Book Review for The Magic of Sea Glass by Jenny Hale

This is a clean romance with mystery, adventure, forbidden love, and family secrets. The story has dual timelines, one which focuses on Lauren Sutton in current day North Carolina, and the other that focuses on a young Penelope Parker and Phillip Harrison who fell in love during the 1950s in Fairhope, Alabama.

The protagonist, Lauren Sutton, is a wedding planner who doesn’t feel comfortable in large gatherings. She is mourning the loss of her fiancé and sells her half of the business, Sugar and Lace, to her business partner, Andy Sutton. She was raised in Tennessee but has recently been working in New York. She wants to take some time away and applies for a seasonal position to work as an assistant to Mary at an old inn on the Outer Banks called the Tide and Swallow. Her new position takes her out of her comfort zone but provides her with an opportunity to make new friends who help her through her grief.

Among these new friends is Brody Harrison. He is an attractive man Lauren met at the store who had mistaken her for someone else. He is a fisherman, takes families on charters, and helps Mary around the inn. The ladies seem to like him, but he doesn’t date. Regardless of having an optimistic outlook on life he claims not to believe in weddings for himself. He believes the odds are against him.

Penelope Parker (Penny) is an eighteen-year-old young woman who spends the summer with her mother and father in Fairhope, Alabama while her father completes renovations on a client’s bay house. She fell in love with Phillip Harrison during her summer vacation and gave Phillip a lovely sea glass bracelet that she had made with her mother. She was expecting Phillip Harrison to propose to her.

Phillip is a quiet and introspective man. He is in love with Penelope and wants to marry her. He took Penelope window shopping for an engagement ring. However, when he informs his parents of his plan to marry Penelope, they strongly disapprove threatening to withhold his inheritance and barricading him in his room to prevent him from seeing Penelope.

I loved this book. The author does an excellent job at creating believable characters. I enjoyed discovering the way the characters from the two timelines connect. It is a sweet love story and the perfect beach read! It kept me engaged and wanting more. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good, clean romance. I give this book a 4-star rating.