Cure for the Common Breakup: A Black Dog Bay Novel #1

Written by Beth Kendrick

Narrated by Amy Rubinate

Welcome to Black Dog Bay, a tiny seaside town in Delaware known as “the best place in America to bounce back from your breakup.” Home to the Better Off Bed-and-Breakfast, the Eat Your Heart Out bakery, and the Whinery bar, Black Dog Bay offers a haven for the suddenly single.

Flight attendant Summer Benson lives by two rules: Don’t stay with the same man for too long and never stay in one place. She’s about to break rule number one by considering accepting her boyfriend’s proposal—then disaster strikes and her world is shattered in an instant.

Summer heads to Black Dog Bay, where the locals welcome her. Even Hattie Huntington, the town’s oldest, richest, and meanest resident, likes her enough to give her a job. Then there’s Dutch Jansen, the rugged, stoic mayor, who’s the opposite of her type. She probably shouldn’t be kissing him. She definitely shouldn’t be falling in love.

After a lifetime of globe-trotting, Summer has finally found a home. But Hattie has old scores to settle and a hidden agenda for her newest employee. Summer finds herself faced with an impossible choice: Leave Black Dog Bay behind forever, or stay with the ones she loves and cost them everything....

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ideal Audiobooks
• Release date: Oct 20, 2015
• ISBN: 9781942907145

Beth Kendrick

Beth Kendrick won the Romance Writers of America's Golden Heart Award for My Favorite Mistake. She has a Ph.D. in psychology and an unshakable devotion to the Chicago Cubs. After surviving too many Minnesota winters, she moved to Arizona, where she is working on her second novel (coming soon from Downtown Press). For more information you can visit the author's website at www.bethkendrick.com.

Reviews for Cure for the Common Breakup

[mlake_22 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a great fun read. Black Dog Bay is known as the place to go to recover from a broken heart. You can stay at the Better off dead bed and breakfast, shop at Retail Therapy and drink your cares away while listening to break up songs at the Whinery.

[karmakath · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I received a copy of Cure for the Common Breakup by Beth Kendrick in exchange for an honest review.

Summer Benson heart is broken so she recalls an article she read on this place called Black Dog Bay and decides that’s what she needs to get over her heartbreak. Everything is perfect here and she meets some kindred spirits who get what she’s going through and they help each other heal. I totally loved this book! It was funny, light and delightful! I think we all wish there was such a place – this book was so uplifting, even when things didn’t go right. Dutch seemed dreamy and not someone a girl would walk out on if they had any common sense. Can’t see anyone not loving this book!

[karmaforlifechick · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I received a copy of Cure for the Common Breakup by Beth Kendrick in exchange for an honest review.

Summer Benson heart is broken so she recalls an article she read on this place called Black Dog Bay and decides that’s what she needs to get over her heartbreak. Everything is perfect here and she meets some kindred spirits who get what she’s going through and they help each other heal. I totally loved this book! It was funny, light and delightful! I think we all wish there was such a place – this book was so uplifting, even when things didn’t go right. Dutch seemed dreamy and not someone a girl would walk out on if they had any common sense. Can’t see anyone not loving this book!

[ethel55_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Summer Benson rises above a stereotypical trope--flight attendant in a relationship with a pilot--to learn how to be on her own and trust her own judgement. After the pilot deems her unworthy, Summer retreats to a small town almost off the map, Black Dog Bay, Delaware. Part tourist mecca for the brokenhearted (complete with a bar named the Whinery) and part owned by old family money and the town's own version of Ms. Havisham, Hattie Huntington, Summer immediately fits in with the townspeople and meets the town's most eligible bachelor and mayor in a very unusual way. Very cute summer read.

[bookdivasreads · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What do you do after a near-death experience and an almost engagement quickly followed by a breakup a few days later while you're recuperating in a hospital? If you're Summer Benson you head for Black Dog Bay, Delaware, reported breakup capital of America. This is a place where you can wallow in your grief at the Better Off Bed-and-Breakfast, drown your sorrows at the Whinery Bar, or eat as many sweet and chocolate confectionaries to soothe your soul at the Eat Your Heart Out Bakery. You can even shop til you drop at Retail Therapy where clothing is actually divided into categories suitable for your breakup/grief stage.All her life Summer has been a love-'em-and-leave-'em party girl. Now that she's been dumped by her almost fiancé after a near-death experience in a plane crash, she's somewhat lost. She doesn't know what she really wants and refuses to allow her stepsister, Emily, to "help" her recover, even if it might mean a date with Ryan Gosling (I know…she's obviously in need of professional help). The last thing she needs is to become emotionally involved with anyone, especially not with the townsfolk of Black Dog Bay, the town's mayor Dutch Jansen, or the mentor to Dutch's teenage sister, Ingrid. Unfortunately that is exactly what she does and it all starts with her taking on one of the most notorious summer people in the town and then following it up by taking on the town bully, Hattie Huntington.Cure for the Common Breakup was a fast and hilarious read. Seriously, I'm talking laugh-out-loud funny due to some of Summer's antics not to mention her conversations with Hattie Huntington. This is more than just a love story, even though there is quite a bit of romance. Summer recovers from her breakup only to realize that she wants to put down roots, and that she cares more for the people of Black Dog Bay than she ever dreamed. She allows herself to be emotionally blackmailed by Miss Huntington and what ensues are those laugh-out-loud confrontational conversations, steamy romance scenes between Summer and Dutch, and Summer's ability to put the cares and needs of others before herself. Who knew being an airline steward could have so many practical applications? I loved all of the characters in this story, from the emotionally stunted and comical Summer, to the striving to be perfect teen Ingrid, and even the elderly and bitter Hattie. Ms. Kendrick has crafted an amazingly fast read that pulled me in with the comedy and drama of Summer Benson's life. You'll definitely want to add Cure for the Common Breakup to your summer reading schedule, but be warned that your laughter may elicit a lot of attention.

