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Coast Guard Sweetheart
Second Chance Sailor
When coast guard officer Sawyer Kole is stationed again in Kiptohanock, Virginia, he's ready to prove to Honey Duer that he's a changed man—and the right man for her. But it's not smooth sailing when a hurricane blows their way. To save the family inn she's restored to perfection, Honey will ride out the storm. But can she handle the turbulence of seeing Sawyer again? Years ago he walked away, taking her dreams of love. Now as Hurricane Zelda barrels down, Honey may have no choice but to trust Sawyer to save her life and—just maybe—her heart.
When coast guard officer Sawyer Kole is stationed again in Kiptohanock, Virginia, he's ready to prove to Honey Duer that he's a changed man—and the right man for her. But it's not smooth sailing when a hurricane blows their way. To save the family inn she's restored to perfection, Honey will ride out the storm. But can she handle the turbulence of seeing Sawyer again? Years ago he walked away, taking her dreams of love. Now as Hurricane Zelda barrels down, Honey may have no choice but to trust Sawyer to save her life and—just maybe—her heart.
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published April 19, 2016
About the author
Lisa Carter
50 books248 followersWriter. Book Lover. Avid Gardener. World Traveler.
Lisa Carter is the Publishers Weekly bestselling and award-winning author of more than thirty books. She writes the contemporary Truelove Matchmaker romance series with Love Inspired. She also writes romantic suspense—best described as “Sweet Tea with a Slice of Murder.” When not hard at work on her next fictional adventure, she enjoys reading and spending time with her family. A native North Carolinian, she has strong opinions on barbecue and ACC basketball. www.lisacarterauthor.com
Follow Lisa on BookBub for the latest book news at https://bit.ly/3G2iWGv.
Join her newsletter mailing list for book happenings at https://rb.gy/2ilkh7.
Lisa Carter is the Publishers Weekly bestselling and award-winning author of more than thirty books. She writes the contemporary Truelove Matchmaker romance series with Love Inspired. She also writes romantic suspense—best described as “Sweet Tea with a Slice of Murder.” When not hard at work on her next fictional adventure, she enjoys reading and spending time with her family. A native North Carolinian, she has strong opinions on barbecue and ACC basketball. www.lisacarterauthor.com
Follow Lisa on BookBub for the latest book news at https://bit.ly/3G2iWGv.
Join her newsletter mailing list for book happenings at https://rb.gy/2ilkh7.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 6, 2016
Oh mercy -- seriously the most hysterically funny first meet in a book ever! In fact any time Honey and Sawyer get together you're guaranteed one of two things -- either bursting out in a hearty guffaw or tearing your hair out. Sometimes both in the same scene. Honey gives Sawyer such a hard time I wanted to throttle her! She clings to resentment and bitterness like a second skin. It will take all of Sawyer's considerable charm to breach the wall she's built around her heart. Though he wrestles with his own self-doubt, worried that he can't make up for past mistakes. These two don't achieve their happily ever after easily, but their story makes for a rollicking good read.
June 16, 2016
Coast Guard Sweetheart by Lisa Carter. Coast guard officer Sawyer Kole returns back to his home town to work. Three years ago he left Honey Duer his girlfriend. Honey is having a hard time forgiving him for up and leaving without telling her why. He is trying many things to get her to listen to him but she won't. A good read.
January 22, 2019
2.5 Stars
Picking up several years after where Lisa Carter's Coast Guard Courtship left off, Coast Guard Sweetheart revisits one of the side stories from the first book: that of Honey (sister of Amelia from Book 1, *Honey's real name is Beatrice, but picked up the nickname due to her hair color) and that fouled up romance Amelia's beau Braeden helped Honey push through. The troublemaker guy in that scenario, Coast Guard Petty Officer Sawyer Kole, is back in town (with Braeden as his boss) and wants to make things right between him and Honey.
Wouldn't you know, she doesn't want to hear it! Or so she's trying to convince herself. Wouldn't you want to hear what story was behind a former flame abandoning you three years earlier? Not the least bit curious, Honey? You KNOW she is! But she's in no rush to give him the satisfaction. Their re-acquaintance comes about via a pretty funny food fight (but SUCH a waste of donuts!). But the two have no choice but to put differences aside and work together when their town faces the arrival of Hurricane Zelda and Honey's newly restored inn sits right in the line of fire.
