A COTTAGE BY THE SEA

A COTTAGE BY THE SEA by Ciji Ware

From the back of the book:

Some might call it running away...But after a scandalous Hollywood divorce, Blythe Stowe considered it damage control for body and soul.  The pain, the humiliation, the daily tabloids shouting details as her famous husband dumped her for her own sister demanded a serious getaway:  to the wild coast of Cornwall and a cottage by the sea that her Wyoming grandmother claimed had been home to her ancestors.

Some might call it chance...But Blythe encountered more than just a quaint retreat nestled amid vivid skies and gorgeous ocean.  And she had the odd sensation that her wickedly handsome neighbor Lucas Teague was more than a British gentleman going broke.  He might be her destiny....

This book was sent to me by a friend who loved it.  I had high hopes, but it just didn't do it for me.

It seemed that Blythe could "see" into the past by staring at and touching a family genealogy chart found in Barton Hall in Cornwall.  By doing this, she learned about the earlier inhabitants of this house - people she would learn were her ancestors.  The book would jump between the present and the past.  Somehow, learning about the past was supposed to help Blythe deal with the actions of those in the present who had caused her pain and grief.

I never "got" it.  I failed to see why learning about the past actions of her ancestors would help solve present day problems.  I would have been happy with the book dealing with the past and present without all the psychological babble about there being changes in DNA caused by past occurrences that would affect a person generations later.  Just a nice little romance book would have been fine.

While parts of the book were enjoyable, it just wasn't my cup of tea.