Just finished my 8th book this spring! I can't believe I've finished 8, especially because it has been a super busy spring between the ministries, the job, the girls and their school functions, youth group, etc.
But..it's also been a rainy spring...or at least rainier than last spring, so I've had some weekends where, after housework and errands, I've been able to sit and get some reading accomplished. And it's great....I've enjoyed just about every book I've read from my Spring Reading List which you can find at the top of the home page.
The book, Beachcombers, by Nancy Thayer, was set on Nantucket Island (off the coast of Cape Cod for those of you who aren't North easterners).
Genre is contemporary fiction
Summary: 3 sisters, all of whom are very different from each other, come together for the summer, at their dad's house on Nantucket. Their mom died when the oldest daughter, Abbie, now age 30, was 15. The middle sister, Emma, age 28, has just been laid off from her stockbroker job and her fiance broke up with her unexpectedly. She is crushed and feeling helpless and full of self-pity, just lying in bed all day. Abbie was summoned to come home from her au pair job in London, by the baby in the family, Lily (age 21) who is somewhat spoiled and "high maintenance". Lily yearns to live "the high life" in NYC or someplace more exciting than Nantucket. Their dad, Jim Fox, is well known around the island, and well liked. He is in the construction business and has recently rented out the girls' old Playhouse in the back of the garden, to a woman who is recently divorced and uprooted from her job. The woman is from Missouri and is on the island to try to get over a painful divorce. She sets her eyes on Jim...will she fall in love with him??
Over the summer, much turbulence abounds in these characters' lives.
One sister falls for a married man.
Another sister befriends an elderly woman and falls for her grandson....but will he fall in love with her??
Another sister is torn between the love she has for her sisters and her feelings of being excluded.
All of the sisters miss their mom. Still. And all of them must make choices at the end of the summer.....which choices will each sister make?? and will they ever face the truth about their mother's death??
My thoughts:
This was a good book and I was drawn in rather quickly to all of the characters. My favorite sister was Emma but I won't tell you why.....
Character development was excellent.
The author painted a very realistic picture of Nantucket. Although I have never been to Nantucket, I have been to Cape Cod almost every year since 1990 and it is very much like what she describes in the book.
The story was good but towards the end I was starting to think "Ok, it's time to wrap up all these little sub plots and end this thing". I began to get bored with the storyline and I think the author could have ended the book a bit better. It seemed to drag on although it is only 351 pages. It's a rather short novel compared to some of the other ones on my list. I thought the ending, when it finally came, was a bit too "sugary-sweet"....a bit sappy in spots.
I DID like the part where the 3 sisters have a type of "memorial" to their mother on the beach. That was very well done and I wish the author had ended the novel at that point. The rest could have been done BEFORE that point in the plot.....and I think it would have been more exciting.
Do I recommend this book?
Yes, especially for those of you who like quick, easy "beach novels"...it's the perfect summer read. The author has written several other novels. This is the first time I've read one of her books. I might read more.....but there are authors who I much prefer over this particular book.
Appropriate for ages 16 and older.
The next book I'm reading from my list is The Scent of Water: Grace for Every Kind of Broken by Naomi Zacharias.
I am almost done with One Thousand Gifts...it's...different. I like the idea of keeping a gratitude journal and coming up with 1000 different gifts/blessings God gives...and I am doing that. BUT..her style is tough to read at any length (for me)...it is a bit poetic and wanders....she doesn't write in complete sentences and that bugs me in a book. It reads like a blog. So....I am still plugging away at that.
What books are you reading?? Has anyone read Scent of Water yet??
2 comments:
I saw this book last week at the library and knowing you were reading it, I almost picked it up. But I really do need to finish my own list. LOL. Maybe for the fall, I'll see it again.
I've read a few excerpts from One Thousand Gifts I think at the author's site and I have to say it is not my style of read at all. I don't think I could read a whole book, I couldn't even finish the excerpt. Like you, I found the incomplete, drawn out sentences really frustrating.
Hi Susanne...yes, I've put that book aside for a bit...I read it just in the evenings, a few nites a week...I just can't take the blog style in book form....she has some interesting insights...sounds like she has been through ALOT with personal grief and searching for Christ in that full way. I like it. I just can't take much of it at once. Scent of Water is REALLY good....makes me grateful for my life, husband, kids....i recommend it.
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