So I finished this last night and initially was all this is a really great book. Then I sat and thought about it and said, well except for some of the character development, and the plot holes that were not tied up, and then the ending. But other than that, it was great. I have to say that I liked the set-up of the book (three college friends) but think that it was hard to even see why the three women kept in touch. Nothing in the book shows us that at all. We jump from freshman year to 20 plus years later and then we hear bits and pieces about things after the fact. Plus one wonders what happened to the friendship between the two women left alive? (no spoilers). I had so many questions at the end of this story so for me it was a solid three stars.

"It's Always the Husband" follows Aubrey, Jenny, and Kate their freshman year of college at Carlisle college. The three young girls are roommates with very little in common. Jenny is a "townie" and Aubrey is at the school on a scholarship. Kate's forefathers helped build up the school though and she very much seems to belong to the elite and cool crowds at the school. The book then jumps back and forth between past and the women in their present day lives with readers realizing that eventually one of these women is going to jump off a bridge which could possibly lead to a secret that all three of them have been keeping about an event during their freshman year. 

I think that I felt the most empathy for Jenny. Jenny is very smart and wants to do more with her life than work at her parents hardware store. That said, she seems to value the wrong things. When she eventually meets Kate father and sees how they live she's focused on their wealth and not how unhappy Kate is due to her deteriorating relationship with her father. When we get to see Jenny as an adult, we see a strong capable woman who appears to be in a happy marriage. But there's an undercurrent there due secrets she's been keeping. One wonders why Jenny even deals with Aubrey or Kate since they both seem to be millstones around her neck. 

I mostly pitied Aubrey. Her father is long gone and her mother was no help to her at all. Her older sister wants nothing to with her. Aubrey even attaches herself to Kate instantly and even dies her hair the same shade of color in order to look more like her. She even crushes on one of Kate's boyfriends Grif who she thinks she has a special connection with. When we see Aubrey as an adult, married, with three children, you wonder how she ended up in this life that seems to give her nothing. She could have been or did something else, but it seems like she was too afraid to want anything else. She had the most interesting development I thought since finding out about something leads her to realize that she hasn't had a real friendship with either Kate or Jenny like she thought.

I didn't like Kate much. I think that Campbell had a tough road to walk with her, but I saw her mostly as shallow and self-absorbed. We have a lot of people trying to leave Kate and or being infatuated with her and I wondered why. She didn't seem to offer much besides her looks. When we see her as an adult, not much changed there, and she even seems to be more selfish (if possible). Her resentment of Jenny and Aubrey makes zero sense to me though especially after we find out about what went on freshman year. 

We get some other POVs in this one which could have been cut. The new police chief investigating the murder of the woman who jumped who has a surprising connection to her. We also get Kate's husband's POV which made things worse in my opinion too since it was confusing as all get out based on the ending. 

The writing was pretty solid. I thought Campbell did a good job showing the women as young girls and then later. I wish though that we had more information about the times in between. I don't get why the three of them would even speak to each other again based on what went on. The flow started off really great, but towards the end it just jumped back and forth too much between everyone and then we just stutter to the ending.

The setting of the college and the surrounding town was interesting I thought. We also have the setting change to New York and even Jamaica at one point. I think Campbell perfectly captures the goings on at supposed elite colleges. 

The ending though. Eh. I get what Campbell was trying for, but once again it read as false to me based on what came before it. 

So confused about this book. So far back in the college days with Kate, Aubrey, and Jenny. I think it's good that Campbell is taking time to set things up about how decades later one of these girls is going to be attempting to jump from a bridge. But the book can move a wee bit faster. 

A snooty woman named Caroline has moved into her brand new million dollar beach house and spies a hunky beach bum staring at it with longing in his beautiful eyes. She assumes he’s out to rob her. So what does she do? Call the coppers, maybe? Nope. She sleeps with him! And things go terribly awry from there because she is married but it’s sort of, kinda okay because hubs is cheating too.

What is wrong with me that I am drawn to these kinds of books? Please don’t answer that.

Anyhow this book delivers if you’re looking for an unbelievable tale about wealthy jerks with lots of secrets doing terrible things to everyone around them because they can. For me it veered too far into ridiculousness and I truly despised Caroline who was conceited and spoiled and just 100% ugh. I don’t care how beautiful she was supposed to be, I found it very difficult to believe the beach bum (Aiden) who was closer to her daughters age would fall so fast and hard for her when she wasn’t even nice to him. He was weird. I know I was supposed to dislike Caroline so that’s actually a strength of the book because man did I despise her but I also figured out what was going on long before the big reveal and I’m not really good at these guessing games and that is the fault of the book. I will give it points for making me guess for a bit with all of its unreliable narrators and for keeping me hooked until the end because I had to know if I was wrong.

I’ll give it three stars for its fearlessness in using coincidence to get from point A to point B and for using its unbelievable plot twists to its best advantage and also for creating such ridiculous people. I probably wouldn’t read it again but I’m not sorry I stuck it out until the end.

A Stranger on the Beach makes some pretty big promises in the blurb. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite deliver, especially on the claim to keep you guessing. I had most of it figured out from very early on, and the rest fell into place shortly after. Predictability aside, the whole story is just a little too far over the top for my tastes. The sheer number of things that would need to line up and fall into place was just too much, and that includes a convenient hurricane. Convenient for these characters at least. In the end, this one amounted to an eye-rollingly predictable story with unlikable characters and some serious lags in the second half of the book. From that point on, it was just too easy to set aside and too hard to pick back up. 

A special thank you to NetGalley, Edelweiss, Macmillan, and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Caroline Stark is hosting a lavish housewarming party at her new beach house. When her husband, Jason, shows up not only late to the party, but followed by a Russian woman he claims is a business associate, the couple get into a very public and very ugly fight. She knows that Jason is lying and that the woman is really his mistress.

When her marriage falls apart and she is left with an empty bank account, and cancelled credit cards, Caroline has an impulsive fling with a bartender. Aidan also happened to be working her party that night and knows all about her husband problems. What she doesn't know is that Aidan has a history of violence.

As if things couldn't get worse, her college-aged daughter seems to be taking her father's side. Crestfallen, she turns to Aidan for comfort—but that comfort soon turns to revenge. The only problem is that their brief fling has left Aidan with a dangerous obsession with Caroline and her family. Meanwhile, Jason disappears and all eyes are on Caroline. Isn't it always the spouse?

Told from multiple points of view, Campbell confuses her reader (on purpose) by telling the same events from two very different perspectives. The dynamic is also interesting: Caroline is a wealthy, 43-year-old woman who is trying to keep up appearances to launch her career and social standing whereas Aidan is a 27-year-old bartender that served time for manslaughter. Both characters are unlikeable, untrustworthy, and unreliable.

There were a few plot holes that I ultimately struggled with, but I'll partially overlook given Campbell's strong writing and ability to deftly create suspense and tension. She pens some strong characters and used the unreliable narrator as the perfect mechanism to execute her effusive plot. There wasn't the startling revelation that I was hoping for in that I did figure it out, but again, her writing was intricate and compulsive.