Same Beach Next Year. Dorothea Benton Frank

Published:  HarperCollins
Date:  24th April 2018
Format: Paperback
Pages: 400
Genre: Southern Fiction
Rating:
                       
Purchase Links: HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

One enchanted summer, two couples begin a friendship that will last more than twenty years and transform their lives.

A chance meeting on the Isle of Palms, one of Charleston’s most stunning barrier islands, brings former sweethearts, Adam Stanley and Eve Landers together again. Their respective spouses, Eliza and Carl, fight sparks of jealousy flaring from their imagined rekindling of old flames. As Adam and Eve get caught up on their lives, their partners strike up deep friendship—and flirt with an unexpected attraction—of their own.

Year after year, Adam, Eliza, Eve, and Carl eagerly await their reunion at Wild Dunes, a condominium complex at the island’s tip end, where they grow closer with each passing day, building a friendship that will withstand financial catastrophe, family tragedy, and devastating heartbreak. The devotion and love they share will help them weather the vagaries of time and enrich their lives as circumstances change, their children grow up and leave home, and their twilight years approach.

Same Beach Next Year is part of Dorothea Benton Frank's Low Country Tales. It covers over twenty years of  two couples, their families and their relationships to each other.  It was a delightful tangled tale of love and friendship and finding out what really matters in life. The paperback of this story is out this month.

I liked all the characters and happily watched as they figured things out and grew in themselves. Well perhaps Cookie - Eve's mother, was  a bit of a basket case and trouble maker, but other than that!  Eliza is happily married to Adam, but when they meet up at the seaside with Eve and Carl she just wonders what is going on between Adam and Eve?  And Carl seems a bit of a flirt and Eliza while recognising that, also finds him attractive.

A good set up for infidelity all round you might think! But give these people time to sort themselves out and to rediscover love and true friendship and the fact that we all grow older and the next generation takes its place.

The book moves along smoothly with every so often a bump that amps up the plot and makes it that more interesting.  Adam and Eliza, Carl and Eve - they are very human, they have their faults but ... by the time the story closes they are all changed, they have weathered the challenges and come out the other end as better versions of themselves.

The setting moves from the Lowcountry of South Carolina to the Greek islands, both delightful places, contributing to the pleasure of the read.

New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank was born and raised on Sullivans Island, South Carolina. She resides in the New York area with her husband.

Find her on the web at www.dotfrank.com, or like her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

All Summer Long Dorothea Benton Frank. TLC Book Tour

Published: William Morrow
Date: March 7th 2017
Format:Paperback Reprint Edition
Pages: 400
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Rating:
                   

Filled with her trademark wit, poignant themes, and rich characters, the perennial New York Times bestselling author returns with a sensational novel that follows the travels of one couple though a tumultuous summer.

Dorothea Benton Frank’s magical stories take us deep into the heart of her beloved Carolina Lowcountry. In her novels, this lush landscape comes alive in all its vibrancy and color. She ignites all of our senses with her vivid descriptions of landscape and atmosphere. In her novels you hear the ocean washing the shore on different islands so profoundly that you can nearly hear the sea gulls squawking, too.This is a story of people whose lives are changing—a southern gentleman returning home to lead a more peaceful life and his talented New York wife who is not quite sure she is ready to make the transition. They are moving north to south, fast pace versus slow pace, downsizing. And while they are doing this, they are getting glimpses into other people’s lives over the course of a summer, holidays that will amuse, shock and transform them.

This irresistible story is home to captivating characters as funny, complicated, and real as our best friends—husbands and wives, mothers and daughters, friends and family who wrestle with the complexities, pain, and joys familiar to us all.

Finally, we’ll come to recognize the face of love, the kind that deepens and endures but only because one woman makes a tremendous leap of faith. That leap changes them all.

Olivia - interior designer in NY who is on the brink of bankruptcy, she needs new clients to keep her business going, quite a hoarder, many expensive knick knacks.

Nick - husband, absent minded professor about to retire - moving to Sullivan's Island. doing up beach house bought by Olivia, so they are about to down size, which gladdens minimalist Nick's heart. Also happens to be anxious and a little OCD about hygiene on planes etc.

Nick and Olivia have their peccadilloes, yet they love each other and their relationship is strong. Both are principled people and they are really well matched.

Contrasted with them is the very wealthy Bob who has provided Olivia with much business due to the fact of his oft changing of the guard in terms of wives.  The present wife Maritza is someone who loves Bob but its obvious his eye is roving again. They have one very indulged four year old daughter and a nanny Ellen who is the object of the roving eye.  Along with them are the hangers on who surround Bob and live the life of the tedious rich. Some rather revolting on a catty level. 

It took me a little while to become wrapped up in this book, but once Maritza entered the story for some reason I became caught up in it and read the book in just over a day. Maritza might appear a little ordinary to some of those catty women, but when she stands she sure does it well.

I loved the exploration of does wealth bring happiness? Is lack of money going to bring unhappiness, what is true friendship and what makes a great marriage?  The range of settings was fun and I enjoyed visiting them all. There was the contrast of city and country life and the simple and the rich life.  Dorothea Benton Frank's writing brings them all very much alive.

I ended up loving this book and the characters in it, it was with great reluctance I closed the book at the end. 

Purchase Links

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

About Dorothea Benton Frank

New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank was born and raised on Sullivans Island, South Carolina. She resides in the New York area with her husband. Find her on the web at www.dotfrank.com, or like her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

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