I got an uncorrected advance reader copy at Bouchercon this year, but it was from a freebie table, meaning there is zero chance of bias.

 

Up front this is definitely an uncorrected ARC and I sincerely hope that someone not only corrects the grammatical and punctuational errors, but the huge, gaping plot error.

 

Briefly as possible:  Lady Dunbridge's friend's husband is murdered.  Lady D and friend find a hidden safe deposit box key in a safe, and checking the box they find thousand of dollars in cash, which they take out and hide.  At the denouement it is revealed that he had this cash with him when he died, that the murderer took it after shooting him.  Which would make it impossible for Lady D and friend to find it in his safe deposit box afterward. I mean, I'm pretty sure the murderer didn't kill him, take his money, and then return it to the victim's safe deposit box for the two women to find.

(spoiler show)

 

Those issues aside, it's not a bad read.  Lady Dunbridge is an interesting mix of traditionalist and modernist, in much the same way I'd bet a lot of women were at the turn of the century, just before WWI.  Her morality has left the Victorian Age behind, but her pragmatism has her actively searching for a new husband who can maintain her in the lifestyle befitting her Countess title.  That she decides to do that in America is a slight twist on an old theme. 

 

Some of the secondary characters are all written to be interesting in their own right, with Lady D's ladies maid being a downright lady of mystery with some mad and disconcerting skills.  Others are more cardboard prop-ish; either they have more development planned in future books (?) or they weren't meant to be more than props.

 

There's no romance, although the Countess is plenty interested, and there's heavy foreshadowing of mysterious men and sadly, a possible love triangle.   Nothing specific, just inferences that can be made from inescapable tropes.

 

The plot, other than the train-sized hole running through the end of it, was pretty interesting.  In a very weird coincidence, the book centered on horse-racing; the Belmont Stakes, specifically.  (I was completely unaware of this when I picked it up to read.)  It was an interesting story, and I loved the tie in with Doyle's Silver Blaze (which, towards the end of the book became Silver Blade, something I really hope they catch before publication).   It could have been a tighter story - it did drag a bit in the middle - but overall, it held my attention.

 

I'd probably read another one if it comes across my radar; there's enough here to show promise.

 

I'll use this book for my Melbourne Cup Day Festive Task, since it's been handed to me.  (Read a book about horses or a horse on the cover.)

Christmas at Whisper Beach: A Whisper Be...

I received an arc courtesy of the publisher. I was in the mood for a Christmas story, so when I was offered a copy by the publisher for review, I decided to try it.  I did not realise it was part of a series, until I was ready to read the book. However, I had no trouble following the story.

Christmas at Whisper Beach is a continuation of Van and Joe’s romance. Van is settling in to her new life with Joe but she has issues, which were a product of her past she needed to overcome. Issues, which had the potential to derail the life she has built with Joe. Thank goodness, for Joe’s family who opened their hearts and home to her. This act of kindness and acceptance helped in her journey towards healing.

Joe’s love for Van shined through the pages of the story.  His actions proved how much he cared for her. He had big plans for her for the Christmas However these plans would be tested when he took in three children, whose mom became ill, for the Christmas holidays.

I enjoyed the camaraderie Joe shared with his family. I loved how they included Van and made her feel liked she belonged.  I loved that family and Christmas traditions were the highlight of the story. It brought back childhood memories of Christmas.

The ending was a huge disappointment.  Not only was it abrupt, but it left me with many questions.

Conclusion and Recommendation

Overall, an ok read. I will be picking up a copy of the first book in the series so I can learn how Joe and Vans’ story began. Looking for a heart-warming Christmas story, Christmas at Whisper Beach will give you all the feels of Christmas.

Whisper Beach - Shelley Noble Please note that I gave this book no stars. I had to round up on Goodreads since it doesn't allow you to not star a book.

This is a straight up terrible book showing that no matter what a man does, it's the woman's fault for not being understanding. Oh and there's a lesson in there somewhere that even if you are smart and successful, you need to give up what makes you happy in order to make a guy you haven't seen in 12 years happy because apparently men never relocate for women, ever. It's a freaking law in romance novel land and I am tired of it.

"Whisper Beach" revolves around several characters, but for most of the book we get differing third person points of view from Vanessa Moran (Van) and Joe, Van's old boyfriend.

Van returns to Whisper Beach to attend her cousin Gig's husband's funeral. Van has not been home for 12 years, after breaking up with Joe, falling pregnant, and then being thrown out by her father. Borrowing money from her cousin Gigi, Van goes to Manhattan and after suffering a miscarriage that leaves her unable to have any more children (because of course she did, she's terrible for having pre-marital sex so therefore she can no longer have kids) she stays away from Whisper Beach.

