Thursday 8 October 2015

Book Review - Meet Me on the Beach by Hilary Boyd

Amazon UK
Title: Meet Me on the Beach
Author: Hilary Boyd
Format reviewed: Ebook
Source: Netgalley
Publisher: Quercus
Publication Date: 8th October 2015
Rating: 4.5 Stars


Where do you run when your heart's breaking all the rules?

When pillar-of-the-community Harry Stewart dies of a sudden heart attack, the whole village is devastated - except for his wife Karen, the only one who really knew the abusive alcoholic Harry had become.

Suddenly freed from this oppressive marriage, Karen is nonetheless wracked with guilt about the circumstances of her husband's death, and sees the presence of her spoiled step-daughter, Sophie, as a suitable purgatory. Her only comfort in her grief and isolation is William, the sympathetic local vicar.

As Karen shares her secret, William's listening ear soon becomes a shoulder to cry on, and before long Karen realises she is falling in love. But William has a wife and teenage daughter, not to mention a parish to watch over - and be watched by.

As the pressure becomes too much to bear, Karen flees to the seaside and to Mike Best's beach café. But when William suddenly turns up again in her life, can they persuade each other to take one final leap of faith together?

Meet Me on the Beach is a poignant, emotional book, of a love between two older people, Karen and William, despite a large amount of obstacles in their way. I was never sure if they would get it together or not, or at times if I wanted them to. For a large amount of the book I was convinced Karen may yet end up with someone else. 

Karen's husband Harry, was an alcoholic and for the last few years of their marriage it had been fairly unhappy, with Harry essentially controlling Karen. Karen therefore feels very guilty, but free, when Harry suddenly dies. 

She inherits the marital home, but her step-daughter, Sophie, who has never seen eye to eye with Karen isn't happy. During the story there is an up and down relationship between the two ladies, and it was with some pleasure that we see Sophie grow up. 

Karen becomes close to local vicar William, until she starts seeing him in a different light. William being a man of god, as well as married with a teenage daughter, has some very tough decisions to make. 

As ever Hilary Boyd, has portrayed a wonderful story, amongst people who that bit older than your typical book main characters, which will definitely appeal to the more mature readers amongst you, as well as anyone who is happy to just read a very good story regardless of age. 

There are some tough topics dealt with in Meet Me on the Beach, all touched on in a sensitive manner, not huge amounts of depth, but enough to get a  good idea about how the characters are feeling about their issues. 

I really enjoyed reading Meet Me on the Beach, and meeting Karen and William, seeing how their story develops. Someone slightly more soft hearted than me would have probably been in tears for parts of this book, as it does tug on some heart strings. 

Thank you to Quercus and Netgalley for this review copy. This is my honest review. 

Happy Publication day to Hilary Boyd. Meet Me on the Beach is out in paperback today. 

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