I read Rebecca Pugh’s debut novel, Return to Bluebell Hill, last year and was absolutely blown away by how brilliant it was. I was therefore eagerly awaiting the publication of her second novel, A Home in Sunset Bay, which I absolutely adored. Given how much I loved Rebecca’s first book, it had a lot to live up to but it totally surpassed all my expectations. I’d even go so far as to say that if I was able to award more than five stars to A Home in Sunset Bay on the likes of Good Reads I would in an instant.
In this book we meet two sisters. The first of these is Mia who has lived in Sunset Bay for many years and, since the passing of her grandmother, has been running Dolly’s Diner alongside Cal, Marco and Pollyanna. The second sister is Laurie who we first meet in London when it is clear that she is desperately unhappy and whose unhappiness only gets worse when she catches her other half, unashamedly, cheating on her. So Laurie packs her bags, leaves London behind and travels to Sunset Bay to see Mia who does not greet her with the open arms and warm smile that she was expecting. However, as they start to talk and the two realise there’s more to the past than meets the eye the icy atmosphere between the sisters soon melts and this is just the start of a great new beginning…
Like her first novel, in A Home in Sunset Bay, Rebecca Pugh has gone above and beyond with the level of description in this book and what an absolute pleasure it is to read. The description really is so intricate that you can envisage absolutely everything that is going on and there were many times I felt like I was there with the characters myself. There was descriptions for quite literally everything - the food, the characters and the environment - but at no point did this ever detract from the beautiful storyline and at no point did it ever feel that there was too much description.
A Home in Sunset Bay to me was a really magical and uplifting read which seems to be a recurring theme with Rebecca’s writing. The book really reinforced how you should never feel like you have to settle for second best or like you should stop dreaming but to instead dream big and don’t stop until you achieve what your heart most desires. It also highlighted the importance of doing what makes you happy, having no regrets and living for the moment.
In case you haven’t already guessed I absolutely loved A Home in Sunset Bay, so much so that I ended up reading it in one sitting which I haven’t done with a book in a very long time. Rebecca’s proven herself again to be a super talented author and one that is absolutely, without a doubt going to have a very long and successful career ahead of her. I'm already looking forward to reading her next book!
