REVIEW: Seaside Secrets (Love in Bloom #24; Seaside Summers #4) By, Melissa Foster

Tony Black is the hottest surfer on the planet. He travels the world throughout the year and spends his summers on Cape Cod with his friends, at the Seaside cottages in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. He’s got his choice of women, but Amy Maples is the one he wants. Fourteen years ago she was his for an entire summer, until a devastating accident changed everything, and what they had seemed like it had never existed—at least for her.

Amy Maples is as consistent as the day is long. She’s spent summers on Cape Cod forever, she always does the right thing, and she’s spent years trying to reclaim the heart of Tony Black, the only man she’s ever loved. She’s back for a summer of fun with her friends at Seaside, only this year she’s been offered the opportunity of a lifetime thousands of miles away, and she’s decided to try one last time to reconnect with Tony. But having a relationship with Tony means dealing with her past—and dealing with her past may knock her to her knees.

Review

I am so excited about this book. I think I have been waiting for this particular Seaside installment since the very first one. Amy and Tony have been some of my favorite characters since I started this series and I am really excited to see them get their HEA. This book was beautifully written just like all of the other books by Melissa Foster but this one was filled with so many more emotions that I am used to. It nearly ripped my heart out but I loved every second. Each characters always had their little things that they had to get through but Tony and Amy had past hurts and a lot of denial they had to get through. It made the HEA that much sweeter.

“He loved Bella, Caden, and the others goddamn it. What he felt for Amy was so much bigger than friendship, it threatened to stop his fucking heart.”

Amy Maples has been in love with Tony since she was six years old. They spent one summer together when they were eighteen and she has yet to feel anything close to it. Now she is going to try one last time to reclaim his love and his heart before she leaves Seaside for a new job. When the seduction doesn’t go as planned she plans to take the job in Australia. This job will take her away for two years, hopefully long enough to get over Tony. He has made his feelings very clear and now it is time to get over him once and for all.

“You’re everything to me, Amy. You’re the first thing I think of when I wake up and the last thing I think of before I fall asleep.”

Tony Black has been in love with Amy for as long as he can remember. When the summer before college ends in tragedy and Amy pushes him away he leaves more broken then he could ever imagine. Now he tries to love Amy from a far. He doesn’t want to risk losing her again or Amy tossing him aside so easily again. Never mind neither one of them has really dealt with what happened that summer. When Amy takes his advice and takes the job he has to wonder if he made the biggest mistake of his life.

“It’s our decision this time, Amy. There are no outside influences that can push us one way or the other. There’s only you and me and what could be.”

The first half of this book was so heart-wrenching I couldn’t help but be teary through it. I was literally holding my breath through every chapter in the first half. Reading Amy putting her heart on the line over and over again only to come to the conclusion that Tony no longer loves her hurt. A lot. But I also think adding Tony’s POV and seeing how much letting her go hurt him made it even worse. Melissa was able to create a story that stands completely on its own in the Love in Bloom overall series. The rawness and the heartbreak of their story makes this one of my favorite reads.

“I want to wrap you up and hold you tight.” He kissed the corners of her mouth. “I want to get to know every inch of your beautiful body again, until I know how it changes when you breathe.”

Tony and Amy have a lot of past to work through. Never mind what happened that summer but also the weight their parents left. Tony’s dad is gone but that doesn’t mean he didn’t play a part in Amy and Tony splitting up that summer. Amy’s overbearing father also had some part to play and their story was about coming to terms with everything that happened. All of the regrets and lost years and coming out the other side more in love then they ever were. We also get the lovable crazy girls and Jamie from the first three books. We get a very nice ending for the main group at Seaside that left all of the pain we saw in the beginning totally worth it.

“I know I told you to take the job with Duke, and I don’t want to stand in your way, but I want you with me, Amy. Every day, every night, every fucking minute of my life.”

While I have always appreciated Melissa’s drama free reading I loved how she mixed it up and I wouldn’t even call this drama. This wasn’t some angsty drama but an emotional reconnection. Melissa Foster has a writing style that pulls you into the story and wish you owned a condo on the cape alongside all of these Seaside friends. She created a stunning story that left me heartbroken in the beginning but completely sighing and smiling with happiness at the end. I cannot wait to read more from this series. I highly recommend Melissa Foster’s books. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!

“We’ve only been together a short while, but we’ve loved each other a lifetime. Yes, I’ll change everything for you.”

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