“Tuesday the twentieth of May started out as a day much like any other. I woke at around six thirty and spent a few minutes stretching under the sheets, a usual preliminary to putting my feet on the floor. And then, sitting up, and swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I sent a message to my daughter, wherever she was, telling her I loved her and always would.”

Seashell Season
By Holly Chamberlin

For Verity Preston every year in her Maine beach town is bittersweet. She’s worked hard to make a go of her life despite the heartbreak and hard circumstances that she’s been through but knowing that one day she might see her daughter again gives her hope.

When her daughter, Gemma, was just a baby, she was abducted by her father. Verity has been waiting for sixteen years to see her daughter and now she’s received the phone call she’s been waiting for all this time. Alan and “Marni”, as he has been calling their baby have been found.

Verity is not sure how to approach her daughter and as she brings her home she realizes that they have a long road ahead. Gemma/Marni, always thought that her father had saved her from an abusive mother but the more she sees how her mother lives and the people that surround her the imagine she had in her mind doesn’t match this woman.

Told in alternating viewpoints, both women will have to learn to trust one another and accept that their new lives, and hopefully build a strong relationship going forward, one based on forgiveness and starting over.

For such an emotionally charged story, there were times I didn’t quite feel the angst or sadness that each woman must have felt. So while I wanted a bit more of an emotional pull I still found this a good beach read that kept me entertained.

Source: Advance reading copy

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Despite having the holiday off my weekend was hectic. My bags were barely unpacked from our vacation but I had to grab a bag and passport and make a quick trip to Monterrey, Mexico for my goddaughter’s wedding.

We haven’t had a wedding in our family in such a long time so this was kind of exciting. There were some issues that popped up, I guess that’s the norm for weddings right? But, the bride was beautiful and the wedding was lovely.

So I didn’t get a lot of reading done but we made the most of our day off on Monday to go hang out at the bookstore for a little while. I noticed that SOHO Crime has their Passport to Crime Series special editions out. These are the first books in many of the publisher’s popular series. I don’t know if these have been out for a while but it was the first time I saw them on the end cap at my local B&N.

Given that I had a coupon and that these books are selling for $9.99, well I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to pick up one. I chose The Dragon Man by Garry Disher. Have you read this one? What did you think? Oh and a tip for you, if you purchase your books through Soho Crime they are actually listed for $7.99.

This week my goal is to get to the library to pick up a couple of holds (so much for my Library Ban) and maybe start putting some mini reviews together from the books I read while on vacation.

What are you up to this week?