SPOILER ALERTS...big time...because I just can't get over what Colgan did!
In Little Beach Street Bakery, we meet Polly who has just had her world tumble in around her. Her graphic design business she has with her boyfriend has just gone bankrupt...and so has their relationship. Given that she is now jobless, homeless, and relatively single, Polly begins scouring that interwebs to find a place to live that she can afford but also that she doesn't have to share with college kids. She widens her search area and stumbles upon a flat on the island of Mount Polbearne where she is immediately entranced by the view the little flat has. She and her friend Kerensa go check it out...and it's a disaster. It's a ramshackle apartment on top of a bakery that is in need of a good scrubbing and a new roof..and it slopes slightly. But...when Polly looks out the window at the ocean, she cannot help but feel a sense of calm she hasn't felt for many years.
While unpacking what little things she has that the bank didn't take, some of her late father's books get picked up by the wind from the ocean. Thinking she has lost her father's copy of Alice in Wonderland, along with all of her other recent troubles, she sits down to have a good cry...which is what we all would have done. She is interrupted by a man clearing his throat and looks up to find Tarnie, a fisherman, holding her Alice in Wonderland. He is also in the company of four other fishermen who make up his crew and they all lend a hand in getting Polly's meager belongings into the shanty apartment. She starts to begin to get her life together by giving the flat a good scrubbing and baking a loaf of bread. Polly has always had a hobby for baking, specifically bread...of all types. She bakes a loaf and takes it down to the harbor to the fishermen who helped her out. They are all immediately in love with her bread. Thus begins a nice little friendship with this group of men, specifically the captain, Tarnie who is tall, blue eyed, and bearded. Side note...I hate a beard. I do not find them attractive AT ALL. But eh...that's just me. Anyway, she is in her first couple of nights in her new home when she is awoken by a terrible scream. Upon investigation, she notices a baby puffin has crashed through her window downstairs and has a broken wing. She binds his wing up, based on what Google said, and finds him a little resting place in a cardboard box. The next day she takes him to the vet in town and he tells her to keep him for four weeks and then he must go back to the puffin sanctuary. He warns her to not get attached but uh duh...of course she does. It's an adorable baby puffin who waddles around and eats breadcrumbs. I'd have kept him too!
She heard from the fishermen about some local honey so one day Polly sets off with some bread and her puffin, whom she has no named Neil, to explore her new home land. She comes upon the beekeeper's place when they each trade their wares. He offers her some honey so she can use it in some bread and she offers him some of her fresh bread. Literally...that's so not a metaphor for anything even though Huckle is a Georgia boy who has blonde hair, blue eyes, and stands at around 6 feet 2 inches. Uh....yummy. It was at this point that I was wondering who her love interest was going to be...every chick lit book has one. Turns out...she has a little fling with Tarnie. He romances her by taking her to a small sandbar island where they fish and cook and swim...and ultimately have sex. They begin a little relationship but it's not a full on relationship because they never go out anywhere in public and they never really discuss just what they are to each other. And...wouldn't you know, in a town of less than 1000 people, everyone knows. It isn't long after Polly learns why they never really go out in public or actually have made anything official...TARNIE IS MARRIED! So what??!! Well I guess that rules him out as a long term happy life playmate. And of course...the whole town also knows this...so now everyone knows Polly has slept with a married man. Tarnie begins avoiding her so she throws herself into work and she sometimes hangs out with Huckle.
She begins to uncover Huckle's story and she finds they actually have a lot in common. Jobs they didn't love...people who didn't love them back...running away to do what you love and get away from it all. She also meets Huckle's friend, Reuben, who apparently has more money than Donald Trump. Her friend Kerensa comes to visit and Reuben is immediately smitten by her sharp attitude and lack of care as to his monetary worth. It is also around this time that Huckle comes up with the great idea that Polly should bake bread and work out a deal with the only other bakery in town (that completely sucks) which is also owned by her landlady, Mrs. Manse. Polly talks with Mrs. Manse and they work out a deal that Polly will make bread and Mrs. Manse will handle the money for it.
It is one morning when she is getting up to begin her baking that she notices the dark storm clouds looming and the fishermen pull up. She runs out to ask them if they're crazy for going out into this storm, and it's also the first time she's seen Tarnie since she learned he was married. She finally confronts him about it but the whole thing is amicable and they make amends with one another. Which is good because the storm was worse than anyone could have predicted. She awakes the next morning to crowds of people everywhere and rescue boats searching the sea for crews. Reuben and Huckle are also on Reuben's boat looking. Her friend Kerensa has also come to check on her and they spend the day serving bread, tea, and coffee to the people and fishermen that have been found. But there's one boat that still has not yet been recovered...Tarnie and his crew. Kerensa and Polly go with Reuben and Huckle to do a little searching of their own but to no avail. Huckle is concerned about how withdrawn and despondent Polly is but Kerensa promises to take care of her. The next morning, Polly awakens to the sound of a bell tolling and Reuben's boat coming in with 4 men...Tarnie's crew had 5. The author KILLED TARNIE OFF! She kills him off so that he could save Jayden, a young boy that was part of his crew. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? It wasn't enough that he was unfaithful to his wife BUT YOU HAD TO KILL HIM? UGHHHH...hello water works for 30 pages.
Polly, with the help of her friends, organizes a memorial service for Tarnie. Reuben, with all of his money, throws a huge celebration as a wake. A huge party with music, dancing, food, and booze. Polly also met Tarnie's wife and actually instantly liked the woman, but she never told her about her tryst with Tarnie. It was all a very sad 30 pages and I cried like a baby through all of it. It is at this wake though, that Kerensa finally realizes she does like Reuben and Polly and Huckle finally have a make out session. FINALLY! But...ugh...Polly gets in her head and thinks maybe that's not the best time to be making out with another man, but Huckle takes it as she's in love with Tarnie. Now I was frustrated because they're both getting in their own way. If only they would have actually talked about some shit but instead Huckle shuts down and Polly just assumes that means he's not ready for a relationship. ARE YOU SERIOUS? He attacked your face with his tongue and you think that means he doesn't want a relationship?! UGHHH!
As per his MO, Huckle flees back to Georgia without really talking to Polly and it's not until Reuben and Kerensa's wedding that the two are face to face with one another again. FINALLY, they talk things over and realize that duh they really do like one another. Bow chicka wow wow ensues and she takes a trip with him to Georgia but she alas must return to her bakery. Her life is in Mount Polbearne. He finally gets it through his thick skull after she has returned that Polly is the one for him and she had been tending to his beehives that entire time he was in Georgia. He returns to Mount Polbearne and they confess their love for one another.
In the end, Polly got her happy ending. A job she absolutely loves, a puffin who returned to her even after she took him to the puffin sanctuary, and a hotty of a man. But I'm still pissed that Tarnie was killed off. I feel the whole married thing effectively got him out of the way...did you really have to kill him??? *Sigh*
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