“He promised to help her reclaim her forgotten past—no matter what they uncovered.
Until she began remembering another man.
As the memories return, her past life threatens to destroy her new marriage, the sweetest love she's ever found, and the life she thought she could have.
Cornwall, 1913
Merryn has lived three years without a single memory of the life she lost. With no past to guide her, she fears she may never know who she truly is. When AJ Winthrop—a kind, whimsical stranger—offers her a daring escape, she takes a chance, hoping to uncover the life that was stolen from her.
As they follow the windswept Cornish coast, memories begin to surface:
Another man.
Another wedding.
A life that may already belong to her.
Then a hidden portrait reveals her face, and the truth threatens the rare, authentic bond she’s begun to form with AJ.
Cornwall, 1947
Haunted by war and estranged from the wife he still loves, William Crawford plans to save her family home by selling the mysterious portrait hidden in his cottage. But the woman captured on the canvas—Merryn Dunn—holds secrets that could unravel everything he thought he knew… or offer the redemption he never dared hope for.
Step onto the windswept Cornish coast and uncover the secrets a single house can hold.”
Series: Book #1 in “The House on the Edge of the Cliff” series.
Spiritual Content- ‘H’s are not capital when referring to God or Jesus; William screams at God in pain over his actions in the war; Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of churches/chapels & denominations (Methodist & Anglican); Mentions of hymns; A couple mentions of a mosaic of Jesus and His disciples; A mention of a miracle;
*Note: Merryn wonders what the “Almighty asks of people” in a marriage that was “wrong to begin with” or one “based on fabrications”; A cat is named “Persephone”; Mentions of places being described as “magical”, being under a “spell” by someone, & being “charmed” or “enchanted” by others or places (not actual magic); A couple mentions of mermaids and sirens; A couple mentions of visions (which someone corrects to be more like dreams); A mention of a seer (which someone corrects as being an observer instead).
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘blasted’, a ‘blimey’, a ‘bloody’, a ‘bugger’, a ‘drat’, a ‘dumb’, and two ‘blamed’s; A mention of a curse (said, not written); Some eavesdropping & eye rolling; Almost drowning, Amnesia, Pain, & Injuries (up to semi-detailed); Visiting someone in an asylum (who has military PTSD, up to semi-detailed); A nightmare of being in an asylum (up to semi-detailed); Rescuing a kitten that someone was going to drown (barely-above-not-detailed); Remembering explosions, seeing deaths, nightmares of both, & grief/guilt over it (up to semi-detailed); Remembering a carriage accident, near drowning, & grief (up to semi-detailed); *Spoilers* In the middle of the book, Merryn is told that AJ murdered his previous wife and finds out that it was her; *Major Spoilers* At the end, she learns that it was actually an accident that she was involved in which caused amnesia and he grieved her as he believed her to be dead *End of Spoilers*; *Spoilers* William was declared missing in action and presumed dead during the war; He did not go home because of past grief with his family (including the death of a son which he believes he caused) and hopes his wife will move on without him as he believes himself to be broken *End of Spoilers*; Many mentions of World War II, deaths and causing deaths, hearing screams, explosions/bombs, injuries and scars, PTSD, & nightmares of it all (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of deaths & grief (including a man for his son, a man for his wife, & a man for his whole family including a baby daughter); Mentions of car and carriage accidents, someone being hit by a car, a carriage falling off a cliff, injuries, deaths, & a body (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of possible deaths, possible drownings, & possible murder; Mentions of Merryn’s amnesia; Mentions of asylums, people being committed to one (against their will or because of grief or PTSD), & threats of it happening; Mentions of smugglers; Mentions of injuries, pain, & blood/bleeding (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of children being concerned they are going to be abandoned/left (by an adult); Mentions of a child being berated by adults; Mentions of alcohol, drinking, & pubs/bars; Mentions of lies, lying, liars, & deception; A few mentions of fires; A few mentions of prisons & arrests; A few mentions of a young boy trying to runaway from school; A few mentions of manipulation; A few mentions of gossip & rumors; A couple mentions of possible robberies & thefts; A couple mentions of fights; A couple mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of eavesdropping; A couple mentions of a pipe & tobacco; A mention of revolts; A mention of a train collision; A mention of a pickpocket; A mention of a wife slapping her husband after he did something very wrong;
*Note: William has PTSD after his time serving in World War II & feels like he is broken because of it (seen on-page with nightmares and envisioning deaths through explosions he set, up to semi-detailed); Quotes from & mentions of authors, books, & fictional characters (Emily Barrett Browning, Oscar Wilde, Shakespeare, Thomas Hardy, C.S. Lewis, & Ernest Hemingway); Mentions of a disease changing a person’s personality and mind (Alzheimer’s); Mentions of a strained mother-daughter relationship (*Spoiler* Merryn and her mother because of the mother’s gentlemen friends who would leer at Merryn; Merryn hated any man her mother brought home and her mother didn’t seem to catch onto why *End of Spoilers*); A few mentions of a woman who struggled with “deep, dark depression”; A couple mentions of a father disapproving of his son’s art career.
