The Chesapeake Bride (Chesapeake Diaries: Book 11) by Mariah Stewart

Title: The Chesapeake Bride

Author: Mariah Stewart

Publisher: Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books, Pocket Books

Date of publication: August 29th, 2017

Genre: Romance

Number of pages: 385

POV: 3rd person

Series: The Chesapeake Diaries

Coming Home – Book 1

Home Again – Book 2

Almost Home – Book 3

Hometown Girl – Book 4

Home for the Summer – Book 5

The Long Way Home – Book 6

At the River’s Edge – Book 7

On Sunset Beach – Book 8

That Chesapeake Summer – Book 9

Driftwood Point – Book 10

 The Chesapeake Bride – Book 11

Where you can find The Chesapeake Bride: Barnes and Noble | Amazon

Book synopsis (from Goodreads):

From New York Times bestselling author Mariah Stewart comes a new chapter in her celebrated Chesapeake Diaries series.

Architect Cassidy Logan has sworn off good-looking adventurers. Newly divorced, she’s focused on building ecologically friendly, historically accurate homes on the Chesapeake Bay for her father’s construction company. Traveling to Cannonball Island—where there has been no new construction in nearly one hundred years—Cass is sensitive to the heritage of the island and has come up with plans so perfect she’s determined to buy a home for herself. Even the fact that Owen Parker—a local who she dismisses as a lightweight and a player—seems to be everywhere isn’t enough to deter her from building her dream house.

Owen Parker is and always has been sinfully handsome and wickedly clever, a magnet for mischief as well as girls. He’s a rolling stone, going and doing whatever appeals to him, from flying a mail plane in Alaska to working on a cattle ranch in Australia, a shrimp boat in Louisiana, and surfing and diving in Costa Rica. When an old friend offers him a job salvaging a sunken ship on the Chesapeake Bay, Owen gladly accepts. Something’s been telling him it was time to head home to Cannonball Island, and a job is as good an excuse as any. And he’s totally smitten by the pretty architect on the scene, but it seems he’s finally met a woman who’s immune to his charms. Sooner or later, Owen will have to face the reason why he always runs, because this time, leaving just might be harder than staying. 

Trigger Warning: None

My review:

I do not like starting a series either in the middle or at the end of a series. I always feel like I am missing something. 9 out of 10 times, the book always references back to the earlier books in a series. I know people are asking “Why review then“. Simple. I love to read and sometimes, not always, there is a book that you can read alone from the series. The Chesapeake Bride is such a book. While it is the 11th, yes 11th!!, book in The Chesapeake Diaries series, this can be read almost as a standalone book. I say almost because there are scenes where I wished I had read the other 10 books.

The plot of The Chesapeake Bride is a pretty straightforward one. Cass is an architect who is in the process of evaluating houses on Cannonball Island. She is seeing if they could be rebuilt as they were 100 years ago. Owen is a Cannonball Island local and a bit of a free spirit. He is a ladies man who charms every woman that he meets, except Cass. The two of them connect on Cannonball Island. That is where Cass sees Owen as a player who refuses to settle down and Owen sees Cass an anomaly. Someone who is immune to his charm. The book takes off from there. There is a subplot of a sunken Revolutionary era ship in the bay which was very interesting. The other major subplot was the mystery of what Cyndy, Owen’s ex-wife, wants to talk to him about. I called that one as soon as it came up.

The Chesapeake Bride is one of those romances that you sigh over every page. Owen and Cass’s story was a true opposite attract romance. Sometimes, they are the best kind romances to read!! I love a well-written romance and Mariah Stewart has not failed me yet in any of the books that I have read and reviewed.

I loved Cass’s character. She was funny and successful. Being on Cannonball Island was helping her heal from her divorce. Then she met Owen and sparks happened. But once she got into a relationship with him, I felt that she lost some of her oomph. I felt that she overreacted to certain events that happened that involved Owen. I mean, you don’t run away from a man you love and want to be with. Luckily, her mother was able to talk some sense into her. It rubbed me the wrong way that she did what she did.

Owen was a riot. He loved the ladies and the ladies loved him. He was happy wandering the earth, doing whatever he wanted with whoever he wanted. So when he met Cass and got the cold shoulder, instead of being put off, he was attracted to her. It made him want her more. He did everything and anything to get her to like him. So when they did hook up, it was great. Then his ex-wife dropped a huge bombshell on him. She didn’t even have to cojones to tell him to his face. He had to find out this bombshell by running into her at a coffee shop with Cass. I would have reacted to same way he did. I also think I would have done the same things he did too.

When Owen and Cass finally had sex, it was pretty hot. What I liked is that it wasn’t that descriptive. Enough wordage was used so you knew what was happening but nothing too graphic. Like I have said in other reviews, I like graphic sex scenes. But I also like nongraphic sex scenes too.

The end of the book was very interesting. I did think that the Owen/Cyndy storyline was going to go in a different direction than it did. All the other storylines were wrapped up and ended in a satisfactory way. I loved the epilogue and the peek it gave into Owen and Cass’s life!!

4 stars

My Summary of The Chesapeake Bride:

The Chesapeake Bride is a cute, fast-paced romance with a few curveballs thrown into it. With truly imaginable characters and a great storyline, you will get sucked into the book. Definitely a book that I will recommend to people!!

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age range: Adult

Why: Language and sex (not graphic)

I would like to thank Mariah Stewart, Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books, Pocket Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review The Chesapeake Bride

All opinions stated in this review of The Chesapeake Bride are mine and I received no financial compensation for this review.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**