I at times felt sorry for and than just sick of Van. I went a good 50 percent of the book loathing her character after we get to read her thoughts concerning one of her former friend's named Dana who she thought was partly responsible for getting abused by her boyfriend. Reasons why were because she would never put up with that, and Dana could just leave.

I don't know what Ms. Noble was thinking, but to have a plot point dealing with domestic violence and having characters in the book acting and saying that it is the abused woman's fault several times left a bad taste in my mouth. Let's not forget that the same character still wasn't charged for abusing Dana, getting into fights with other people, and straight up stalking and harassment. And the other townspeople knew about it and still kept talking to this piece of crap. There could and should have been some commentary about the fact the guy was a police officer and the fact that the town and police force should be held accountable for even letting the guy sashay around with him having access to firearms.

Van was bullied by her long-term friends Suze and Dorie into staying though she didn't want to and was constantly told by them and other people, Joe and her uncle Nate how to feel about things that she experienced because of her alcoholic father. I really wanted her to just peace the hell out of the town at the end of the book and be done with everyone.

I couldn't stand the character of Joe. Sitting around pining after Van for 12 years though it is pointed out by him and everyone he knew where she was because you know the internet. Van at this point is a successful businesswoman so if he really did want to clear things up with her and to check on her he could have. I hate storylines that do this mess where the male heroine is just some passive guy until the heroine shows back up and then she must change her life up and down because he decides that she needs to give them a chance.

I hate, hate, hate romance books that keep doing this. Fine if you want to center a romance novel around a heroine returning back to her hometown (I have read enough of them) quit making them seen as standoffish and wrong for daring to accomplish their dreams and be successful. And you know what else would be great, quit making them sterile because of things they did in their youth. It's a fucking insult. What really peeved me about this whole thing was that Van even mentions not being that too into kids anyway, but this is glossed over because Joe has always wanted a huge family, his family after she sees them starts talking about grandkids (super subtle) and then his mother discusses adoption with Joe because Van can't have kids. I mean...my God, I hate reading about other people discussing another character's womb. Just knock it off.

So I hated every character in this book except for Dana. The character of Dana seemed to be the only character that saw people and circumstances clearly. I felt for her, since she feels like she has no other options besides staying with her abusive boyfriend. Since the whole town talks shit about her behind her back and in front of her face I can see why she would feel that way.

The character of Dorie irked the living life out of me. She is older than the other characters by at least 30 years and is seen as a surrogate mom by Van and her friends. Dorie feels the need to meddle and tell Van how lacking her life is all of the time. This is after we realize that Dorie's husband is a philanderer and also sexually harassed the waitresses at the restaurant they run. And Dorie goes to say her husband is still better than other husbands. And she knows about his wandering eye, but hey, he always comes back to her, so winning? All Dorie does is act like she knows best and tells Van needs to just be with Joe, because you know when one is 17 years old you should totally settle down with a guy who you broke up with after he was flirting with a friend and then you totally saw him having sex with someone in his truck.

Oh did I forget to mention that? There's another side plot about who Joe was with and how that caused Van to just run off and have sex with someone and how she was a whore just like her mother. God. I just can't. I am going to need to stop soon. I just feel really ticked off right now. This is not a romance book. I don't know what this is besides a really long book that showed how every man is to be treated with kid gloves, but every woman is wrong. Always.

There is some nonsense with the characters trying to help Dorie save her restaurant because her craptastic husband ran off with their money and has bankrupted them. Yeah, this is the same woman anyone listens to, about anything. And of course Van is once again told to get over what her father did to her and her mother because he was angry that her mother trapped him by getting pregnant with her and he was in love with someone else the whole time. By the way, we don't really get to see Van's father speak much. Instead two other characters stand up for his selfish ass and I wish Van would have cursed them all out. I don't care about how angry you feel because you felt trapped and your dreams got deferred, you still took it out on your wife and kid. Having to read paragraphs about what a bad person Van's mother was made me ill. I doubt she enjoyed being married to a man who made her life a living hell and based on what was said, didn't even work so she was responsible for everything.

The writing just pissed me off (as you can see), if you are going to write books about domestic violence, alcoholism, etc. it would behoove people to actually do research on it. To have characters act like people should just forgive and forget and or hey, kind of your fault you get hit is just shocking to read in a contemporary romance book.

The flow was terrible from beginning to end. The book was repetitive. You had characters saying the same things to each other and repeating things we just learned to other characters repeatedly.

