[ARC Review] A Tryst by the Sea by Grace Burrowes

Vergilius Summers, Viscount Summerton, and his wife Penelope had a rough start to their marriage. Married young, they experienced the sort of tragedy you can never rebound from on their one year anniversary. Now, a decade later, Penelope is ready to move on from both her husband and her marriage. The romance is gone, the spark they once had long died out. So Pen sets out to Siren's Retreat, where she and Gill had their honeymoon, where she felt truly loved and connected to her husband for the last time. But Pen is in for a surprise of a lifetime when Gill turns up at Siren's Retreat as well, hoping to rekindle what they once had and save their shattering marriage. But will one week be enough for Gill and Pen to find the love they're both looking for, or was their young marriage too tragic to ever save?

A Tryst by the Sea is the first book in the Siren's Retreat Quartet, alternately written by Grace Burrowes and Erica Ridley. All four novellas are standalones sharing a common location, and I thought Gill and Penelope were a great introduction to the beautiful seaside escape of Siren's Retreat. 

As a novella, readers can generally expect either a lot of action with not a lot of character development, or character development with not much action; it's hard to fit both into the shorter novella. Burrowes took the character development route, which is exactly what Pen and Gill needed. With dual POVs, both characters made it quite obvious early on that they still had feelings for each other but felt too far gone in their marriage to turn things around and express that attraction. It feels a bit odd to call Pen and Gill's marriage a slow-burn romance, but that is exactly what it is and it was honestly really good to see that dynamic. A lot of romances cover the start of the relationship, the honeymoon phase. But real life happens and Gill and Pen were a perfect example of how couples can grow apart after years together. 

Of course, A Tryst by the Sea is a romance, so Burrowes does deliver a happily ever after. But, this slow burn is also low steam, so much of the HEA comes from Pen and Gill finding their way back to each other and not from a lot of spice on the page. Much of their journey was emotional rather than physical, but I wouldn't realistically expect anything less from an estranged husband and wife. 

Overall, A Tryst by the Sea was a sweet escape for both the main characters and reader. Burrowes didn't shy away from real relationship issues, and it made Penelope and Gill's reunion that much more heartwarming.

A huge thank you to author Erica Ridley for sending all four novellas in this quartet to her Review Crew to review in advance of the novellas' release dates. 

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Release date: 3/1/22
Format: eARC
eARC provided by: Erica Ridley