Shadows on the Sand...Review

About the book:
She serves him breakfast at her café every morning...but he never seems to notice her.

Carrie Carter’s small café in Seaside, New Jersey, is populated with a motley crew of locals...although Carrie only has eyes for Greg Barnes. He’s recovering from a vicious crime that three years ago took the lives of his wife and children—and from the year he tried to drink his reality away. While her heart does a happy Snoopy dance at the sight of him, he never seems to notice her, to Carrie’s chagrin.

When Carrie’s dishwasher is killed and her young waitress disappears, Greg finds himself drawn into helping Carrie solve the mysteries...and into her life. But when Carrie’s own painful past becomes all to present, her carefully constructed world begins to sink.

Will the fragile relationship she’s built with Greg implode from the weight of the baggage they both carry?

While they've known each other a long time, Greg and Carrie are drawn to each other when Greg begins helping Carrie attempt to figure out mysteries occurring with her staff.  Murder, a mysterious religious cult and twittering senior citizens make for an interesting and entertaining story.  Add Greg's and Carrie's respective pasts and baggage and you have Shadows on the Sand. But, put it all together and it works.  The plot moves along well and I enjoyed watching Greg and Carrie come to terms with their feelings for each other.

The book was a bit heavy on the whole social networking scene.  I don't twitter so I don't follow people and the idea that Seaside community was so interconnected via Twitter was interesting.  Somewhat implausible, but then again, I'm not part of that scene, so I have little understanding about it. 

I did wish for more details/depth about Carrie's relationship with her Mom.  I wanted to know what had happened to her Mom during their separation and what turned her around?  As this is apparently the first in a series, hopefully we will learn more back story as the series progresses.

An entertaining read.  I look forward to more from Gayle and Seaside.

Thanks to First Wildcard and Waterbrook Multnomah Books for the opportunity to review this book.  You can learn more about Gayle Roper here.  You can read the first chapter here.  You can purchase your own copy here.

Read 7/11

* * * *
4/5 Stars

Comments

  1. I had not heard of the book before. It's interesting (also, like you said, a bit hard to believe) that everyone in the Seaside community is inteconnected via Twitter. Overall,it has a very compelling premise. Thanks for the review!

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  2. This one is in my stack and your review makes me eager to read it.

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