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.

Beach House For Rent. Mary Alice Monroe

Published:Gallery Books
Date: June 20th 2017
Format: e-ARC
Pages: 384
Genre: Southern Fiction
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Rating:
                     

Mary Alice Monroe,bestselling author of the Lowcountry Summer series, returns to her beloved Beach House series with the highly anticipated follow-up to Beach House Memories and The Beach House.

Beach House for Rent is #4 in Mary Alice Monroe's Beach House series. I hadn't read the previous books so I can say this is a very good stand alone, and I am sure lovers of the series would also relish this beautiful addition to it.

The characters:

Cara is just turning fifty and she is having a life crisis. While happily married to Brett for the last ten years, she feels she is missing out on something, a passion and purpose in life over and beyond what she has now. Once a very successful advertising agent she is now questioning where her life is going. As the story unfolds and as it turns out her whole life is turned upside down in this book and it is a slow crawl out of the deep hole she finds herself in.

Heather is a young woman who lost her mother in a car accident that Heather too was in. Always a shy person she now suffers from panic attacks and social anxiety. However what she does have is a passion for painting and she has just won a commission to paint some southern seabirds for some stamps. When her father arranges for her to spend the summer in the beach house she is really anxious about it - however it turns out to be a very healing and growing time for her.

The setting:

If you love the beach and the sea and the sand and the romance of a beach house then you can indulge in this book - it is alive with the sights and sounds and beauty painted in words for you to envision by Mary Alice Monroe. The beach house - Primrose Cottage is delightful, who wouldn't want to spend a summer in it, no one in their right mind would sell it.

Nature:

As in all the novels I have read by Mary Alice Monroe the flora and fauna of the southern coast of Carolina is wonderfully brought to life. Through Heather's eyes we see the wonders of the birds and the turtles. We also get a peek into the life of canaries as Heather as three gorgeous birds that bring her so much joy.  And of course there is a strong theme of environmental care running through the story.

The Extras

I liked the small cast of secondary characters, the men in Heather's and Cara's life, the friends they both make or already have. I especially enjoyed having a little mention of a couple of characters from the lowcountry series.   All in all a very enjoyable read.

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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The Education of Dixie Dupree. Donna Everhart

Published: Kensington
Date: October 25th 2016
Format: e-ARC
Pages:352
Genre: Southern Fiction
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss
Rating:
               

In 1969, Dixie Dupree is eleven years old and already an expert liar. Sometimes the lies are for her mama, Evie’s sake—to explain away a bruise brought on by her quick-as-lightning temper. And sometimes the lies are to spite Evie, who longs to leave her unhappy marriage in Perry County, Alabama, and return to her beloved New Hampshire. But for Dixie and her brother, Alabama is home, a place of pine-scented breezes and hot, languid afternoons.

Though Dixie is learning that the family she once believed was happy has deep fractures, even her vivid imagination couldn’t concoct the events about to unfold. Dixie records everything in her diary—her parents’ fights, her father’s drinking and his unexplained departure, and the arrival of Uncle Ray. Only when Dixie desperately needs help and is met with disbelief does she realize how much damage her past lies have done. But she has courage and a spirit that may yet prevail, forcing secrets into the open and allowing her to forgive and become whole again.

                                             
The voice of Dixie just grabbed me and drew me into this story. Had I known how the story was going to unfold, maybe I would never have read this book, so I am very pleased I went in cold. The Education of Dixie Dupree is the debut novel of Donna Everhart, yet it felt like to me that it was coming from a very experienced writer, it was so well written.

Dixie is an inquisitive, strong personality and I was often horrified by the relationship she had with her mother. My heart went out to Dixie as she endured the many questions she had in her mind and the love and wonderings she had about her father. Her mother is a very unhappy woman and it could be said much of what happens, happens because of this unhappiness. Her secrets though are dark and as yet have not seen enough light. When something isn't healed, then ugly things can result.

Dixie keeps a diary and in it she writes her truths. Later this diary will become very important. However what she doesn't know is her mother kept a diary like she did too, and eventually it will answer some of the questions Dixie has.

Most of the story is set in Alabama and the setting - the heat, the red dust and the love of the land comes through from Dixie. What happens to Dixie is dark and abusive. This is not an easy book to read, but Dixie's powerful voice just mesmerised me and kept me reading. And there is justice and hope and resilience. Perhaps the final revelation was a little 'too tidy', and I will be interested to see what others think about that.