Book Review - The Beach House by Mary Alice Monroe by L. A. Keller
Warning - this review contains a few spoilers:
This was a very enjoyable read about Caretta, who loses her high powered job after years of working her way up the corporate ladder only to find herself back in her hometown outside of Charleston, SC. What she doesn't know when she returns home is that her mother is in ill health and wants to put her affairs in order.
Caretta (Cara) is a likeable character who starts out as distant, troubled and angry about her childhood. Staying with her mother Lovie in her beach house with a young pregnant teenager, Toy her mother has taken in, Cara has to make adjustments. She pushes back against her mother, against the Toy's presence and against becoming involved in the sea turtles who lay their eggs on the beach.
I enjoyed the slow process in which the author has Cara evolve and grow. As in real life, we sometimes change more slowly than can be accomplished on a few pages. In this case, the changes were forced due to her mother's health, the end of season and the weather. Up to the very end, Cara struggles with what she wants and needs to be happy. Fortunately for her and the reader, she figures it out before the last page.
For the most part the characters were well developed and the reader feels a connection. There were a few secondary characters who needed to be more present, such as the love interest. It was difficult to gauge who he was and why he suddenly had an interest in Cara after so many years.
All in all it was a good book and I would read this author again.
This was a very enjoyable read about Caretta, who loses her high powered job after years of working her way up the corporate ladder only to find herself back in her hometown outside of Charleston, SC. What she doesn't know when she returns home is that her mother is in ill health and wants to put her affairs in order.
Caretta (Cara) is a likeable character who starts out as distant, troubled and angry about her childhood. Staying with her mother Lovie in her beach house with a young pregnant teenager, Toy her mother has taken in, Cara has to make adjustments. She pushes back against her mother, against the Toy's presence and against becoming involved in the sea turtles who lay their eggs on the beach.
I enjoyed the slow process in which the author has Cara evolve and grow. As in real life, we sometimes change more slowly than can be accomplished on a few pages. In this case, the changes were forced due to her mother's health, the end of season and the weather. Up to the very end, Cara struggles with what she wants and needs to be happy. Fortunately for her and the reader, she figures it out before the last page.
For the most part the characters were well developed and the reader feels a connection. There were a few secondary characters who needed to be more present, such as the love interest. It was difficult to gauge who he was and why he suddenly had an interest in Cara after so many years.
All in all it was a good book and I would read this author again.
Happy Trails,
Leslie
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