Anna Burke

Spindrift

Izza

4 stars | this was a good one to ease back into reading. 🖕🏻reading slump.

Can a hot summer fling mend the hearts of two broken women? Morgan Donovan had everything she ever wanted: a dream job as a large animal veterinarian, awesome friends, and a loving and supportive fiancée. But it all comes crashing down when her fiancée dumps her after realizing that Morgan’s job will always come first. And, while Morgan still has the job and friends, her heart is broken into a million tiny pieces. Emilia Russo is a burned-out shelter vet. When the unexpected death of her father triggers a mental breakdown that hastens the end of her relationship, she retreats to his house in Seal Cove, Maine. She plans on spending the summer renovating it while she figures out how to pull the pieces of her life back together. But when she runs into Morgan at the dock where her father’s sailboat is moored, her plans for a quiet summer of healing and reflection sink like a stone—the attraction is immediate and obvious, and Emilia finds herself slipping seamlessly into Morgan’s world Each woman knows this fling will end when Emilia returns to Boston at the end of the summer, but they’re unprepared for the intensity and depth of their attraction. And, as the gales of fall begin to drive leaves like spindrift upon Seal Cove, Morgan and Emilia must each come to terms with how much they’re willing to give up to stay together.

Lucia Correa

4.5 Stars
Spindrift: sea spray blown from the crests of waves by the wind, especially spray during a gale.

This is the first book I’ve read by Anna Burke and it won’t be my last. I enjoyed this story and the relatively large cast of characters.

Emilia Russo is broken. As a shelter veterinarian, she burned out on the stress and heartbreak of having to put down too many adoptable animals. Her father’s sudden death and her job triggered her into a deep depression which only after intensive therapy she was able recover. She was no longer suicidal and is feeling relatively human again. But as a consequence of her breakdown, her longtime partner in life and veterinarian practice split with Emilia. 

Emilia along with her greyhound, Nell goes to Seal Cove, Maine. She plans to spend the summer to deal with her Father’s estate. Emilia has fond memories as a young girl of visiting her father and sailing on his boat, The Emilia Rosa. One of the first thing she does when she returns is to go to the boat to toast her father. It was at the boat when she meets Morgan. However, it’s not the first time she’d seen Morgan. She had a crush on Morgan when she visited her Dad as a young girl. Her visits stopped when he lost joint custody. When Emilia inadvertently falls off the sailboat, Morgan rescues Emilia out of the water and more.

Emilia spends the summer sailing, cleaning and painting the house. She hopes to put it up for sale before she leaves. But the summer also brings her healing, new friends and a new love, Morgan.

Morgan is a large animal Veterinarian (horses and livestock of all kinds) and is part of a Veterinarian clinic that employs both small and large animal vets along with boarding and daycare. Morgan lives in a large farmhouse with three others, Angie, previously a vet tech who inherited the farmhouse and opened up the animal daycare and boarding facility, Stevie, Morgan’s assistant and Lillian, a small animal vet. There is also Danielle who didn’t live at the house but owned and managed the clinic. Whew. It’s a large cast of characters. This is the first of a series. I am looking forward to reading future installments to get to know and hear the other characters stories.

Note: I picked up this book because I loved the cover. Not sure why, but maybe because I wanted to know what the woman was thinking. Kudos to the designer.

Jude Silberfeld

Trust me to go from characters dealing with anxiety to another grappling with depression. Ha! Lucky I have the best people around me to help me not get sucked in either.

The thing is, when authors are as talented as Clare Ashton or, in this instance, Anna Burke, the books are much more than their characters’ issues. And they’re not, in and of themselves, depressing or sad. Quite the opposite, actually. To stay standing when struggling with mental health requires monumental strength, and that strength permeates the story, flowing into the reader. It’s empowering.

Emilia Russo is trying to get back onto her feet after the worst year ever. Her father’s death triggered a suicidal depression, the groundwork to which had been laid by her work as a shelter vet, where putting animals to death seems to happen more often than saving lives. And as if that wasn’t enough, her girlfriend left her. Emilia arrives in Seal Cove, Maine, to renovate the house her father left her and to decide what to do with it, his sailboat, her life. While drowning her sorrows in wine, she falls off her boat and is rescued by her high school crush, Morgan Donovan. In appearance, Morgan is everything Emilia isn’t: easygoing, confident, laidback, happy with her job as a big animals vet. Sparks fly, first from Emilia’s anger at life, then from the out-of-this-world chemistry.

Something in Spindrift reminds me of Lise Gold’s Living, which was my absolute favourite book last year. It’s both the atmosphere, the way Emilia rebuilds herself, Morgan’s obvious love and support.

As usual, what matters most to me is the characters. If I don’t believe in them, even the best story will fall short. I loved each and every single one of the characters in Spindrift. I loved Emilia and Morgan, I loved Morgan’s friends, as a group and individually, I loved Morgan’s boss, her parents, Emilia’s sister. I even loved Emilia’s dead father. And the animals. All the animals. They’re not the cute puppies that are so easy to love in those fluffy romance novels I enjoy so much. They’re very real. Like their humans.

Real, that’s the word Emilia’s sister uses at some point when talking about Morgan, and it’s absolutely accurate, for her and every other being populating this book. Per her own admission, Anna Burke isn’t a romantic (“I didn’t even fantasize about Morgan or Emilia being eaten by man-eating squid during the saggy middle section of the draft, which was a first”, she writes on her blog), yet she wrote one of the most romantic novels (in the heartbreaking/heart-mending sense) I’ve read in months. And the excellent news of the day is that Spindrift is the first novel in a series. Will Stevie be the next one to get her own book? Or will it be Lillian? Or someone else entirely? So many possibilities…

Last January,  Nottingham, my first book by Anna Burke, wrecked me, and yet all I remember is how wonderful and fantastic and smart it was. I’m pretty sure this one will have the same effect. What I’ll remember in a few months will not be what brought Emilia to Seal Cove but how it helped her give new meaning to her life. And let’s be honest, probably how hot the sex was too.

Also, bonus points for another beautiful cover by Ann McMan.

I received a copy from the publisher and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

Spindrift

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