The Fireside Inn by Lily Everett
St. Martin’s Press
Publication Date: January 7, 2014
Date Read: December 22, 2013
In the interest of full disclosure, I received an advance reader edition
of this book from St. Martin’s Press and Net Galley for the purpose of
providing an honest review.
I enjoyed this novella and would rate
it 3.5 out of 5 stars. The novella was well written and the story was
interesting but I found myself wanting more depth in several areas.
At
the opening of the story, we meet Miles, Leo and a couple of their
wealthy friends. Miles is getting married and make a bet with his
Billionaire friends that if they come to Sanctuary Island to help him
get ready for his wedding that they will also fall in love. They agree
and go to the Island.
Leo has been given the task of performing a
reading at the wedding. Leo often sounds poetic so this should be good
fit for him. He decided to go to the local library where he meets
Serena, the librarian. Leo convinces Serena to help him with the
reading and also tells her that he plans to seduce her. They grow close
while working on Leo’s assignment.
This novella had several
areas that I would have liked to see a bit more. I think a more
complete back story into Leo’s past would have developed his character
quite well. The same really applies to Serena. The main conflict
between this two characters is based upon their past so understanding
exactly what they had gone through and what they had felt would have
added to the plot. I also would have liked to see what each character
was doing during the time between the conflict and the wedding. This
just seemed like the ideal time for one of the central characters to
reach out to the other.
Even though I would have liked to see
more in some areas of the novella, I did thoroughly enjoy the story. I
really liked the author’s style of writing and plan to look for one of
her full length books which may give me that “more” that I seem to want.
