Wind Chime Café

Wind Chime, Book 1

De: Sophie Moss

Narrado por: Hollis J. McCarthy

When single mother Annie Malone purchases a quirky Main Street café on Heron Island, she thinks she's finally turned her dream of opening her own restaurant into a reality. Hearing rumors that a developer is about to build a five-star resort on the sleepy Chesapeake Bay island, she plans to transform the café into a premier upscale bistro. But Annie's life is about to get a lot more complicated.

Back on Heron Island for the first time in 10 years, Navy SEAL Will Dozier has no intention of selling his grandparents' property to a developer. As he works on renovating the house and trying to find another buyer, he's forced to face a painful reality — that he's secretly struggling with PTSD.

Determined to hide his troubles from the rest of the islanders, Will decides that a fling with the new girl is the perfect way to help him "get his head straight".

The last thing Will expects is to fall in love…with his hometown and with Annie. But Will's life and career are in San Diego with the SEALs. Can Annie's love and the healing magic of the island be enough to convince him to stay?

©2014 Sophie Moss (P)2015 Sophie Moss

A story with a heart

Annie:
A young woman with a daughter ready to start over after a horrible event that scarred them both (A them that is unfortunately rather “current/actueel”). She relocated them to Heron Island with the plans to open up an upscale restaurant and just start fresh.

Will:
A navy seal back in his home town after years. He thought he'd only stay for the weekend to settle his grandparents estate. But then a certain redhead caught his interest which made him think things through. Should he stay and keep up the family tradition or go back to being a navy seal?

----------------------------------

Despite all that has happened in the past and in the present, will they give each other a chance at love?

It won’t be easy but if you want a heartfelt romance story with a realistic background this certainly is the book for you.

This is a novel that discusses events that have been in the news a lot recently, to my great sadness. The writer has portrayed and dealt with these events in a very delicate and good manner.

Finally, it was interesting to finally find out what the title was actually referring to. I, myself, believe in these little signs to that show you even though they (family etc.) might be gone they still remain close to you somehow.

Note: This story is told in alternate p.o.v.’s, switching between female and male p.o.v., also keep in mind it is told in third person narrative.

Note: Might contain triggers; e.g. school shooting

OK book, horrible narration..

Ok, I absolutely hate the word predictable but I KNEW the minute Blake Hadley went into his father’s office that Blake was going to be on his way to Maryland to make Annie and Taylor’s lives miserable. And I really wasn’t sure I could put up with that arrogant, egotistical jerk. Between him and Spencer, another jerk, I wasn’t sure which one was worse so I wasn’t even sure I wanted to finish this book. And it was hard to finish. I couldn’t stand Blake, and Annie did everything she could to please him. She became an absolute coward for a while.

I did like Will and Taylor’s back story, both stories were just horrendous. One could certainly see where Will and Taylor’s PTSD came from, and why Annie was always so concerned about Taylor, especially since she was only 8 years old. However, there were times when Annie was so worried about Taylor it became ridiculous. I liked Della, too. She was a great mother-figure for Annie, whose real mother seemed to have been a flake.

There was not an iota of sexual attraction, no thoughts, no feelings, no nothing. But there was a sex scene, which was all too vanilla. Another author who was told “sex sells” so dropped a sex scene in where she thought it would be good. Jeeeez!

And there were the usual swearwords, but not much. Seriously, this author should stick to fantasy. This book wasn’t nearly as good as her Selkie series. I loved all three of those books.

I’m so glad to be done with this book. There was just nothing to it. Other than Blake being in it too long. What a scumbag!

As to the narrator: WOW! She was just awful at doing the men’s voices. It was like there was nothing but women in the story. She did read with some emotion occasionally but that did not make up for the men sounding like girls. And, sometimes she would be so dramatic one second then whispering the next, then so robotic. And, OMG, she did a horrible southern accent for the scumbag Blake. She was pretty awful. Needless to say, I will NOT be listening to this narrator again.
I READ the Selkie trilogy and I’m so glad. If I had listened to the first one I wouldn’t have gone any further. It was a great trilogy, just to READ.

Love this story

I had a great time listening to this book. Damaged by tragedies, each character goes on a healing journey, seeking love and family.

Cute story full of hope!

Loved this book so much, it had a lot of aspects I enjoy in a romance in it! This story had a strong heroine, Annie, overcoming great odds who was also relatable and real, a darling yet strong little girl, Taylor, who has an awesome mother to show her how to make it through her tough situation, Riley, the 4 legged companion for Taylor was a great addition, and then Will, the sweet hero who seemed like a man you could truly find in the real world! Will was the perfect hero to come in and complete their little family! It had just enough angst to be believable and was overcome with hardly any crazy drama. I am looking forward to seeing some of the side characters stories!
The performance of the narrator was good as well, easy to understand and she followed the flow of the story nicely.

