Cape Cod Series by Kimberly Thomas ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

A new series by Kimberly Thomas is always something to look forward to.  She writes feel-good women's fiction, as well as clean and wholesome contemporary romance. Her stories focus on love, loss, and the everyday situations that families face.  Her characters are relatable and her plots make her books more than just contemporary romances.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. Free books were provided for honest reviews.

Provincetown Whispers

April 2024; Indie; 979-8324453077
audio, ebook, print (232 pages); women's fiction

Escape to Cape Cod with the Wilsons—a family haunted by secrets and bound by blood. Step into the world of Lily Wilson, a woman on the brink of unraveling the enigma that was her mother, Kelly.

After 44 years of marriage, Lily's marriage implodes and she's left to pick up the pieces.  She had been a stay-at-home mom to three children and spent her life trying to make her family happy.  She was a socialite who threw lavish parties but now she wasn't sure what the future held for her.  She decided to take a step that worried her children -- she sold the family home and moved to Cape Cod to get to know some relatives of her mother, who she never even knew existed since her father had kept it a secret from her after her mother's death when she was very young.  So off she goes from a settled life to the adventure of meeting a new family.

When she arrives at her grandparent's home, she is greeted with tears and open arms.  They always wanted to know her better but Lily's father kept them apart.  He didn't want Lily to know that all of the negative things he'd said about her mother over the years were lies.  When she meets her mother's sisters, the same thing happens.  The family is thrilled to meet her and to tell her about her mom.  She had been raised to believe that her mom had abandoned her but was that really the truth or was it a lie told to her by her father?

As she meets more of her mother's family -- and there are a lot of people to meet - she begins to feel that she belongs in Cape Cod.  Can she start her life over and find happiness or is there too much baggage to keep her from starting over?

This is a beautiful story about an older woman starting her life over the way she wants to after years of doing things like her husband wants.  It’s a story of healing from past lies and the excitement of falling in love with a different life than she had lived for years.

Buy Provincetown Whispers at Amazon

Falmouth Echoes

May 2024; Indie; 979-8325662171
ebook, print (220 pages); women's fiction

Sophia Wilson is standing at the crossroads of her life in the heart of Cape Cod, with the weight of her world on her shoulders. It's been two years since she boldly ended her marriage, and yet, she's the one who feels unmoored.

Two years ago, Sophia decided that she and her husband needed to divorce.  After their two children left home they were drifting further apart and she decided that they both deserved happiness.  Now, she just isn't sure that she did the right thing.  Her children are drifting further away from her and she's in a job that doesn't satisfy her and is living in her father's house.   She has zero self-confidence and is afraid to try anything new and is caught up in thinking about her life but not willing to make positive steps to help her find happiness.

Sophia's life is full.  She has the huge Wilson family who enjoy spending time together.  She has just found out that she and Lily are sisters and they are establishing a solid bond with each other.  She and her daughter are getting closer and even though her son is working in Africa, she feels that they are getting along better.  She is working in a bakery but what she really wants is to own her own bakery but she's afraid to make that happen.  Plus her ex-husband Darren is still an important part of her family and she is becoming very unsure of why she ended the marriage when he is still one of her best friends.  Can Sophie find the strength and the self-confidence to make changes in her life that will make her happy?

This was a great addition to the Cape Cod series.   We all think by the time we get older, we will have our lives figured out.  Sophia proves that this just isn't true.  She's in her 40s and still doesn't know what she needs to do to find the happy life that she desires.  She finds out that starting over to find yourself is worth the effort and that happiness is possible.

Buy Falmouth Echoes at Amazon 

Falmouth Shadows

May 2024; Indie;  979-8326254092
ebook, print (220 pages); women's fiction

When his family’s cold case warms up, Ian Railings is thrust into the heart of his mother, Kelly's dark past—a mystery that's haunted the Wilson family and the serene town of Falmouth for over forty years.

In Book 3,  Ian tries to solve the murder of his mother forty years earlier.  Her murder had continued to haunt the family and because he was a policeman, he had the resources to follow the evidence and  he made it his quest to find out how his mother really died.  Was it a robbery gone wrong or was it a planned murder?  The closer that Ian gets to the truth, the more danger his family is  in.  Is there someone out there who planned his mother's murder and is willing to murder again to keep the truth from emerging.  Ian becomes obsessed with trying to solve this very cold case.

