Review of Fortunate Harbor

Fortunate Harbor
Emilie Richards
Mira Books
520 pages
Fortunate Harbor is a mystery, a romance, a women’s fiction read, and most of all a story about the strength we find in friendship.
In Fortunate Harbor Emilie has us re-visit the ladies of Happiness Key Florida, they’re all doing well and of course that’s when all heck breaks out.
Tracy is just about to proceed to the next step in her romance with environmentalist Marsh Egan, that is until two things happen almost at the same time, Tracy’s ex and Marsh’s ex show up. But why?
Wanda is still slinging hash at the Dancing Shrimp, but changes are on the way when new owners take over.
Janya is finally in love with her husband and he with her amazingly after starting out in a shaky arranged marriage. So what’s the next logical step for a loving couple, you guessed it and that’s when the trouble starts.
Dana Turner is new in town she and her daughter Lizzie need a place to stay and the empty cottage at Happiness Key seems to be a perfect fit. But every silver lining starts with a dark cloud and Dana definitely has one hanging over her head. She’s keeping secrets and they could be deadly.
Emilie Richards, New York Times best selling author, is one of my all time favorite go to novelists. One of the things I love about her is the passion and substance you will find between the pages of her novels, you can tell that every word comes from her heart. This read tops her charts. The plot could be easily read about in any newspaper or be the basis for any crime drama TV show. Her dialogue is fast paced, easy to read and very visually descriptive, so much so that you can feel the trade winds as her characters walk along the beach or feel the aguish of a particular scene. Her starring characters are all equal in importance and all well developed, multi-dimensional and realistic, I could easily picture myself living next door to any of them. Her supporting characters are very engrossing and fascinating and could easily star in a story of their own, the villains are left to be discovered until the very last so that you’ll have your nails bitten to the quick by then but don’t worry it reads much like a cozy so while there’s mayhem at work she won’t go into gruesome details about it. There’s romance going on all over the place and it’s sweet and touching, frustrating and heart wrenching and you will share hope with each couple for their Happy Ending. The love scenes are winsome in their depiction so they offend no one, but those of us who don’t mind the heat tuned up will get the picture.
This is one of the best novels I’ve read in a while, it’s an excellent summer read, a perfect beach read or just what the doctor ordered when the vacation plans are homebound. Emily is that rare author who writes with sentiment and it’s obvious she loves what she does because the product is always phenomenal. So run do not walk to your nearest bookseller and try Emilie for the first time, or like me re-discover the reason you love her so much. It is a long read and believe me by the time you reach page 500 the only thing you’ll regret is that there aren’t 500 more.