Sexual Content- a fingers-to-lips touch, four hands/fingers kisses, three head/hair/forehead kisses, six jaw/ear/cheek kisses, two neck kisses, a not-detailed kiss, four barely-above-not-detailed kisses, two border-line barely-above-not-detailed / semi-detailed kisses, and four semi-detailed kisses; Remembering kisses & embraces (between married couples, including in bed, up to semi-detailed); Wanting to kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces & Sitting in someone’s lap, Dancing, Hand holding, Warmth, Tingles, Butterflies, Nearness (including a married couple when sleeping), & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); A married couple sleeps in the same area and cuddle, but not in a bed (a couple times); Blushes, Flirting, & Winks; Mentions of men leering at a young Merryn; Mentions of kisses & kissing; Mentions of touches & embraces; Mentions of flirting, winks, & blushes; A few mentions of possible bigamy & bigamy in a book; Love, falling/being in love, & the emotions;
*Note: Mentions of curves; A mention of a woman having a “passionate dislike” for all men.
-Merryn Forsythe (1st person)
-William Crawford, age 43 (3rd person)
P.O.V. switches between them & a couple others
Set in 1913 & 1947 (Epilogue in 1948)
358 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
I feel like Joanna Davidson Politano books need to come with a warning: “This book will keep you on your toes. Brace for impact and whiplash over plot twists and reveals.”
Because yep, this book was completely that! I honestly feel a bit in a daze over everything that happened in these pages and enjoyed find clues and hints when I went back through the book to grab my content notes.
I started this book not knowing who to trust—not the main character (Merryn) or her potential love interest. Merryn is a very complicated character. I wouldn’t call her an unreliable narrator as she believes parts of her life she does remember, but she’s definitely missing a lot of pieces to her past which makes her seem a bit like one at times. Because of this, however, it added a mystery to the plot and I eagerly read and tried to connect all the dots—but then more and more was revealed and I was off on some guesses. Some events and plot twists felt a little far-fetched, but then again, it added to the suspense of the story.
I’m usually not one for dual-time period books, but because these two were set in two time periods I like, I actually didn’t notice the typical annoyances I have with dual-time period books.
We do follow two married couples in this book, so I was a little hesitant about reading it because one married couple in a book often adds more sexual tension (let alone two married couples). While there were some kisses and longing to embrace or mentions of curves, it was kept on the cleaner side for a married couple romance book, which I really appreciated.
There were some conversations or mentions of wanting an anchor or a warning someone not to build a house on sand, which can both be connected to Biblical thoughts and Scriptures, but the conversations didn’t quite go that way. I’ll admit I was a bit disappointed in that because there was a major message of marriage being hard or painful in some seasons of life and how a spouse will let you down because they are also an imperfect human. I kept waiting for the comments that Jesus wouldn’t and to trust your future to Him, but there wasn’t any besides a few mentions here and there. Overall, the faith content was pretty light in both time-periods.
This is a very different “romance” book. It’s not the typical formula of a couple meeting and then falling in love—though, to be fair, I don’t think any of this author’s books can be summed up in such a simple way—but a deeper book that shares about the struggles of marriage, what loving someone really entails rather than just butterflies and sparkles, and even shows characters dealing with amnesia and PTSD. Because it’s a bit more serious than a usual fluffy historical fiction book I might review, it’s a bit more difficult for me to put an age suggestion on it. For the age groups I review for, I think older teen girls (17+) and young women thinking about marriage would enjoy this book and get the most out of it. It could work for ages 15/16, but the focus on marriage and loving your spouse through hard times makes me suggest it for older ages.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
*I received this book for free from the Author for this honest review.
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