Where the Heart Meets the Sea, Kimbra Drake
Where the Heart Meets the Sea, Kimbra Drake
List: $24.95 | Sale: $17.47
Club: $12.47

Where the Heart Meets the Sea

Author: Kimbra Drake

Narrator: Romy Evans

Unabridged: 8 hr 22 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/18/2026


Synopsis

An emotionally rich love story with themes of lost and found family in a stunning Norwegian island setting.Twenty-nine-year-old Ella Nilsen has never known her parents—or even how her mother died. Raised by her emotionally distant Norwegian grandmother, Hilda, Ella has long accepted that the topic of her parents is off-limits. When Hilda passes away, Ella is shocked to find that her inheritance includes a summer cottage perched above the sea in a place called Lyngør, a remote island in Norway. To sell it, she’ll have to visit the cottage and take stock of what’s there—and maybe Lyngør holds the key to her mother’s mysterious passing, if she can get the locals to talk.For as long as he can remember, Leif Arnesen, a thirty-four-year-old boatbuilder in Lyngør, has carried grief and shame from his father’s death, an accident that upended their small community. When Ella breezes into Lyngør looking for answers, her very presence stirs up old ghosts and earns her the villagers’ suspicions. As sparks begin to fly between Leif and Ella and their relationship blossoms quickly, everything Leif knows to be true threatens to capsize.Perfect for fans of Jennifer Probst’s Our Italian Summer and set amid the rough and wild beauty of the Norwegian archipelagoes, Kimbra Drake’s Where the Heart Meets the Sea asks what happens when we’re forced to rewrite the stories that have defined our lives—and what we do with the next chapters.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Literary on November 26, 2025

A beautifully written heartfelt love story between Ella and Leif set on a remote island in Norway -- a place about which I've read so little but am now inexorably drawn because of this stunning book. Highly recommended for fans of exquisite romance tales who also love when "place" in a story is as i......more

Goodreads review by Karen’s Library on January 25, 2026

Where the Heart Meets the Sea is a beautiful story set in a small village by the sea in Norway. Ella, an American from Boulder, CO, sets off to Lyngør to sell the cottage she had inherited from her Norwegian grandmother who raised her. While there, Ella befriends the locals, including Leif, a local......more

Goodreads review by dianas_books_cars_coffee on December 22, 2025

This book was absolutely fantastic! A swoon-worthy romance that took me to a remote island in Norway and had me feeling all the feels. Ella Nielson travels to Norway from Colorado to learn about her past after her grandmother passes away. Her grandmother, who raised her, never spoke about Ella's mot......more

Goodreads review by Saltygalreads on November 24, 2025

Ella travels to Lyngor, Norway to see the cottage property left to her by her maternal grandmother, who raised her after her mother's death. Hilda, Ella's grandmother, was prickly and strict, finding it difficult to show emotion or affection. She also refused to discuss Ella's mother and her death,......more

Goodreads review by Jane on December 30, 2025

From the moment you meet Ella, as she arrives at the remote island of Lyngør in Norway, she charms you with her artsy and quirky ways. This story is enchanting, full of romance, intrigue, mystery, and real-life challenges in a stunning setting on the coast of Norway. Ella only intends to sell her gr......more