TLC Book Tour: Same Beach, Next Year

Synopsis taken from Amazon:

New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank returns to her magical Lowcountry of South Carolina in this bewitching story of marriage, love, family, and friendship that is infused with her warm and engaging earthy humor and generous heart.

One enchanted summer, two couples begin a friendship that will last more than twenty years and transform their lives.

A chance meeting on the Isle of Palms, one of Charleston’s most stunning barrier islands, brings former sweethearts, Adam Stanley and Eve Landers together again. Their respective spouses, Eliza and Carl, fight sparks of jealousy flaring from their imagined rekindling of old flames. As Adam and Eve get caught up on their lives, their partners strike up a deep friendship—and flirt with an unexpected attraction—of their own.

Year after year, Adam, Eliza, Eve, and Carl eagerly await their reunion at Wild Dunes, a condominium complex at the island’s tip end, where they grow closer with each passing day, building a friendship that will withstand financial catastrophe, family tragedy, and devastating heartbreak. The devotion and love they share will help them weather the vagaries of time and enrich their lives as circumstances change, their children grow up and leave home, and their twilight years approach.

Bursting with the intoxicating richness of Dorothea Benton Frank’s beloved Lowcountry—the sultry sunshine, cool ocean breezes, icy cocktails, and starry velvet skies—Same Beach, Next Year is a dazzling celebration of the infrangible power of friendship, the enduring promise of summer, and the indelible bonds of love.

My Thoughts:

I've read several books by Dorothea Benton Frank.  This is my favorite of the past three I've read, but still doesn't live up to my love of her early novels.  It seems like other reviewers either love this one, or hate it.

I'm definitely more on the love end of the spectrum.  Here are things I liked about Same Beach, Next Year:

1. the Southern setting - I love a novel set in the low country and this is something Frank does well.  From the sweet tea to the weather, this story transported me to the south.

2.  the time frame of this novel stretches over the decades and we can see characters grow and change. I love novels that stretch over time. Eliza and Adam and Carl and Eve's friendship begins one summer with a chance encounter and each summer the couples reconnect.  

3.  the focus of this novel is the friendship and how it grew and changed. There weren't any big surprising plot twists or suspense, but I found myself returning to this book because of the women in the novel. From Eliza's initial wariness and jealousy about Eve to her eventual warming and true friendship with the woman who her husband loved as a teenager, I felt like I could relate to her and her struggles and challenges in her life.

This novel practically screams "summer" and "beach."  Fans of DBF should give Same Beach, Next Year a chance and readers not yet familiar with her work, should check out this fantastic author of Southern women's fiction.

Thanks to TLC Book Tours for providing a copy of this book for my review.  All opinions expressed are, as always, my own.

For more information, visit the HarperCollins website.