Summer in Eclipse Bay, by Jayne Ann Krentz

Yesterday I devoured Jayne Ann Krentz's latest: Summer in Eclipse Bay. While I'm afraid this is not as good as her best, it's still a very nice, comfortable book. I'd give it a grade of B.

Plot summary:

"Word gets around fast in Eclipse Bay. Nick Harte should know --- his family's legendary feud with the Madisons fueled the local gossip mill for years before finally cooling off. But people are still talking--and rumor has it Nick's involved with someone new...

Art gallery owner Octavia Brightwell doesn't take chances--especially on handsome, charming men. But that's only part of the reason why she turned Nick down six times before--finally--agreeing to a date. Octavia's related to the woman who sparked the long-running family feud--and fears that falling hard for Nick would only ignite the flames again. Octavia knows her family's past is best kept hidden. But her secret isn't safe in Eclipse Bay--and neither is her heart...

As I said, this one works great as a comfort read. It has a light, well-crafted mystery, nice, likeable characters, quirky secondary characters (loved the Heralds and Mean Eugene and Dickhead Dwayne), lots of interactions between the characters, a nice little romance... nothing too exciting, but it hit the spot. The romance still feels a little toned-down, compared to what it used to be in her best books, but at least Nick and Octavia have much more chemistry than the protagonists in some of her latest books.

The setting was pretty nice, though it would have been more understandable that they would want to stay there if the town hadn't had so many judgemental hypocrites. But then, Octavia ends up in the Hart family, so she won't have to suffer the scorn!

Incredibly enough, I adored Carson, Nick's son. I usually detest the children in romance novels (such saccharine, precious brats!), but he was a real dear. I very much enjoyed Nick's relationship with him, especially how he treated his son as a real person.

I had a little problem understanding what was going on with the Claudia issue because I'd only read Eclipse Bay (the first in the series; this one's the third) and I'd done so quite a few months ago. I would have appreciated some reminders about what the feud had been all about. I still don't remember exactly what Claudia was to Sullivan and Mitch.