Light Summer Reading Fare

It's time to update my reading list, and share my reviews of books I've been reading... This summer I started with a few "beachy" type books-- usually set on the shores of North Carolina's Outer Banks or somewhere near Cape Cod, Nantucket, or Martha's Vinyard. Summer Rental was a fun book to read- after all, who wouldn't want to identify with an attractive 40-something career woman seeking love? Tis story takes place in North Carolina's Outer Banks, although I have to admit at first that I was puzzled as to why the characters in this book would want to rent a beach house on the Outer Banks in August. That is a fine season for northern beaches such as Cape Cod and the outlying islands, but the beach in North Carolina in August is awful-- talk about hot and humid!!! This is the time to avoid the beach there, but oh well. the characters in this little novel were likeable and fun. The plot revolves around 4 women in a beach house and a good looking unattached landlord with financial troubles. Need I say more? It's a light read and allowed the mind to wander through beach scenes from my past... all good stuff.

I chose this second beachy-book, Nantucket Nights, because last summer I read Barefoot by Elin Hildebrand and I liked it. This one was a bit less satisfying... the plot line is complex enough to keep readers interested, but the end of the book appeared to be somewhat artificially constructed; almost as if the author didn't know how to end it and so put this ending together after consulting over wine with friends. The book starts out well enough with the main character, Kayla, a wife and mother who wound up making Nan tucket her home after college, not wanting to respond to a voicemail on her phone. The story backtracks from there as you learn more about the characters-- 3 women who shared a summer rental right after college, and how their lives entwined so that they each wound up living on Nantucket and making there lives there. The story line is complex enough to keep readers interested, and the descriptions of Nantucket made me long to hop on the ferry and spend a summer in a clapboard summer rental myself. However, the ending is not one to my liking, and I did think it really didn't fit with the book. Read it yourself and let me know what you think. Happy Reading!