Friendship between women, relationships between mothers and daughters, and an ocean setting. Who could ask for more? In The Beach Walkers, author Barbara Bond goes deep into her characters, showing their fears and their strengths. Because the women are older and their children are grown, I could definitely relate to them. I would love to have Frannie as a friend and would treasure a walk along the shores of Amelia Island with the Walkie-Talkies. The Beach Walkers is a five-star story I won't soon forget.
FYI: The Healing Island, Barbara Bond's second book, is a sequel to this one.
Book Beginning:
The Life of St. Francis
Come not between the dragon and his wrath. (King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1)
Saturday, Thanksgiving weekend: Frannie stood, her small hands arched like ghost crabs, pressing down on Elspeth's dining room table to keep the trembling at bay. She wasn't afraid; it was barely controlled anger that threatened to surface. She had to keep it in check. Should she just walk away? After all, it had only been days since she'd met Elspeth Cleary.
The Friday 56 (from 56% on my Kindle):
[In this dialogue, the conversation is about Elspeth's daughters.]
"When did duty become a dirty word?" Frannie paused. "When they were young, and you were attempting the impossible--a single mother, building the firm--weren't there days, maybe weeks, maybe months when you did your duty to them? When they were being willful, bratty, inconsiderate, was it love or devotion that saw you through it?"
Genre: Women's Fiction (not romance)
Length: 220 pages
Amazon Link: The Beach Walkers
Synopsis:
The Beach Walkers: a story of mothers and daughters, of kinship lost and friendship found on an island in northeast Florida.
Can walking the beach heal the heart?
In her grand beachfront home on Amelia Island, Elspeth Cleary is devastated when Jess, a daughter she adores, refuses her inheritance. She sends her back to New York—to the delight of two older daughters summoned to the island on family business. A wealthy, weary, lonely widow, Elspeth hoped to spend months with each of them. She couldn't ask of course; they might say no. What was she thinking in trying to bribe them?
Frannie had warned her not to expect gratitude for sharing her wealth, or to hope that her daughters would help fill her days. Frannie Dawson is the energetic woman Elspeth met on the beach. Frannie was right. The eldest daughters take their inheritance and flee, leaving her alone, even at Christmas. When grief and a diagnosis of breast cancer bring her to the edge, she tells only Frannie, her new beach friend and a retired teacher of Shakespeare.
Can Frannie help this modern Queen Lear? She’s determined to try. She draws Elspeth into a group of beach walkers; an eclectic group that includes women who tell her she's not alone in her woes with adult children. The gentle women of the walking group share their stories and their unique celebrations. They support her through cancer treatment. For the first time in years, she has a sense of belonging.
But does mending a heart take more than a walk on a beach?
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Is a red sequined dress enough to catch a husband's attention? In this short and sweet romance, Joselyn Vaughn introduces us to a couple whose marriage has lost its sizzle. But an evening with a bunch of zany senior citizens may shake things up.
I enjoyed this story on many levels. First of all, the hero and heroine seem like real people, and they have real love for one another. They just happen to be in a slump! I also like the inclusion of men and women from the retirement home. They add humor to the story and show that just because you've grown older doesn't mean you don't know how to have fun.
Genre: Sweet Romance
Book Length: 50 Pages
Amazon Link: Seeing You Again
Author's Blog: "Romance With a Case of the Giggles"
Book Beginning:
Chaperoning? His wife didn't know him at all. Sam flicked a speck of dust off the charcoal suit hanging from the bathroom door. He could be settled in his easy chair with a bowl of popcorn and a college football game on the television instead of stuffed into his Sunday suit, making sure his mother didn't take another ride in a police car.
The Friday 56 (from 56% on my Kindle):
One cup of punch laced with tequila, and he was as befuddled as if he had consumed half the bowl. A sequined silhouette appeared in his imagination, and he realized she was more than likely the source of his befuddlement.
Synopsis:
After twenty-five years with Sam, their lives revolving in circles that barely touched let alone overlapped, was it time Margie consigned their marriage to an album of faded photographs? The Christmas ball at her mother-in-law's retirement home would either be the final straw for their failing marriage or the perfect chance to reignite the old flame. Can the happy-go-lucky shenanigans of the retirement community remind Margie and Sam that falling in love has no age limit?
Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56.
Click HERE to connect to other Book Beginnings posts (sponsored by Rose City Reads)
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