When Felicity Jeffries’ husband of twenty-eight years dies of a heart attack, it releases her, at last, from a loveless marriage. But when her adult children begin to ask questions that threaten to reveal family secrets Felicity has kept for years, she seeks refuge at her family cottage, hoping the much-needed tranquility will bring her peace of mind.
Ben Pierce is a man racked with guilt over spending a decade away from his daughter. For the past ten years, his work has taken him to war-torn communities and the sites of natural disasters where he and his company rebuild homes and entire villages. Now he wants to rekindle the relationship he lost with his daughter, but will she want to see the father she thinks abandoned her all those years ago?
When Felicity meets Ben, her new neighbour at the cottage on Ril Lake, the two form something more than friendship bound by their mutual need to come to terms with their pasts. Together they unpack the baggage of their lives, agreeing to pass no judgement, offer no sage words of advice, but only to listen or lend a shoulder to cry on.
As their friendship grows, so does their desire to be something more to one another, but her children are not as accepting as she’d hoped. Soon, her conflicting emotions about how her children will react to her new relationship take a back seat to the old family secrets that refuse to be ignored. Can Felicity reveal just enough to answer her children’s questions without tarnishing their image of their father? What will they say when they learn the identity of the fourth beneficiary in his will? And can Felicity and Ben’s new relationship survive the last and most crucial of Felicity’s family secrets?

Set in the beautiful Muskoka region of Ontario, One Summer on Ril Lake, is the first in Margery Reynold’s “cottage reads” series. This series was inspired by more than seven years of visiting the same cottage on Ril Lake and her wonderful adventures and discoveries, in the nearby towns and villages.

Annie Taylor, a single mother of two, caregiver of her elderly father, owner of Annie’s Lodge, a 24-cottage resort on the shores of Ril Lake, needs help. Struggling to put food on the table and keep the debt collectors at bay, Annie feels pulled from all sides. All she really wants is for someone to take care of her for a change. She could marry Luke McCann, her handyman who has much more than repair and maintenance on his mind, but that would mean giving up her dream.
When Joe Hewitt, his nephew and their gorgeous Burmese, Max, book a ten-day Christmas vacation in one of Annie’s cottages, Joe is full of ideas about how she can make her property pay, and Annie wonders if he just might be the answer she’s been hoping for; for the lodge and for herself.
Before she can decide if either of these two men is right for her, Annie must do some digging into her own past. Why have her migraines returned and why is she forgetting things again? Could the accident she was in, five years ago, that took her husband’s life, be part of the problem? As forgotten memories gradually bring new truths, and Annie begins to put the pieces of her past together, the world as she knows it begins to crumble.
Joe seems to share her vision, and he’s certainly willing to help, but then, so is Luke, in his own way. Which of these two men will be what Annie truly needs?

Set in the beautiful Muskoka region of Northern Ontario, One Winter at Ril Lake is the 2nd stand-alone novel, in the Muskoka Cottage Novel Series by Margery Reynolds.

Julie Wight doesn’t like complicated. Her mid-forties, single life is a rhythmic flow of exercise, teaching at the village school, and relaxation in her all-seasoned home on the shores of the tranquil Ril Lake. The most complicated Julie’s life gets is deciding which kind of wine she’ll drink while watching the sun set over the lake.

But the village has a doctor and with no rental properties available in town the widower Dr. Michael Adams signs a one-year lease on Julie’s cottage next door. When he and his three daughters move in, suddenly, for Julie, uncomplicated isn’t possible anymore.

What does Joy know that her sisters don’t? Why is Faith having nightmares? Who is the woman Hope talks to over the fence at school? And why is Michael Adams reluctant to talk about his past?

Will Julie’s desire for a simple life drive her to unravel the mysteries behind Michael’s alluring smile or will she break their lease and send them packing, nightmares, secrets and all?

When Helen Claybourne is gifted a two-week vacation at a luxury cottage on Ril Lake, her only thought, driving north through the beautiful Muskoka Region, is of rest, relaxation and some much needed alone-time.

Tessa Field knows she’s getting on her sister’s last nerve and Pat is getting on hers too. Separated since their twenties, by geography, they are discovering that life and the past has changed them, and living together now, isn’t exactly working. When Pat wins a two-week holiday at a luxury cottage on Ril Lake she cannot use, she gives it to Tessa instead.

When a booking error at Serenity Lodge, brings Helen and Tessa together, the spring storm they’ve both just travelled through is nothing compared to what’s coming. What secrets has Helen been hiding from her daughter? What ghosts lie in Tessa’s past she doesn’t want to face?

For two ladies looking for serenity in their golden years, life at Ril Lake is about to be anything but.

Set in the beautiful Muskoka Region of Central Ontario, on the tranquil shores of Ril Lake, this is the fourth novel from Margery Reynolds, in the Muskoka Cottage Novel Series.