Having thoroughly enjoyed Lisa Carter's first installment in this series, I was really looking forward to seeing where the characters ended up here. Though all the elements seemed to be in place for a strong follow-up, sadly this one just did not serve up the same magic as its predecessor. The humor, charming as all get out in Coast Guard Courtship, just fell flat here, felt a little on the canned side. Further, the plot wasn't nearly as much fun. While it seemed promising, opening a story with a food fight, things quickly fizzled out from there. Even with a hurricane in the mix --- you'd expect some great tension or amazing chats or something right? --- nope, even there it was about as interesting as bath water.
Pretty quickly, Honey's relentless bickering grows tiresome. Not cute. She complains that Sawyer never explained his absence, then when he tries she shuts it down with an "I don't want to hear it"... but then encourages him to try again, but then hardly lets him finish a thought before she's verbally laying into him again. Her level of anger grows unreasonable but she continues to harp on with the "Why won't you talk to me?" Girl, have you only heard your side of things? This whole story has been set up for him to tell his side! UGH, even Max chimes in with a "Stop being a big baby, Aunt Honey." You tell her, kid! Another character takes it further with "Bitterness does not become you, Beatrice."
In terms of dialogue, the writing just gets progressively more cringey as the reader progresses. But if you're really into nighttime soaps, the overkill dramatics might not strike you as problematic. I will note a few highlights though. 1) This novel does touch upon the heartbreak of siblings split up within the foster system and later left unable to reunite with each other as adults because of sealed records. 2) The closing scene was undeniably sweet and romantic. Hard not to pull a grin out of me at the description of a modern couple slow dancing to "Let Me Call You Sweetheart". 3) MAX. It was so great to see Max again in this series. Max is doing great and he totally made it worthwhile to hang in there and keep reading!
Picking up several years after where Lisa Carter's Coast Guard Courtship left off, Coast Guard Sweetheart revisits one of the side stories from the first book: that of Honey (sister of Amelia from Book 1, *Honey's real name is Beatrice, but picked up the nickname due to her hair color) and that fouled up romance Amelia's beau Braeden helped Honey push through. The troublemaker guy in that scenario, Coast Guard Petty Officer Sawyer Kole, is back in town (with Braeden as his boss) and wants to make things right between him and Honey.
Wouldn't you know, she doesn't want to hear it! Or so she's trying to convince herself. Wouldn't you want to hear what story was behind a former flame abandoning you three years earlier? Not the least bit curious, Honey? You KNOW she is! But she's in no rush to give him the satisfaction. Their re-acquaintance comes about via a pretty funny food fight (but SUCH a waste of donuts!). But the two have no choice but to put differences aside and work together when their town faces the arrival of Hurricane Zelda and Honey's newly restored inn sits right in the line of fire.
Having thoroughly enjoyed Lisa Carter's first installment in this series, I was really looking forward to seeing where the characters ended up here. Though all the elements seemed to be in place for a strong follow-up, sadly this one just did not serve up the same magic as its predecessor. The humor, charming as all get out in Coast Guard Courtship, just fell flat here, felt a little on the canned side. Further, the plot wasn't nearly as much fun. While it seemed promising, opening a story with a food fight, things quickly fizzled out from there. Even with a hurricane in the mix --- you'd expect some great tension or amazing chats or something right? --- nope, even there it was about as interesting as bath water.
Pretty quickly, Honey's relentless bickering grows tiresome. Not cute. She complains that Sawyer never explained his absence, then when he tries she shuts it down with an "I don't want to hear it"... but then encourages him to try again, but then hardly lets him finish a thought before she's verbally laying into him again. Her level of anger grows unreasonable but she continues to harp on with the "Why won't you talk to me?" Girl, have you only heard your side of things? This whole story has been set up for him to tell his side! UGH, even Max chimes in with a "Stop being a big baby, Aunt Honey." You tell her, kid! Another character takes it further with "Bitterness does not become you, Beatrice."
In terms of dialogue, the writing just gets progressively more cringey as the reader progresses. But if you're really into nighttime soaps, the overkill dramatics might not strike you as problematic. I will note a few highlights though. 1) This novel does touch upon the heartbreak of siblings split up within the foster system and later left unable to reunite with each other as adults because of sealed records. 2) The closing scene was undeniably sweet and romantic. Hard not to pull a grin out of me at the description of a modern couple slow dancing to "Let Me Call You Sweetheart". 3) MAX. It was so great to see Max again in this series. Max is doing great and he totally made it worthwhile to hang in there and keep reading!