The setting of Whisper Beach is supposed to be in New Jersey somewhere. Besides people saying beach a lot and the characters going to the beach here and there, the whole place felt deserted. You just kept reading about the same people over and over. I kept wondering where the heck the tourists were.

The ending was very abrupt. At least you don't get a happily ever after spelled out for everyone. But you can put bits and pieces together and realize that Van is going to be visiting Whisper Beach all of the time and making sure that she is there in order to give being a couple with Joe a try.

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Sarah Hargreave grew up in the foster system, in and out of foster homes. She didn’t find her forever home until she aged out of the system and met a wonderful man who ran a clock repair shop. Sarah has brought Leila into her home and doesn’t want her to go through what she did so she starts the adoption process. The biological mother has signed off her parental rights and Sarah is just waiting for the adoption to be finalized. Then the bio mom changes her mind and the court grants her visitation. This is not the first time this has happened and Sarah knows it will be a huge step back in Leila’s progress.

Ilona Cartwright also grew up in the foster system but she was adopted by a well to do family. She and Sarah were just like sisters and it was so hard for them to say good-bye. They promised to stay in touch but Ilona “Nonie” didn’t write to Sarah and Sarah was devastated. Ilona did go to law school and she does works fighting for the rights of children. Can Sarah and Nonie get together to provide Leila a forever home?

What a moving story! A picture of the foster system and the adoption process. They do go to great lengths to keep families together but there are times that the child needs a new family. There are a few dark and scary moments but they show us both sides of these issues.

I found Sarah so interesting. Her life was in her hands and she met a man with a huge heart and no agenda or shifty plans. She made the decision to stay with him and he became like a father/grandfather to her. It took a long time to trust him and she still has huge trust issues. She doesn’t let anyone get to close to her or Leila because things could fall apart at any time. She does have “friends” and a man that would like to be more than “friends”, but she has put up huge walls to protect herself and her heart.

These characters are natural and believable. This story becomes a huge story of friendship and self growth. Building relationships, trust, and trying to forgive. Superb writing!

The story is also set in an amazing place. Near the beach, there are several shops, most more touristy than Clocks by the Sea. The funny thing is Sarah can’t swim and hates the water. The beach is a great meeting place and she is fine planting herself in a chair under an umbrella while Leila builds sand castles.

I really loved this book. It was a wonderful escape. The cover looks like is definitely belongs on my blog. If you need a beach read this summer this is a perfect one, to sit back, put your toes in the sand and enjoy! My definition of Paradise!

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Sarah Hargreave grew up in the foster system, in and out of foster homes. She didn’t find her forever home until she aged out of the system and met a wonderful man who ran a clock repair shop. Sarah has brought Leila into her home and doesn’t want her to go through what she did so she starts the adoption process. The biological mother has signed off her parental rights and Sarah is just waiting for the adoption to be finalized. Then the bio mom changes her mind and the court grants her visitation. This is not the first time this has happened and Sarah knows it will be a huge step back in Leila’s progress.

Ilona Cartwright also grew up in the foster system but she was adopted by a well to do family. She and Sarah were just like sisters and it was so hard for them to say good-bye. They promised to stay in touch but Ilona “Nonie” didn’t write to Sarah and Sarah was devastated. Ilona did go to law school and she does works fighting for the rights of children. Can Sarah and Nonie get together to provide Leila a forever home?

What a moving story! A picture of the foster system and the adoption process. They do go to great lengths to keep families together but there are times that the child needs a new family. There are a few dark and scary moments but they show us both sides of these issues.

I found Sarah so interesting. Her life was in her hands and she met a man with a huge heart and no agenda or shifty plans. She made the decision to stay with him and he became like a father/grandfather to her. It took a long time to trust him and she still has huge trust issues. She doesn’t let anyone get to close to her or Leila because things could fall apart at any time. She does have “friends” and a man that would like to be more than “friends”, but she has put up huge walls to protect herself and her heart.

These characters are natural and believable. This story becomes a huge story of friendship and self growth. Building relationships, trust, and trying to forgive. Superb writing!

The story is also set in an amazing place. Near the beach, there are several shops, most more touristy than Clocks by the Sea. The funny thing is Sarah can’t swim and hates the water. The beach is a great meeting place and she is fine planting herself in a chair under an umbrella while Leila builds sand castles.

I really loved this book. It was a wonderful escape. The cover looks like is definitely belongs on my blog. If you need a beach read this summer this is a perfect one, to sit back, put your toes in the sand and enjoy! My definition of Paradise!