Genre: Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers, 2019
Pages: 432
Rating: Highly Recommend
Synopsis: Anthony Puckett was a rising literary star. The son of an uber-famous thriller writer, Anthony's debut novel spent two year on the bestseller list and won the adoration of critics. But something went very wrong with his second work. Now Anthony's borrowing an old college friend's crumbling beach house on Block Island in the hopes that solitude will help him get back to the person he used to be.Joy Sousa owns and runs Block-Islands's beloved whoopie pie cafe. She came to this quiet space eleven years ago, newly divorced and with a young daughter, and built a life for them here. To her customers and friends, Joy is a model of independent, hard-working and happy. And mostly she is. But this summer she's thrown off balance. A food truck from a famous New York City brand is roving around the island selling goodies-and threatening her business.
Lu Trusdale is spending the summer on her in-laws' dime, living on Block Island her with her two young sons while her surgeon husband commutes to the mainland hospital. When Lu's second son was born, she and her husband made a deal: he'd work and she'd quit her corporate law job to stay home with the boys. But a few years ago, Lu quietly began working on a private project that has become increasingly demanding of her time. Torn between work and home, she's beginning to question the deal she made.
Over the twelve short weeks of summer, these three strangers will meet and grow close, will share secrets, and bury lies. And as the promise of June turns into the chilly night of August, the truth will come out, forcing each of them to decide what they value most, and what they are willing to give up to keep it.
Review: This novel was a slow-starter, but I hung in there because it's Block Island. My husband and visited Block Island with his Massachusetts relatives when we were dating. In fact, it was my first introduction to his aunt and uncle. They had friends with a boat docked on "The Block," as it's known locally. One of my favorite pictures of our entire relationship was taken by his aunt on the ferry.
Anyway, back to the book. It's a fun, beach-read, with a bit of substance. The characters touched on a lot of topics or experienced issues to which I could relate. I even found them living in my head. In an attempt to not spend so much time in a fictional world between the pages, I am not spending every free second reading this year (I cut my reading challenge in half - 105 books in 2019, just 51 for 2020). It's kind of fun to set the book down, and let my imagination wander with what the characters are doing or where they're going in their journeys.
If you like Elin Hilderbrand or Susan Mallery, this is probably another good author to try. Their styles are similar, but distinct enough you would never confuse one for the other.
Good reading for January since there's a lot of "summer talk" (sunshine, warm temps, the beach, shorts and sandals).
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