“Don’t forget to stop and watch the sunset!”

Caitlin Hines has returned to Dune Island to oversee the remodeling of the windmill on her recently deceased aunt’s property before she sells it. Aunt Lydia’s stipulation was dual purpose and I loved seeing it play out throughout the story.

I enjoyed this story about healing and restoration. It was good to take inventory and see if there were any times that I ‘play dead’ like Caitlin and work on breathing life back into those situations. I also loved the recipe for extra melty cheese and Shane Adam’s sensitivity to Caitlin’s privacy and willingness to step back and allow her to come to him rather than smother her. The mystery surrounding Nicole Dixon kept me turning pages.

I always look forward to Kristin Harper’s stories as I know I’ll have an armchair travel to a dreamy island and a bingeable clean read!

I was gifted this copy and was under no obligation to provide a review.

This is a really great read.
An elderly deceased aunt leaves her small cottage and windmill to a favorite but deeply hurt niece.
The niece reluctantly goes back to the cottage to finish a last request but in the meantime finds healing from guilt that has limited her life for many years.
This is a story of healing and a new life.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. My opinions are my own.

Kristin Harper’s A Secret at Windmill Cottage is a delightfully emotional escape packed with family drama, small-town charm, and just enough mystery to keep me up way past my responsible bedtime. Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for my gifted ARC.

Let’s get one thing out of the way: this is the kind of book you think you’re going to read “just a few chapters” of before bed. Then suddenly it’s 2 a.m., you’re emotionally invested in a fictional windmill, and you’re Googling how hard it would be to move to a sleepy island off the coast of Massachusetts. Spoiler: harder than you think, but that doesn’t stop the fantasy.

Our heroine, Caitlin, hasn’t been back to Dune Island in years, and for good reason—trauma, secrets, and that awkward life event we call “accidentally falling for someone who disappears like mist off the bay.” So naturally, her late Aunt Lydia’s final request is: come back, renovate the windmill, and while you’re at it, excavate all your repressed emotions. Typical aunt stuff.

Caitlin shows up, emotionally armored and professionally overextended, only to be ambushed by nostalgia, homemade muffins, and a local carpenter named Shane who has no business being this charming while wielding power tools. Of course he’s helpful. Of course he’s patient. Of course he has backstory. I’m not saying Shane was handcrafted in a lab for emotionally stunted heroines with a fear of commitment, but I’m also not not saying that.

Then there’s the windmill itself, which frankly deserves its own listing on Zillow at this point. It’s creaky, charming, and naturally hiding a mysterious note that turns Caitlin’s understanding of the past into a puzzle box of betrayal, misunderstanding, and one deeply buried secret. Honestly, I live for this kind of thing. Hidden letters? Long-lost truths? Emotional redemption arc? Inject it directly into my bloodstream.

Kristin Harper has a knack for writing stories that are equal parts heartwarming and quietly devastating. The setting is immersive without ever feeling forced—I swear I could smell the sea air and cinnamon every time Caitlin stepped into Lydia’s kitchen. But what I really appreciated is that the emotional beats landed. This wasn’t a saccharine “hearts and hugs” kind of story. Caitlin’s grief, her guilt, her slow journey to reconnect with her younger self—it all felt earned.

At one point, Caitlin reflects, “It turns out memories don’t fade just because we’ve stopped looking at them. They wait—quietly, patiently—until we’re ready to face them head-on.” That line hit me like a ton of bricks disguised as a decorative throw pillow. It’s that kind of introspection that elevates this from a cozy beach read to something that lingers long after the last page.

And yes, I cried. Just a little. Maybe I was tired. Maybe Harper snuck some onions into her prose. Maybe I’m just a sucker for stories about women coming home and realizing the past doesn’t have to be perfect to be worth holding on to. Whatever. Don’t judge me.

Despite being book eight in the Dune Island series, A Secret at Windmill Cottage reads beautifully on its own. I didn’t feel lost for a second. If anything, it made me want to go back and binge the earlier books like a TV series I somehow missed. Harper writes with a balance of wit and warmth that’s rare—and she doesn’t shy away from giving her characters messy lives and hard-earned joy.

If you’re the kind of reader who loves emotional honesty, small-town settings, baked goods as emotional therapy, and characters who heal not because of magic, but because they finally allow themselves to be—this one is for you.