2014 Summer Beach Reads

SPOILER ALERT!

Summertime is a time for some lazy reading... you know, those light romances that take place in or near wonderful beach places like Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, the Outer Banks, the low country (aka Tidewater region of Virginia, NC, Charleston, or along the coast of Maine. Summer 2014 was no different, and I returned to two of my favorite authors looking for some enjoyable beach reading. I've always enjoyed Dorothea Benton Frank's books because they're set around Charleston, one of my very favorite cities! Ditto with Elin Hildebrand who usually sets her stories on Nantucket. Alas, these two summer reads were mediocre at best.

Bulls Island is the story of yet another homecoming-- a local girl who leaves town and makes in big in the world on her own. At the beginning of the story she's found as a very successful executive in New York City with private planes at her disposal. her company decides to embark on a real estate development project on Bulls Island, South Carolina, and she's put in charge because of her knowledge from the area. Her anxiety rises as she knows this will force her to confront people from her past, including an old romantic love. In the meantime, she also messes around with a rough mafia gangster, and this is where I had trouble with the plausibility of the plot and Betts (the main character). As the plot comes to an end, I kept wondering how Benton Franks was going to resolve this issue with Vinnie (the gangster). Just as I thought she had forgotten about him, he surfaces but in an uncharacteristic way. Benton Franks resolves the Vinnie character, but it was somewhat lame, and just seemed out of place with the rest of the story. I give this book a 2 out of 5 stars (with 5 being the highest) because I don't think that Benton Franks developed her main character in accordance with the character's attributes as described earlier in the book, the unfolding plot seems to stall near the end, and the resolution of the Vinnie character is out of place.

A Summer Affair is just plain unsatisfying. This is the story of  red-haired and freckled Claire, a glassblowing artist, mother of four young children, and wife to Jason, a rugged, and somewhat sexist, kind of guy. She's asked to chair a local charity event, and begins an affair with the charity event's executive director. It was just hard for me to like, or feel sympathetic, to a character who is the mother of four small children who commits adultery. I know this sounds judgmental, but really? Where did she think this affair was going to go? The plot is complete with Claire facing her choices, dealing with a boorish husband, rebuilding connections with a high school sweetheart who has now become a rock star, and realizing that she needs to end her affair. I skimmed over many of the pages in this book because it just wasn't worth the time in reading in detail. I give this book a 2 out of 5 stars because it was dull. Hildebrand has done much better in other books.