Publisher: Simon & Schuster 
Publishing Date: 21st January 2021
Source: Received from the publisher via NetGalley, thank you!
Number of pages: 400
Genre: Romance, Women’s Fiction
Synopsis:
On paper, Merina Wilde has it all: a successful career writing the kind of romantic novels that make even the hardest hearts swoon, a perfect carousel of book launches and parties to keep her social life buzzing, and a childhood sweetheart who thinks she’s a goddess. But Merry has a secret: the magic has stopped flowing from her fingers. Try as she might, she can’t summon up the sparkle that makes her stories shine. And as her deadline whooshes by, her personal life falls apart too. Alex tells her he wants something other than the future she’d always imagined for them and Merry finds herself single for the first time since – well, ever.
Desperate to get her life back on track, Merry leaves London and escapes to the windswept Orkney Islands, locking herself away in a secluded clifftop cottage to try to heal her heart and rediscover her passion for writing. But can the beauty of the islands and the kindness of strangers help Merry to fool herself into believing in love again, if only long enough to finish her book? Or is it time for her to give up the career she’s always adored and find something new to set her soul alight?
Rating: 
Merry is a bestselling author and everything runs smoothly in her life. Until it isn’t. She’s been experiencing writers’ block for some time and now her boyfriend of 15 years has just dumped her. In a restaurant. So that she doesn’t make a scene. Not really knowing what to do, Merry jumps on a place and flies to Orkney, to spend there the next 6 months as a so – called Writer in Residence. She’s hoping to get her inspiration back; to be able to write again. What she’s not expecting is to become a kind od Orkney celebrity, nor that – perhaps – she’s going to find much more there?
Merry was a lovely character and I immediately warmed to her. It was so interesting and gripping to see how she struggles with her writer’s block – something absolutely new and something I can’t relate to but something that I’ve heard about and it was great to get such an insider peep, to see the world through her eyes – as the places and encounters on Orkney started to spark her creativity. I liked that she was so open, friendly and down – to – earth.
Merry’s love life was as colourful as a rainbow and I think even Merry herself hasn’t expected it to turn out like this. However, mmmm, I think I would have chosen differently I had a feeling there is much better connection with the other candidate, that they simply work together better.
The lovely story is shadowed – yes, I use this word consciously – by the descriptions of the setting. I don’t mean it in a wrong way, because oh my word, Orkney is a wonderful place and the author has done such a brilliant, lovely job with vividly describing it, so seamlessly transporting me to this place, beginning with the tricky journey on a plane and ending with the lighthouse – I truly appreciated it. But I also think that the plot has lost because of it. The story of Merry was great and I enjoyed it so much but I wished for more focus on it.
The problem with books that are published as four – parts series before is that they feel repetitive and slow. I want my plot to go on, to continue, events happening and the rerunning of scenes, introducing to the characters again, simply slows it down. It must be done like this, of course, series need this but it irritated me too much. I am not criticizing the author ort he book here, of course not, I am only honestly writing about my feelings while reading the story, and it hugely affected my reception.
„Coming Home to Brightwater Bay“ is a perfect escapism, a lovely and gentle story about second chances with a right amount of romance, fun, misfortune, friendship and half – marathons. Gordon the goat is absolutely hilarious!
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