While Ian is spending a lot of time following clues, there is something strange going on with his wife.  His once loving and supportive wife has turned quiet and withdrawn.  He senses that she is hiding secrets but has no idea what has happened to change their almost perfect relationship to one without communication or trust.

Poor Ian is under a lot of pressure -- pressure to solve his mother's murder and pressure to save his marriage.

Will he finds the answers that he needs or will his obsession ruin his life?  This is a real page turner where past and present problems are making Ian's life difficult.  Can he solve his mother's case and put his marriage back on track?

I have really been enjoying this series.  Set in beautiful Cape Cod the members of the very large Wilson family are trying to make peace with their pasts while they celebrate their future as a family.

Buy Falmouth Shadows at Amazon

Falmouth Awakenings

May 2024; Indie; 979-8326254092
ebook, print (220 pages); women's fiction

Amy Gruntle has only ever known one kind of life, the kind where her husband takes charge of everything while she wilts away in the background, under his ever-watchful eye. Tethered to a life of suffocation under his controlling shadow, she never imagined liberation—until a lifeline appeared in an unexpected form: Lily, her stepdaughter.

Amy is very unhappy with her life. Her husband (and Lily's father) has been controlling her with his criticism for their entire marriage. She has tried to be the perfect wife - throwing lavish parties to help his career, keeping a beautiful home, and raising two fantastic children - but it's never enough for him.  She stays until she just can't take it anymore.  She packs a bag and flees to Falmouth to the home of her step-daughter Lily who has found happiness and a new life.  Amy knows that leaving her husband is going to be difficult but she has no idea that he'll resort to the underhanded tactics that he and his divorce attorney present.  He is also working to turn her adult children against her and she begins to wonder if she made a mistake by leaving.  But she has a sharp divorce attorney and a bunch of new friends in Falmouth who are helping her adjust to her new life where she controls her own destiny instead of always doing what she's told to do.  Will she be able to maintain a new life or will her husband be able to get her back into the marriage?  What will she have to give up to make her husband agree to a divorce?  And will her children learn the real truth about their father?

This is book 4 in the Cape Code series and my favorite book so far.  It was fantastic to see the changes in Amy as she learned that she was able to navigate her own life and make her own decisions.  It wasn't easy and her mind kept telling her that maybe she'd made a mistake to leave her marriage but her friends were encouraging and loving and helped her see how much better her life could be.  Making a complete transformation in your life causes heartache along with joy.  Amy is hopeful that she can achieve a renewed life of joy.

Buy Falmouth Awakenings at Amazon

Unexpected Choices 

August 2024; Indie; 979-8333207166
ebook, print (228 pages); women's fiction

Charlotte Hamilton Ricker's life is a survival act in the shadows of loss—until a bold choice sends her spiraling into the heart of what it means to truly live.

This is another great addition to the Cape Cod series.  This book is about choices that Charlotte makes that will totally affect her life.  Since her father died, she's felt like her life was in a rut.  She spent more time taking care of other people and telling her sister how she should be living her life, that there wasn't any happiness in her life.  

Charlotte was teaching and that was about it.  She wasn't dating and only had one good friend.  Addison was a cancer survivor and she and her husband longed to have a baby but the chemo for her cancer ended her chances of having a baby.  Charlotte has decided that her life has been lived on auto-pilot for too long and it was time to do something drastic so she decided to be a surrogate mother for Addison.  Her sister is appalled that she is making this decision and feels like she'll ruin her life but Charlotte knows that it's the right thing for her to make.  There is a small problem, she has been flirting with the science teacher and she really hopes that their friendship will turn into something more.  But how is he going to feel about her being a surrogate? and is there a chance for their relationship?

I really enjoyed going back to Cape Cod for the fifth book in this series.  Charlotte was a great character and I could totally understand her reasons for deciding to be a surrogate for her best friend.  There are bits of information about many of the people in the Wilson clan but this book is primarily about Charlotte and her decision to give the greatest gift to her best friend.

Buy Unexpected Choices at Amazon

Provincetown Secrets

September 2024; Indie; 979-8336548563
ebook, print (238 pages); women's fiction

Laura Turncliff's perfect life with fiancé Liam Alrich spirals into chaos when his mother abruptly leaves just months before their wedding. As Liam grapples with his shaken world, Laura dives into a chilling family mystery after her Auntie Marie's sudden death.

