / Leave a comment

A Winter by the Sea
On Devonshire Shores #2
by Julie Klassen

My rating: 3.5 / 5
Genre: Christian historical romance

When Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent and Strathearn, and his family come to spend the winter in Sidmouth, the Summers sisters’ guest house becomes host to three members of the prince’s staff. Emily Summers finds herself drawn to the duke’s private secretary, even though she is still holding out hope for a renewal of a relationship she’d left behind when the family first moved to Sidmouth. Meanwhile, Sarah Summers has to deal with the duke’s junior chef invading her kitchen, and the third guest harbors secrets that may lead the sisters into danger.

It’s a little difficult to boil this book down to a succinct summary, because there’s so much going on. Each book in the series so far has given insight into more than one of the sisters living at Sea View, while focusing in on one sister. In the previous book, we see Viola fall in love, and this time, the spotlight is on her twin sister Emily (and Viola is mostly in the background, comparatively). My favorite thing about this book is the way the author includes the real history of the duke’s family visiting Sidmouth and what transpires during that visit. The brief quotes from real history books at the beginning of each chapter give hints into what will be coming in each chapter, and sometimes they can be seen as spoilers, but I liked the way they ground the book in reality. Though I will admit that the inclusion of the fortune teller was a bit more than I would have preferred in a book of this genre, considering the weight Emily gives to the woman’s predictions, despite being warned against paying any attention to her by a woman who uses the Bible as her reference.

One of my biggest issues with this book, though, is the length. While in the previous book, there were 3 perspectives shown (Viola, Sarah, and Emily), there were only 2 in this book, yet it is just as long as the previous. I often felt like too much detail was included about things that aren’t important, and the book could have been considerably shorter without hurting the main story or any of the side plots. Though I also question if all of the side plots were needed as well. I read and enjoyed the Tales from Ivy Hill trilogy by the same author, which was a similar kind of series with an ensemble set of main characters, but this one hasn’t worked as well as the first one did, for me. I don’t know if I can really explain why, but I think part of it is that a trope I noticed in the earlier series is simply wearing on me more in this series. That being that when one of the female MCs has a dramatic moment or is in come compromised state, despite the fact that there is a house/town full of people, it just so happens that the potential love interest for that character is in the area, and usually the only one in the area, so that they can have a moment. It’s the kind of forced coincidence that I can let slide a few times, but it happens so often that it’s now become boringly predictable.

There are a few threads that have gone through both of the books in this series that could be tied up in the third book, and at least one of them I very much hope to see expanded on, so I definitely plan to read the third book in the series and see what comes of those threads. After that, I may stick to stand-alone books by Klassen, because I have loved those I’ve read by her, but I’m a bit more rocky with these ensemble-cast series. Based on past experience, though, I have good reason to believe that most fans of Regency-era Christian romance will enjoy this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bethany House for providing me a copy of this book to review.

Find out more about A Winter by the Sea

See what I’m reading next.

If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!

Book Review: The Sisters of Sea View

/ Kristi / Leave a comment

The Sisters of Sea View
On Devonshire Shores #1
by Julie Klassen

My rating: 3.5 / 5
Genre: Christian historical romance

Sisters Sarah, Emily, Viola, and Georgiana Summers agree (some more reluctantly than others) to turn their seaside home into a guest house to provide income for the family. They originally came to Devonshire in the hopes of curing their ailing mother, and then their father died. Now it is up to them to care for their mother and keep the family together.

I have mixed feelings about this book. After reading and enjoying the Tales from Ivy Hill trilogy by the same author, I was looking forward to another series of books with a sort of ensemble set of main characters. I did expect some romance, but there was a lot more in this book than I thought there would be. Then again, there are four women that need to find love, so it makes sense that one would find it in this book. However, I would have preferred a little more time spent developing the relationship. I also felt a little uncomfortable at the amount of skin shown in this book. Various male characters were without some or possibly all clothes multiple times when the women (or at least the one that would have any interest in that man) were there to see it. There’s a lot of blushing and thinking about broad shoulders and bare chests. That is not needed for romance, and for me, at least, it’s not welcome.

While the main characters were decently interesting, I think the side characters were the real gems in this book. The guests staying at Sea View, mainly, but also the elderly woman that Viola reads to, Major Hutton’s friend and brother—all of these people I hope to be able to see more of in the future books. Viola is the most dynamic character in this book, and I appreciated seeing the development to her own personality as well as her relationship with her family. Major Hutton, I felt, was weakly drawn. His friend and family members talk a lot about how gruff and ill-tempered he is, but I found him to be just a little unhappy (which is understandable, given his current circumstances) until suddenly he’s randomly an outright jerk for weird reasons. I get what the author was trying to show us about him, but it felt inconsistent.

Overall, I felt this was a rocky start to the series, but I have enjoyed the other books I’ve read by this author. And I definitely have interest in the world Klassen has set up in this book, so I’m looking forward to continuing the series in the future. Based on past experience, I have good reason to believe that most fans of Regency-era Christian romance will enjoy this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bethany House for providing me a copy of this book to review.
Publication date: December 6, 2022

Find out more about The Sisters of Sea View

See what I’m reading next.

If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!