The Cockles of your Heart by Jo Harries

From Goodreads

On a beautiful September weekend, on the quiet coastal resort of Merebank, Amelia is about to get married in The Portland Arms; her family’s luxurious hotel. No expense has been spared for this exciting event on the Merebank calendar. Everything has been planned to precision by Amelia’s mum, Bryony, and it seems that this fairytale occasion is going to be on everyone’s lips for many years to come.

Unfortunately, however, for all the wrong reasons.

Hundreds of inexperienced fishermen arrive to take advantage of the newly opened cockle beds in the bay and cause chaos getting in and out of Merebank. Very quickly, two naïve cockle pickers go missing at sea and all hell breaks loose.

Meanwhile, Mother of the Bride, Bryony, is planning to sail off into the sunset with Greg, her long-term lover, and leave Colin (her poor, completely unaware and very inebriated husband). But her plans backfire when she blurts out a closely guarded secret that rocks everyone’s world, including her daughter’s.

Tom and Sharon are visiting Merebank for the day, in the hope of spending some quality family time together with their young boys. Struggling to come to terms with Tom’s recent redundancy they need all the strength and support they can find. But, sadly, this isn’t to be. Tom’s bad luck seems to be on a roll and he quickly rues the decision to go to the seaside.

Will Amelia’s wedding day be scarred forever as Bryony’s confession ricochets around the hotel? Will Tom’s bad luck ever improve? Will the cockle pickers be found?

Discover all this and much more in this addictive, exciting contemporary novel that tests even the strongest of friendships and family relationships.

My thoughts

I gave this story a 2.5 stars or 5/10. This was a read from my local Library Reading Group. At times I found this contemporary story a little confusing as there's quite a lot going on and it moves about quite a lot in my opinion.

This was a story of two halves. The first half being the Wedding of Amelia and the other being the events surrounding the missing Cockle pickers. As the two halves of the story begin to merge, causing problems for all.

The story has it all to be honest: happy times, secrets, relationships and drama. A Wedding is meant to be a happy time, but as with lots of families there are secrets and at times secrets have a habit of being revealed at the most inopportune moment. Add to that the drama that is unfolding as the inexperienced Cockle pickers are finding themselves in BIG trouble.

Can the residents of Merebank and the visitors to the area, survive all that fate is throwing at them in the space of the weekend in which the story takes place? To find this out you'll need to grab a copy of the book for yourself.