The Firefly Cafe by Lily Everett

Pull up a seat at The Firefly Café and fall in love with the first novella in Lily Everett’s heart-tugging “Billionaire Brothers” trilogy!

For years, the Harrington family has dominated the business world.  Gorgeous billionaire brothers Dylan, Logan and Miles Harrington command the family empire, which has given them everything they could ever want…except the one thing that matters most.  Now they’re about to travel to the windswept refuge of Sanctuary Island, where they’ll discover that fortune, fame and power don’t mean a thing without someone to share it with.

Dubbed “the Bad Boy Billionaire” by the tabloids, Dylan Harrison’s playboy lifestyle is starting to lose its appeal. When he hops on his motorcycle and drives to Sanctuary Island, he’s looking for time alone to get his head on straight. Instead, he gets pulled into the warm friendliness of the island—and an intense attraction to Penny Little, waitress at the Firefly Café and caretaker of his family’s vacation home.  Trouble is, Penny doesn’t realize he’s a Harrington brother…and he wants to keep it that way until he’s sure he can trust her with his heart. But Penny has a secret of her own, and when the truth comes to light, will they still have a chance at love?

The Firefly Cafe is the first of a three-part series of novellas concerning the Harrington brothers.  The novellas are set in and around Sanctuary Island, Virginia, and tie-in (a bit) to the new series by Ms. Everett.  As I loved the majority of Ms. Everett's novels under the name Louisa Edwards, I decided to give this novella a try.

I should note that I received an ARC of Sanctuary Island and read it prior to reading The Firefly Cafe.

Because of my above disclaimer, I didn't like The Firefly Cafe as much as I had hoped.  It's still a good story, one that has the usual romance cliches/tropes, but it didn't affect me as much as the characters of Sanctuary Island.  It's not necessary to have read The Firefly Cafe or any of these novellas to understand Sanctuary Island.

I think it may have been the tropes -- billionaire brothers, unsuspecting and unknowing maid, etc. -- that took me out of the story for a little while.  There is one piece of dialogue, however, that sucked me right back in.

"You dummy. Don't you get it? What's left is all that matters." 

If you are looking for a sweet story about a billionaire who wants to mend his fences and learns the importance of people rather than the importance of things, and the maid who changed him, The Firefly Cafe is for you.  It also sets up the second novella,  The Summer Cottage, quite nicely.