Thank you Lisa for inviting me to read Beach Trip for the TLC book tour this month.
Beach Trip is the third novel written by Cathy Holton. She lives in Tennessee with her husband and three children, in a house that has both electricity and running water but, alas, no magical phone to summon an English butler. (source: website)
This is a fun entertaining book for summer. A story of four women who went to college together come together 20 years after graduation for a beach trip.
We travel back and forth in time as we learn about these women. Mel is a wealthy, successful writer and has never been married. She has a tough edge to her personality. Sara is an attorney by day and seems to be consumed with guilt. Annie has a past that she can’t seem to move forward from. And Lola is a traditional southern mother to a daughter struggling with adulthood.
Beach Trip is the third novel written by Cathy Holton. She lives in Tennessee with her husband and three children, in a house that has both electricity and running water but, alas, no magical phone to summon an English butler. (source: website)
This is a fun entertaining book for summer. A story of four women who went to college together come together 20 years after graduation for a beach trip.
We travel back and forth in time as we learn about these women. Mel is a wealthy, successful writer and has never been married. She has a tough edge to her personality. Sara is an attorney by day and seems to be consumed with guilt. Annie has a past that she can’t seem to move forward from. And Lola is a traditional southern mother to a daughter struggling with adulthood.
The women spend days together talking about past events and reconnecting with the present. I wasn’t sure how this book was going to end, there wasn’t a plot thickening moment in the book but the ending is comes out of no where – kudos to the author! You walk away knowing the women have strong personalities and character. They will stay connected for years to come. This is a fun beach read, a good choice for our Summer Reading Series.
Have you read this book? If yes (or when you do) here are some questions for you:
- What did you think about the ending and Lola’s decision?
- Do you keep in touch with friends from the past? Have you ever attended a class reunion? Any surprises worth sharing?
- What did you think about the ending and Lola’s decision?
- Do you keep in touch with friends from the past? Have you ever attended a class reunion? Any surprises worth sharing?
Type: Fiction, 432 pages, Trade paperback
Synopsis:
Break out the tissues, sunblock and margarita mix as four old friends reunite after 23 years for a beach party in Holton's feast of Southern friendship (after The Secret Lives of the Kudzu Debutantes). Mel, Sara, Annie and Lola head out to Wild Dunes, a beachfront palace owned by Lola's super-rich husband on exclusive Whale Head Island in North Carolina's Outer Banks. Spacy Lola is miserably married and leans heavily on medication to deal with her husband's manipulations. Obsessive-compulsive Annie still broods over a college fling with a married professor even though she's got a great husband. Social worker Sara still envies glamorous Mel, a witty crime novelist (I'll Sleep When You're Dead is her latest) living in New York who's unlucky in marriage. At 45, each stands at a familiar crossroads covered by many novels of the midlife-empowerment genre, but Holton refreshes the action with winning humor, especially with Mel, whose take-no-prisoners attitude inspires everyone to embrace their present and let the past go. (May)
Reviews:
BN.COM review: Cathy Holton fans who are expecting yet another romp with kudzu debutantes are in for a surprise. While the four women who reunite after 23 years are bright and witty, they replace their kudzu predecessors' Machiavellian scheming with true heart and reflection. Holton offers more to fans of classics as she writes of college days studying literature and offers more to other writers as she recounts book tours and meeting with editors. Her women offer depth and honesty. They think, they examine their marriages, their parents and their empty nests. This novel is not one to get lost amongst the sand filled towels and beach buckets. It is a keeper.