May 5, 2018
As Love Inspired romances go, this was a decent one. The two main characters are Honey Duer and Sawyer Kole. Sawyer struggles with feelings of inadequacy. He was told in childhood that he wasn't worth much and the foster system reinforced that. He's also fallen into the trap of not believing that God could love someone like him. He abruptly broke off a romance with Honey several years before thinking that he was saving her from a bad situation.
Honey's stuck in a rut of bitterness. Her older sister died as a result of a car accident (but not before she gave birth to a boy who's being raised by Honey's sister). Her mother died of cancer. And Sawyer ditched her for undisclosed reasons. She's built up a wall--a wall that her family has decided needs to be torn down. They arrange for Sawyer to return to the Coast Guard station.
The book did a fair job of showing how angry Honey was at Sawyer's return and how, over time, that changed. I'm sad that it took an almost tragedy for Honey to admit that she loved Sawyer.
Honey's stuck in a rut of bitterness. Her older sister died as a result of a car accident (but not before she gave birth to a boy who's being raised by Honey's sister). Her mother died of cancer. And Sawyer ditched her for undisclosed reasons. She's built up a wall--a wall that her family has decided needs to be torn down. They arrange for Sawyer to return to the Coast Guard station.
The book did a fair job of showing how angry Honey was at Sawyer's return and how, over time, that changed. I'm sad that it took an almost tragedy for Honey to admit that she loved Sawyer.
February 16, 2019
This is a great book. But make sure you read the first one first to understand what is going on. 😁😂
September 4, 2024
It took me forever to get through this short book. I didn't like how stubborn the characters were. I did really enjoy the ending though.
August 28, 2016
After reading the first book in the series and loving it, i could not wait to read this one. We meet Honey and Kole in the first book, three years earlier Honey is a dreamer and a romantic and is happy to be dating Kole. But one night, Kole leaves her in the middle of a date. His superior, Braeden Scott, get to the truth as to why he did what he did. That's why now that he's had some time to mature, and now that Honey is still bitter over what she thinks he did to her, Braden decides to bring him back to work.
There are many amusing scenes in this book. My favorite is the long john war. I love little Max and how he gets into trouble because of his aunt's starting a war. This makes Max upset with his aunt. Plus Max is scared his Mimi and dad are not longer going to want him around after the new baby comes. There is another incident that is quite funny. The incident itself is not the funniest part - it's watching the adult Honey being punished by her father at her age! Priceless!!! I really liked Seth. I thought he had a lot of character and showed a lot of love for his daughters.
I really liked Kole and loved watching how he was able to bring Honey out of her shell and have her forgive him. This book was sweet and had an important message (like the first) about getting to the truth of the matter before you jump to conclusions.
There are many amusing scenes in this book. My favorite is the long john war. I love little Max and how he gets into trouble because of his aunt's starting a war. This makes Max upset with his aunt. Plus Max is scared his Mimi and dad are not longer going to want him around after the new baby comes. There is another incident that is quite funny. The incident itself is not the funniest part - it's watching the adult Honey being punished by her father at her age! Priceless!!! I really liked Seth. I thought he had a lot of character and showed a lot of love for his daughters.
I really liked Kole and loved watching how he was able to bring Honey out of her shell and have her forgive him. This book was sweet and had an important message (like the first) about getting to the truth of the matter before you jump to conclusions.
February 13, 2017
It was much better than I expected. Still predictable but good.
May 21, 2016
Coast Guard Sweetheart by Lisa Cox is a story set on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and involves a small town, Coasties(the men and women of the coast Guard) stationed there and a hurricane. It is a heartwarming story that includes finding self-worth and second chances. It was had the flavor of the Eastern shore and small towns as close knit families. It is well written and a wonderful adventure. I read it in the larger print edition.
August 26, 2016
This book was amazing! Very romantic and sweet, but also very eye-opening. It's easy to run away from God when the going gets tough and this book (and it's delightful characters) showed the importance of running TOWARDS God! I liked being able to read a book that taught me so much about my own walk with God, even as I enjoyed the romantic side of the story! Delightful read! I highly recommend! :)
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March 22, 2016You can read my review in the May 2016 issue of RT Bookreviews magazine.
June 27, 2016
This story made me laugh out. Hoping for more books about the Coasties & Duers.
May 28, 2023
Sweet, second chance romance.
August 6, 2017
good book
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews