About Books #96: The Secret Cove in Croatia

It’s a dangerous thing to fall in love with an entire series. For starters, you’re always craving the next installation. And then of course: there’s too he risk involved. What if you don’t like one of the parts of the series? Or if it feels like a bit of a let-down compared to the other parts? Unfortunately, that’s kind of the feeling I got when reading The Secret Cove in Croatia.

I was offered an ARC by Netgalley in exchange for a review. All opinions are strictly my own.

The Story

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…

The opinion

Honestly, this wasn’t a bad book. It’s just that, based on the other books in this series, I’d been expecting something a bit… More. You know – more tention, more fun, more Secret Cove and less boat…

A lot of characters felt sort of “dumped in the story”. Compared to The Little Paris Patisserie, the book in which both Nick and Maddie are introduced for the first time, many of the other characters seemed to be a bit lacking in the development-department. There’s mentions of an eating disorder, there’s an extremely disfunctional friend group, there’s a douche-who-might-be-a-semi-good-guy… And I never really felt as if I got a complete view of them.

Again, that’s basically just a compliment to the rest of Julie Caplin’s writing. Because, if I hadn’t enjoyed those books as much, my expectations for this one wouldn’t have been as high.

There’s positive things as well, naturally. The descriptions of Croatia were beautiful, and it was really fun to get a bit of an insight into what it might be like to work on one of those small boats. The unrequitedness between Siri and Douglas was a pretty good subplot – but again. It could’ve done with just a little bit of extra TLC…

The rating: 2,5/5

The Secret Cove in Croatia is a good book for when you’re in the mood for something quick, with a good bit of escapism thrown in there. If you like food descriptions, boat trips and some nice and snarky conversation thrown in for good measure? Look no further. Just keep in mind that – in my personal opinion? It’s not the best Julie Caplin’s ever written… (Goodreads)

-Saar