Take a return trip to Three Sisters Island off the coast of Maine in Suzanne Woods Fisher’s newest novel, “On a Coastal Breeze” — a story of overcoming worry, fear and anxiety.
Maddie Grayson, the middle sister, has just opened her therapy business on the island when in flies — literally — her childhood nemesis, Ricky O’Shea, to be the island’s pastor. Rick was the boy who traumatized her over and over again, and yet secretly she always had a crush on him. So his presence on the island, especially when she’s trying to develop a business, puts her constantly on edge.
In the meantime, oldest sister Cam is still trying to set a wedding date with Seth and deal with her son Cooper’s quirks while also working hard to bring renewable energy to the island. And youngest sister Blaine wants to take a break from culinary school and find her “food voice.”
Filled with just enough romance, “On a Coastal Breeze” is a lovely tale of family dynamics, small town relationships, and the desire to constantly improve one’s self as well as one’s surroundings. Fisher does a great job of developing very real, very flawed, and very relatable characters. All of our favorites from the first book in the series, “On a Summer Tide,” return, including the plucky and quirky Peg Legg and even the dubious Phinney brothers.
Fisher also fills “On a Coastal Breeze” with some incredible themes, like God is never absent; God hears us in every circumstance; we should trust that God can bring good out of bad; and that God tells us “My grace is sufficient for you.”
The book’s major themes deal with worry, fear and anxiety — fear of making mistakes and not having enough time to fix them; no one is immune to fear; and fear, worry and anxiety only block us from truly living. As Rick says during one of his sermons: “Did you know that ‘Fear not’ is mentioned three hundred and sixty-five times in the Bible? One for every day. The Lord knows we have problems with fear. Every one of us. No one is immune. All of us have fears of some kind.”
This story could be read as a standalone, but I’d highly recommend reading “On a Summer Tide” first as much of this story’s plot refers back to book one. I’m guessing there will be a third book to dive more into Blaine’s story, and if so, I’m truly looking forward to it.
Five stars out of five.
Revell provided this complimentary copy through NetGalley for my honest, unbiased review.
“On a Coastal Breeze” (Three Sisters Island series, #2) by Suzanne Woods Fisher