Cocoa Beach Sunrise

Sweeney House, Book 4

De: Cecelia Scott

Narrado por: Vanessa Johansson

Adventure, romance, and laughter continue for the Sweeney family of Cocoa Beach.

As Sam and Erica take off on a quest to find a long-lost member of the family, Taylor struggles with some surprising new developments in her love life. The clan guides their dear friend Annie through some muddy waters of her own, and John and Imani start to wonder if the marriage they once cherished and adored can ever be repaired.

As always, the Sweeneys are ready to face it all with constant love and support for one another, but will new challenges and an unexpected addition to the family threaten to shatter their bond?

©2023 Cecelia Scott (P)2023 Podium Audio

Family resilience

Facing life’s challenges with family & close friendship support while in a beautiful and healing location.
Several story lines with people on different stages of life supporting each other.

Thaylors love life

Was a really lovely family, and the ups and downs, the new additions to the Sweeney Crowd, and Annie’s new business!!

Fun story series

I have really enjoyed this series so far. I enjoy the characters, the storyline and their developments as people.

I have one issue with this book though and it’s the amount of self depreciation and blaming that Imani goes through with her decisions. It drove me insane - I’d like to see more actual support from her husband as she was following her dreams but alas, here we are.

There was more ‘blame and shame’ in other parts too that I wasn’t a fan of - these characters can be so hard on themselves and one another. I will keep listening though, as I’m invested in the story and want to see what happens.

I hope the characters following their dreams leads to more positive growth instead of more self-blaming. We shall see!

Great job on this beautiful story

This story was one of the best so far looking forward to the next story. The writer had great emotion, surprise, and so much more to come with the next book. Hope there is a next book! Fan for life

Really enjoyed, but......

I have very much loved this series, but I am so not happy with the fact that no-one seem to really support Imani in her decision to take that job which was only going to last 3 months. I think the husband should have supported her more. I can't believe no one understood that need to, just for a little while, be that traveling journalist again. That said, I am looking forward to the rest of the series. I also really love your narrator, Vanessa Johansson.

For the most part exceptional!

Cocoa Beach Sunrise is the fourth book in Cecilia Scott’s series, and I was so invested that I used every one of my free credits—and even bought more—just to keep going. After loving her previous series, I knew I wouldn't be able to wait for the next installment, and this one certainly kept me turning pages.

That said, I struggled with several plot points in this book, particularly the way Imani’s story was handled. As a working mother myself, this storyline hit close to home, and not always in a good way.

Imani’s Arc: A Missed Opportunity

The narrative frames Imani’s situation as an all-or-nothing choice: family OR work. When she realizes she’s lost her identity in full-time motherhood and wants to reclaim a piece of herself by returning to part-time work, she’s offered a dream assignment — a three-month travel writing project that would be a major career milestone. Yes, it would inconvenience her family and require adjustment, but the response from nearly everyone around her was blame, shame, and disapproval.

Her husband’s confusion made sense — she hadn’t expressed the extent of her internal struggle until the moment she brought it up. I can extend grace there. But the women in her family knew she was losing herself and still treated this opportunity as unacceptable. A three-month assignment is not the end of the world, and it shouldn’t have been treated as a catastrophic betrayal.

The most disappointing part was watching Imani finally rediscover her identity… only to be written into regretting it so intensely that she backtracked and returned to the exact life where she felt unseen. In reality, there is a middle ground. Working moms exist in that middle ground every single day. You can love your family and love your career. You can be a good mother without erasing yourself. I wanted the story to honor that nuance.

Uneven Grace Among Characters

Another point of frustration: other family members are consistently given far more grace for their decisions than Imani is. Whether it’s because she’s the in-law or something else, the imbalance is hard to miss and harder to accept. Characters are harsh with her in ways they simply aren’t with one another.

Taylor’s Love Triangle

Taylor’s emotional struggle between Kai and Andre was also difficult to connect with. Kai had been gone for months. His life is in Hawaii, hers is in Florida — the conflict felt forced. Sometimes the choice really is clear, and dragging it out made the internal turmoil feel unnecessarily dramatic rather than romantic.

Annie dear wonderful Annie...
Annie’s forays into online dating were absolutely hilarious and painfully relatable. For anyone who grew up meeting people organically — through friends, in social circles, or just naturally in everyday life — the shift to online dating can feel both disturbing and demoralizing at times. Cecilia Scott captured that awkward, chaotic reality perfectly. Annie’s misadventures made me laugh out loud, and Elvis in particular had me cracking up. It was a refreshing and honest look at what modern dating feels like for older singles trying to navigate an entirely new landscape.

Final Thoughts

Despite the frustrations, I still enjoyed the writing, the world, and the sense of family that Cecilia Scott creates so well. I’m absolutely continuing the series — I’ve come too far, and the characters still hold a place in my heart. But I do wish this installment had given more realistic balance and support to a woman rediscovering herself instead of punishing her for it.

Too many disappointments

First off the reversal of Imani and her desire to return to her travel writing career to the housewife and mother because that’s all she really needs was so much crap. I understand how you can lose yourself in bringing up your kids and taking care of your husband’s every need but when you realize that you gave up everything that you are for that you don’t change your mind once you find yourself again! John was a pretty selfish jerk and the plot the author put together for their story was just ridiculous! Second, the whole Taylor gets over Kai and starts falling for Andre in a couple of weeks seemed ridiculous too. And as for Imani quitting her Wanderlust gig, let me tell you, most publishers would go out of their way to accommodate her so she’d finish the book and make the client happy. They wouldn’t dump it after spending so much time and money on a writer they were sold on. And hey-these folks have contracts so again the whole thing was ridiculous! There were so many flip flops in this book that I just really ended up disliking the whole thing. I am not sure if I’ll continue with this series or not. I recommend you skip it.