I Believe I'm on Love

I loved this story it was one of the best books by far this year that I have listened too. This book will touch your heart and leave you breathless. If you only buy one book this year I recommend it be this one. I guarantee you will not want to stop listening once you start. This author knows how to draw you in and leave you hooked and I hope that there is more to come in this series because I can't wait to read the next one.

Love In Highly Unbelievable Circumstances

Annie Malone, a single mother purchases a café on Heron Island. She intends to make it a high scale restaurant – given the information that a resort is going to be built on this sleepy Island. She also hopes that this quiet, tiny island will be the perfect place for her daughter to recover from a school shooting she survived, on the outskirts of Washington DC.

After the purchase, there is a snafu. The land on which the resort is to be built is family land owned by Will Dozier, a Navy SEAL.

This story is about Will, who would enjoy a summer fling with the new lady in town and Annie, who does not want to have a parade of men coming in and out of her life and affecting her daughter in the way that Annie's mother did.

I found this book very enjoyable. It is a clean romance that touches on topics that are, unfortunately, relevant to our current times. This includes PTSD and others.

Hollis J McCarthy is a solid performer and very talented. I appreciated her narration and will look for her work in the future.

Notes: Nothing to warn about in this book.

*I was given a copy of this book to listen to in exchange for the review above. If you found that my review was helpful in deciding whether this book interests you, would you select "YES" immediately following this paragraph? Also, please consider following me here on audible.com. I have had the privilege of reviewing some excellent books in many genres. Thank you!

Delightfully simple romance

No overblown plot, seriously vulgar language or too much sex. This was just a simple romance with decent characters, a couple dogs and a happy ending. Just what I was in the mood for!

wind chime cafe

keep reading. it gets better , but you need to hang on there. not "X" rated. I enjoyed it.

a trips down imagination road review

What made the experience of listening to Wind Chime Café the most enjoyable?

Being able to switch between reading and listening, particularly because this was my first real audiobook!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Taylor, she'd been through so much and yet was happy to work through it, and to help otther people work through it.

What does Hollis J. McCarthy bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I think that the only main difference was the pacing, and potentially the voices of the characters

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, but that was nothing against this particular audiobook, rather it was because of my slightly shorter attention span when listening than when reading

Any additional comments?

Title: Wind Chime Café
Author: Sophie Moss
Narrator: Hollis McCarthy
From: Audible Review Copy (Blog Tour)
Genre: Romance
Release Date: 28th January 2015
Challenges: Bookish Resolutions
Links: Goodreads - Amazon - Audible

After a tragic event at her daughter's school leaves her with PTSD, Annie moves herself and Taylor to Herron Island, a quiet community with a rumoured development which would make Annie's dream of owning a fancy restaurant a reality. But when Will Dozier finds out it is his land that could make the resort a reality, he starts to drag his feet for the sale...or is that because of the new red-head in town? As Will deals with his own PTSD, he finds himself falling more and more for Annie and her daughter, and finds himself remembering the good things about Herron Island.

Firstly let me say that I did half listen and half read this book (due to wanting to know what happened a bit too much when listening wasn't possible!) But actually I found it surprisingly easy to switch between the two, and I found listening to the audio more enjoyable than I expected. I did challenge myself to listening to more audio books, and the reason I jumped for this one was because I've read and enjoyed books by Sophie Moss before, and so felt sure I'd enjoy the story. Once I got into the narrator's reading style I actually found it really soothing.

I really liked Will and Annie's relationship, it started off slow, and built up over the course of time, and even better than that, their relationship always included Taylor. She wasn't a surprise to Will, and he quickly discovered about her PTSD and what had happened to her. The passion was there for the pair of them, but it didn't feel like it was the main focus of Annie and Will's relationship.

I also really liked the way that Will's relationship with Taylor grew. It wasn't just because he was interested in her mother, but also because of their shared traumas the pair of them seemed to bond. It felt realistic and it added a level of comfort to the story, particularly at moments where horrors of their pasts were uncovered.

Annie was a very relatable character for me, and I particularly liked her relisation that there is nothing wrong with 'just' being a waitress. Considering it is a similar career path to the one that I want to take, I found her very relatable and that definitely helped my enjoyment of the story.

This was a good read and a good listen, I don't think I'll be listening to loads of audio books, but this has definitely opened me up to the idea a bit!

The Road from Tragedy to Happiness

Would you listen to Wind Chime Café again? Why?

I would prefer to listen to the next one, although this book is really wonderful and I truly recommend it to everyone.

What did you like best about this story?

The fact that two different tragedies brought together those people and unite them in the perfect match and family.

Have you listened to any of Hollis J. McCarthy’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, I have listened to Hollis J. McCarthy's other performances and I really love her. She brings life to all her characters and her voice is magical.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Do you have the courage to overcome tragedies and lead a road to happiness?

Any additional comments?

I received this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts opinions and ratings are my own.
I hope this review was useful to you and helped your decision to read or not read this book.
Thank you very much Sophie Moss and Hollis J. McCarthy for this book, can't wait for the next one.