Laura and Liam are in love and planning their wedding.  But ongoing issues in both of their lives make it difficult to plan a wedding when they are both under so much pressure.  Liam is a lawyer working at the firm founded by his father and grandfather.  He enjoys practicing law but wants to make sure that he doesn't get as conniving as either of them.  He is currently working on am embezzlement case involving a prominent family.  The family insists that they have done nothing wrong but as the evidence builds up against them,  Liam is put under a lot of pressure because they won't tell him what they do know about the case.  

Laura has found some hidden information about her sister's death 19 years earlier.  She feels that there's a secret regarding the way that her sister really died but every clue she gets ends up as a dead end.  When she starts to get threats advising her to drop her investigation of the death she is convinced that someone wants to cover up the truth.  But who?     Will her involvement bring her family closer together or tear them apart?

Can Laura and Liam keep their love alive with all of the outside pressure that they are under?  Will they be able to give up the demons of their past and find a happy future together?

The 6th book in the Cape Cod series was a real page turner.  There was romance and mystery and two great characters that you hoped would get their happily ever after.

Buy Provincetown Secrets at Amazon

Falmouth Whispers

October 2024; Indie; 979-8340123855
ebook, print (220 pages); women's fiction

Seventeen years ago, Tara and Grayson shared a whirlwind romance in Falmouth. When Grayson left, Tara was left with a broken heart—and a daughter he never knew about. Now, fate is giving them a second chance.

I have really enjoyed this series and will be sad to see it end.  So far, this book has been my favorite.  I liked the two main characters and once again, I was hoping that they could get beyond their past baggage and find their happily ever after.

Years ago at 27, Tara and Grayson had a summer romance.  They had a lot of fun together but they both agreed that it would only be a summer romance.  He was in the military and didn't know what his future would be like and she was making plans for the rest of her life.  The day Grayson left, Tara found out that she was pregnant.  She had no way to contact him and wasn't really sure if she wanted to.  So she had her daughter and raised her as a single mother.  Now 17 years later, her daughter Ruby is starting to question who her father is.  Tara can't believe it when she sees Grayson back in town.  He was working for a top-level security firm and had the job of protecting a rich businessman who lived in town.  When the daughter of the man he is protecting is kidnapped, it throws Tara and Grayson back together because Tara was the 911 operator who last talked to the daughter.  As they begin to spend more time together, their feelings for each other re-ignite but Tara knows that she has to tell him the truth about the daughter he knows nothing about.  Will that knowledge make him reject her and their daughter or will it help lead Tara and Grayson to their HEA?

This book is about love, hope, and second chances with strong characters who deserve happiness in their lives and a young girl who deserves to know her dad.

Buy Falmouth Whispers at Amazon

Restoring Hearts

November 2024; Indie; 979-8340451927
ebook, print (218 pages); women's fiction

Dive into this women’s fiction story and discover why some secrets are worth uncovering.

This is a well-written frenemies-to-lovers story.  Suzy Wilson and Cal Walters have lived in Falmouth for their entire lives but have never met before.  When they do meet, it is dislike at first sight.  They both have the opportunity to work on the McIntyre property - an old house with a lot of history.  Cal is the contractor who has the job of restoring the house and Suzy is the real estate agent who is trying to get the contract to sell the house.  They both have second agendas to this big job - Suzy is trying to prove her worth to the Wilson real estate company now run by her brother and Cal is trying to keep his struggling business viable.  The old house has had its share of scandal and Suzy works to uncover some of the mysteries of the house.  Cal has no use for real estate agents and is rude to her every time they find themselves in the house together.  Will Suzy be able to solve the mysteries of the old house?  Will Suzy and Cal's dislike of each other turn into a happily ever after?

This is the last book in the Cape Cod series and I'm sad to say goodbye to the huge Wilson family.  It's been a very enjoyable series and I've enjoyed every book.

Buy Restoring Hearts at Amazon

Susan Roberts grew up in Michigan but loves the laid-back life at her home in the Piedmont area of North Carolina where she is three hours from the beach to the east and the mountains in the west.  She reads almost anything but her favorite genres are Southern Fiction and Historical Fiction.   

 

Enjoyed this post? Never miss out on future posts by following us. Get even more book news in your inbox, sign up for our newsletter today! Or Follow Girl Who Reads with Bloglovin. Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affiliate; a small commission is earned when purchases are made at Amazon using any Amazon links on this site. Thank you for supporting Girl Who Reads.