The Guest Cottage

Sophie's husband coolly tells her that he's having an affair and wants out. Their marriage has long been one in which she props up his architecture career and looks after their children, but still, she didn't see this coming. Shocked, Sophie takes the children to a friend's Nantucket cottage to think things over. There she finds that another wounded soul, Trevor, who's widowed and has a fragile young son, has also rented the house. The two agree to share the place for a week but end up spending the summer together. Yes, the resulting romance is predictable, but the larger story offers more than the standard happily ever after: other connections are made and the portrayal of how the two families blend is realistically fraught and at times, sweet. This is not Thayer's first beach read nor her first Nantucket tale (Nantucket Sisters, An Island Christmas), and fans of her other books will not be disappointed with this one.