Title: Winter’s Harbor
Author Name & Publisher: Aurora Rey (Bold Strokes Books)
Publication Date & Length: November 10, 2015 – 240 pgs
Lia Brooks has a broken heart and a burning desire to escape New York City. She decides Provincetown is the perfect winter escape to find some peace and regroup. Alex McKinnon is the pastry chef and proprietor of The Flour Pot Café in the heart of Provincetown. She loves owning her own business and the easy, no-strings-attached relationships that come with living in a gay tourist mecca.
When Lia appears in the café, the attraction is immediate. The passion between them promises more than a casual affair, but it’s never that simple. Women from Alex’s past pop up at the most inopportune times. Then there’s Lia’s ex, who brokers deals for a living and is unaccustomed to losing. Will Alex and Lia be able to overcome the roadblocks and find a happily ever after?

This was a nice read. I like both these characters a lot. I really enjoyed seeing both of them grow and move out of their comfort zones to take the risk of opening up to each other. And I liked how the connection between them was immediate, growing stronger slowly but inevitably. Of course, both women have communication issues, not being able to tell the other the truth about their feelings until several misunderstandings have occurred. But both women have the ability in the end to be honest with themselves (even if it takes a best friend to point out what they aren’t facing), and with each other.
Alex has to move past the fear of getting hurt in order to try to have a deeper relationship with a woman she’s scared to lose. And watching Lia move out of a bad relationship, one where she was not only not valued, but also taught not to value herself, to take the steps of starting to regain her confidence in herself, in her own worth and judgment, and to believe in herself again, that is what makes it possible for her to finally face her own fears and accept what Alex is offering. It was a nice journey to take with these characters, and I’m glad I went along for the ride. I’ll be looking for more books from this author in the future.
Amy P.
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Aurora Rey grew up in a small town in south Louisiana, daydreaming about New England. She keeps a special place in her heart for the South, especially the food and the ways women are raised to be strong, even if they’re taught not to show it.
When she’s not writing or at her day job in higher education, she loves to cook and dabble in country living. She lives in Ithaca, NY with her partner and two dogs.