[whitreidtan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

How do you heal from a breakup? Do you dive into a carton of ice cream? Do you burn all of his photos? Do you dump all of his things on the lawn or sidewalk. Do you plot some grisly punishment you hope the universe will mete out on your behalf? Do you call his cell and hang up just to hear his voice on his message? What if there was a place dedicated to healing your broken heart that didn't cause you to gain weight or grovel for his attention or become bitter? In Beth Kendrick's newest novel, Cure for the Common Breakup, there is such a place. Summer Benson is a flight attendant who is flying to Paris to spend a naughty weekend with her pilot boyfriend. When a fellow flight attendant tells her that Aaron is going to propose in Paris, Summer isn't at all sure that's what she wants. She's always been the good time girl, no strings attached, and she's perfectly happy that way. Or is she? Horrifically, the plane crashes just after take-off and Summer comes to in the hospital, burned and broken from helping passengers escape the plane. But the physical brokenness is nothing compared to the emotional damage when Aaron, sitting at her bedside, tells her that the accident has clarified for him the fact that he loves her but not enough to marry her. Crushed despite her own ambivalence about the relationship, Summer flees to Black Dog Bay, a small Delaware town she'd read about in a magazine, a town that specializes in helping people recover from breakups. As she drives into town looking for a hotel, she swerves to avoid a turtle and ends up plowing through a trellis and rose bushes in the yard of the good looking but unattainably aloof mayor, Dutch Jansen. It is not an auspicious way to arrive in town. When she finally gets to the Better Off Bed-and-Breakfast, her reputation has preceded her. Summer starts to settle into the quaint beach town, befriending the generous locals and putting the more unpleasant residents in their places. She is also determined to have a fling with the delectable Dutch. What she doesn't count on is becoming a role model of sorts for Dutch's teenaged sister, Ingrid, nor on becoming the companion for the town's most irascible citizen, Hattie Huntington, who is still nurturing a hurt decades in the past. Summer is a fun and flirty character. She is a dominating, take-charge personality and her skills at placating passengers on an airplane certainly come in handy in dealing with the less pleasant people in town. Her relationship with Dutch is fairly predictable but the novel is really more about being brave enough to find a new direction for your life and to have the courage to look into your heart and understand your own fears and how they've shaped you rather than about the romance. The romance is actually like the whipped cream on this sweet and charming sundae. The secondary characters are delightful, sassy, and completely appealing. The concept of the town's purpose is highly entertaining and well integrated into the storyline. And the novel has a refreshingly positive spin on recovering from a breakup, without bitterness or heated anger. It's a fun and light-hearted look at one woman who is afraid to commit her heart until this town and the people in it show her her true capacity for caring.

[staciele · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In CURE FOR THE COMMON BREAKUP, you won't be short on laughter, romance, or drama. All these make for a perfect book for you to tuck into your pool or beach bag this summer. Summer Benson has the perfect life as a flight attendant. She can tour the world, live it up it in all the great cities, and fly to all the romantic cities with her handsome, pilot boyfriend. On a flight to Paris, Summer realizes Aaron plans to propose, but their future is halted by a disaster. Summer has nowhere to go and no family to take care of her, so she goes where a magazine article leads her....Black Dog Bay, Delaware.Black Dog Bay has gotten its notoriety being the place women and men go when they need to get over a bad break-up. Marla at the Better Off Bed-And-Breakfast plays hard ball with cell phones and desperate phone calls and texts. Jenna at the Whinery makes a mean "Cure for the Common Breakup" drink and the bonus is that the recipe is included in the book. Hattie, the matriarch of Black Dog Bay is a force to reckon with and gives Summer a lot to think about. Of course, there has to be a male interest in the story, and Dutch Jansen plays that part well. He is the Mayor of Black Dog Bay and has a history that will impact everyone who lives there.Beth Kendrick has written a fun, light-hearted, romantic, and hilarious novel that will be perfect for your summer beach read. Summer is sassy, spunky, and snarky and will no doubt keep you on your toes and keep you laughing. I loved all the characters and their role in Summer's healing. An example of the great characters in the book and the scene Kendrick places you in is when Summer arrives at the Better Off Bed-And-Breakfast. Marla proceeds to take her cell phone right away as part of the requirement for staying there. Summer asks,"So this is like breakup boot camp?" Marla states, "Mm-hmmm. With homemade blueberry muffins for breakfast." There were so many great lines in the book that I couldn't possible write them all here, but you will want to remember some of the one-liners for your next drama filled situation.What I liked about the story and the premise for Black Dog Bay is that is wasn't about getting revenge or being nasty, but about letting go and finding a new direction in your life and starting over. All of the characters had to do that at some point in their life and I think the reader can relate to one, if not many, of the characters in the book. I could have used a hide-away like this at a point in my life to reflect and rejuvenate and get some of my sass back.The cover is definitely eye-catching, fun and scored big points with me. Seeing this on the shelf among other books will definitely draw your eye and make you pick up the book. I also appreciated that there wasn't graphic details in the romance department. It left the imagination up to the reader which was just fine with me.Pick up CURE FOR THE COMMON BREAKUP for a story full of sassy ladies that will rally around their new friend to give her a future she only dreamed she could have.