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Rachel Goodman was raised in Pilgrim Cove, but she never fit in during high school. Rachel made bad grades and was always in the shadow of her perfect brother. As an adult, however, Rachel achieves success as the assistant principal at a school in Kansas. When a tornado destroys her school, Rachel finds she will be out of a job for at least a year. Lou Goodman, Rachel’s father, convinces her to apply for the new job at Pilgrim Cove High. Rachel is hired to work with the teachers, students and administrators to get student test scores up. Rachel knows she will be under the microscope and in order to prove herself, she must succeed in a big way. That means following the rules and possibly making some enemies along the way. After moving into Sea View House, Rachel gets down to business.
Jack Levine is in Pilgrim Cove to teach a class to high school students. He rents the Crow’s Nest above Sea View House thinking he will have a quiet existence. He plans to teach his class and do a little scientific research off the coast of Pilgrim Cove. What he doesn’t plan on is being attracted to his new boss and neighbor. Jack has some issues he’s trying to work through, but Rachel brings out things in him that he thought had died long ago.
Bart Quinn, Pilgrim Cove’s resident real estate agent and matchmaker, rents out Sea View House and the Crows Nest. Bart’s track record for matchmaking the resident of Sea View House with the resident of Crow’s Nest is perfect. Of course, Bart gets a little help from his friends the ROMEO’s (Retired Old Men Eating Out). Their last two efforts were successful and the couples are now either married or on their way to the alter.
Linda Barrett takes us back to Pilgrim Cove, a place that I’ve come to know and love. Rachel and Jack are healing from past hurts. Not the romantic hurt plots that so many romantic novels fall into, but deep emotional scars that prevent them from giving of themselves so that others can truly love them. Ms. Barrett has a matchless ability of capturing emotional conflicts and putting them down on paper so that the reader gets a clear view of the the characters are feeling. She also shows the reader how the individuals and couple successfully overcome their conflicts to find true happiness.
RELUCTANT HOUSEMATES is the third book in the Pilgrim Cove series and it is as strong as the first two. The amazing secondary characters are woven into the story, even giving the reader a story of their own, without taking away from the protagonists. I’ve had the pleasure to read and review the first two stories, each one dealing with emotional subjects that are deep and real. RELUCTANT HOUSEMATES is true to the series and deals with different subjects that allow the reader a look into how people deal effectively with various emotional conflicts. Once again, Linda Barrett has written a masterpiece and I highly recommend this book and the entire series.
Reviewed by Jennifer Ray
for The Road to Romance
March 6, 2005
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