The Summer Cottage

Moving, heart-warming, lesson-learning beautifully written story about life as a child and how memories can enable your future. A must read!

I enjoyed the very real story of a woman who discovered strong values and memories of her past which she was able to draw upon for her survival following a major change in her personal life. The author's gentle style creates a story, providing lots of memories to surface within any reader who experienced summer cottage life. A lovely gift and a book many will want to read again. Loved the Cottage Rules!

This was a clean second chance romance, that was rather melancholy. Even with joy & happiness, it seems other memories would crash down the mood. This is one of the better endings I have recently read. Mainly, because the author gave it one.

Freshly divorced, Adie Lou is looking to make a change. Stuck working at a job that she hates, she's looking for the change that will light the fire in her soul and make her happy again. And so she decides to turn her family's summer cottage into a B and B. As we know, nothing in life ever goes according to plan, and soon Adie Lou is questioning her sanity and her ability to make her dream a reality.Inspired by a letter she finds in the walls of her family's property, Adie Lou is determined to make her new life in Saugatuck happy and everything she wants it to be.I thoroughly admired Adie Lou's courage and conviction to live the life that she wanted and to do what made her happy. Women all too often succumb to society's pressures and we lose our essence, our inner fire, sacrifice our dreams, and become what others want us to be. This book was an eye opener to what we could become if we have the guts to go after what we want. And it brought tears to my eyes often because Adie Lou is a character that so many of us can relate to. I know many of us hold back (myself included) on taking a chance because of fear. Fear of failure. Fear at change. But we just have to take that leap of faith and hope that everything works out in the end.“‘ Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.’”The Summer Cottage is a beautiful and inspiring tale of love, friendship, courage, adversity, and a woman looking to find herself and her place in this world. This was my first book by Viola Shipman and I can assure you it won't be my last.

I got this book as a summer read. Never read this author before. I was pleasantly surprised to find out after starting this book( I later looked at the inside back flap jacket), that viola shipman is a pen name for Wade Rouse. And that it was his grandmothers name! It was extremely well written, very relatable, and tugged at my heart in many places. I was able to identify with the main character! She is a woman in her forties, just going through a divorce, and starting a new beginning in her life. ( I am in my fifties, a recent widow, and also adjusting to a new chapter. ). Like the main character, I find myself having to make decisions on my own, learning about maintaining, repairing a house, going from two to one income, and facing fears and challenges as they come! I love the Cottage rules, and how some of them can be applied to my life. There was also many thought provoking sentences that Made me stop, ponder, and truly made me think.( I highlighted some to remember.) I highly recommend this book! Because I enjoyed it so much it will be in my library to be taken out and reread again. I must admit after I was done I wanted to write the author and tell him just how much I enjoyed his book and how much it meant to me!( All too often authors don’t get any feedback, and if they do it can be negative.) I laughed, I cried, I savored this book!I have since gone on Amazon and ordered all his other books. I just started The Charm Bracelet, which was his first book written I think. I look forward to enjoying it just as much!