Cure for the Common Breakup (Black Dog Bay, #1)

by Beth Kendrick

[Leah]

Beth Kendrick is a Chick Lit author with many titles to her name – including the made-into-Lifetime-movie Nearlyweds, which is actually the only Kendrick book I’ve read up until now. It wasn’t the best book I ever read, but it was okay, and so when Beth released The Lucky Dog Matchmaking Service a couple of years ago, I treated myself to it, though I have yet to read it. So when I got the opportunity to take part in Beth’s blog tour for her new novel Cure for the Common Breakup, I thought it sounded fantastic! I loved the idea of Black Dog Bay, and I’m a sucker for niche novels like this, which take place in towns you could never expect and always end up being the kind of place I want to go and live myself and Black Dog Bay was no exception.

Cure for the Common Breakup tells us the tale of flight attendant Summer, who’s on the verge of being in a serious relationship with her pilot boyfriend Aaron. Until a nasty, tragic accident changes it all, and Summer finds herself on the road to Delaware and Black Dog Bay, the perfect place to recoup from a break up! Summer finds herself really enjoying town life – relaxing at the beach, making new friends, and putting people in their places, much to the enjoyment of the townsfolk who have spent so long being afraid of certain Black Dog Bay residents. Summer also finds herself seriously attracted to the town’s mayor, Dutch Jensen, but when she gets a new job with enemy number uno of Black Dog Bay, Hattie Huntingdon, she finds her new life hanging on a precarious cliff edge, does she fight for her new relationship or does she do as she’s told and leave Black Dog Bay for good?

I was absorbed by Cure for the Common Breakup as soon as I started reading. Kendrick has such a fantastic, enjoyable writing style and I loved Summer immediately. She’s my kinda girl – she knows what she wants (or doesn’t want), and she goes and gets it. The first few chapters were a surprise – it’s not very often a Chick Lit novel opens with a plane crash, but they set the tone for Summer heading to Black Dog Bay, and it wasn’t horrific or graphic, though it was a tad scary! Then Summer heads off to Black Dog Bay and the novel just motors on from there. Black Dog Bay is the PERFECT place to recover from a break-up and I loved all the kitschy names of the bar, the bookshop, the hotel, all relating to break-ups and healing. It was a clever touch, and set Black Dog Bay apart from any other town I’ve ever read about, and it means I will remember it months after reading, for sure. I loved how Summer’s first impression was to put down Mimi Sinclair. She was fearless, and honest, and unafraid to speak her mind – even to Hattie Huntington and she was quite right when she said bossy people really just wanted people to be real with them, they don’t want people to pander all the time.

Summer was probably one of my favourite female characters, ever. I just loved her attitude, I loved that she didn’t wallow (helped along by all her new friends in Black Dog Bay) after her breakup and I loved that most of the community were there for her in her hour of need, even though she was a virtual stranger. Cure for the Common Breakup was a fantastic read and the romance between Summer and Dutch was perfect. It was well-timed, it was effortless, it was everything a romance should be, really. I also really loved Summer’s mentoring of Dutch’s sister, Ingrid. It was so sweet to see her help Ingrid out – Ingrid who reminded me so much of me at that age. (And I’m still useless with make up, clothes and high heels at 24). I could do with a Summer in my life. Kendrick is a wonderful writer, and I loved getting to know everybody in Black Dog Bay. It’s one of those quaint American towns that you hope is real (I don’t know if it is, I rather hope so!). It was such a fantastic, quick read and I enjoyed every single page! I can’t wait for Kendrick’s next novel and I look forward to diving into her back catalogue. Cure for the Common Breakup is a novel not to miss!