Happy publication day, Julie Caplin, and ‘The Secret Cove in Croatia’! My second RaRaResources blog tour of the days is for this beautiful, beautiful book – thank you so much for having me on kicking off the blog tour, and thank you to the publisher for the ARC. Here is my review:
Sail away to beautiful Croatia for summer sun, sparkling turquoise seas and a holiday romance that’s forever…
When no-nonsense, down-to-earth Maddie Wilcox is offered the chance to work on a luxury yacht for the summer, she can’t say no. Yes she’ll be waiting on the posh guests… But island-hopping around the Adriatic sea will more than make up for it –especially when Nick, her best friend Nina’s brother, is one of them.Sparks fly when they meet on board and Maddie can’t believe self-entitled jerk Nick is really related to Nina.But in a secret, picture-perfect cove, away from the real world, Maddie and Nick discover they might have more in common than they realise…
What does TWG think?
‘Sail away with meeeee……’
If only!!!! I have never been to Croatia before – can someone take me, like now? Oh Julie Caplin, what have you done to me?! I am someone who rolls my eyes at PDA’s and romance itself. I am also someone who adores reading romance despite not being a fan of the actual thing myself. Again, I am also someone who now wants to go to Croatia so I can meet my own Nick! Swoon!!!!! He can keep the shorts though, soz!!!
Maddie is THE best character ever!!! What a breath of fresh air she is. I absolutely loved her and her bluntness. She certainly wasn’t taking any prisoners, that’s for sure! Did I see myself in her? Damn right I did, maybe that’s why I gelled with her personality because I could relate to her personally.
The absolute star of the storyline was the message the author had hidden in between her words; be yourself, don’t go out of your way to be anyone else except you. How many of us have been amongst a group of people and found ourselves changing our mannerisms, adjusting our likes and dislikes, just to make other people like us? How many of us have pretended to be something we’re not, just because a crush prefers us a certain way? Of course – we have all been there and done that! Instead of leaving a situation because it doesn’t fit YOUR needs, you end up changing yourself because you don’t fit THEIR needs, but at the end of the day, what’s more important? Your happiness, or theirs?
Such an easy thing to say, but one of the most hardest things to put into practice. As an outsider looking in, Nick’s situation with Tara was the elephant in the room. People could see what Tara was like, however the only person who struggled to see what she was capable of, was Nick himself. Why could that be? I’ll tell you – it was because he was so close to the situation, he ended up being blindsided by the attention. It wasn’t until someone, aka Maddie, took the time to tell him how it was. Could she have done that out of jealousy because Tara disliked her? Possibly, in fact almost definitely! That said, Maddie’s personality wasn’t that way inclined and, whilst she didn’t want to get involved in someone else love life, she wanted Nick to be happy. Thankfully Tara didn’t help herself at all……
Maddie is very open about her lack of confidence, and that resonated with me big time as, just like her, I am lacking in confidence and I don’t fit in. And yes, I have done what everyone else has done and adapted my personality to suit others but you know what? Why should I? Why should you?
Julie Caplin really opened my eyes with this book. Not only that, she had me in hysterics and racing through the pages as though someone had offered me a lifetime supply of books! The setting was beautifully described and got under my skin big time. I loved it more so because of how Croatia seems to be such an underrated holiday destination. Makes a nice change to be somewhere different in a book as opposed to always being in the same old settings.
I wish I could bottle up the warm and hopeful feeling the book gave me just so that whenever I feel like I don’t fit in, I can dip deep into my heart to remind myself the importance of being true to the skin I was born in.
Julie Caplin is one of the most beautiful story tellers I think I have ever read, and she has outdone herself with ‘The Secret Cove in Croatia’. Hand on heart, one of my all-time favourite reads ever, Maddie and Croatia will be staying locked up in my heart for a very, very long time to come. A truly spellbinding, emotive novel which ticked every single box I never even knew existed.
The Writing Garnet 
This sounds so lovely. I’ve never been to Croatia either. This book is catching my eye because it’s set somewhere that bit different from many others.
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