Author:       Cathy Holton

Publisher:    Ballantine Books

ISBN:          978-0-345-50599-6

Website:      http://www.cathyholton.com/

Type:         Fiction

Pages:        406 Hardcover

Purchase:    $16.50 @ Amazon.com (HERE)

The Story

“A reunion between four friends becomes a cathartic journey into the past in Cathy Holton’s luminous new novel. Mel, Sara, Annie, and Lola have traveled distinct and diverse paths since the early 1980s and their years together at a small Southern liberal arts college. Mel, a mystery writer living in New York, contends with the aftermath of two failed marriages and a stalled writing career. Sara, an Atlanta attorney, struggles with guilt over her son’s illness and her own slowly unraveling marriage. Annie, a successful Nashville businesswoman married to her childhood sweetheart, can’t seem to leave the regrets of her youth behind her. And Lola, sweet-tempered and absent-minded, whiles away her hours and her husband’s money, on little pills that keep her happy.

Now the friends, all in their forties, converge on Lola’s idyllic North Carolina beach house in an attempt to relive the carefree days of their college years.  But as the week wears on, and each woman’s hidden story is gradually revealed, they find they must inevitably confront their shared past; a failed love affair, a discarded suitor, a betrayal, and a secret that threatens to change their bond, and their lives, forever.”

(Above excerpt is from the front cover of The Beach Trip).

The Review

For the Summer Reading Series hosted by Books on the Brain, I was fortunate enough to get a copy of Beach Trip to lose myself on sandy beaches drinking Margonas with girlfriends.  The four main characters of this story are vastly different, however they were brought together as college roommates.  Years later, they scheduled a reunion at Lola’s beach house on an island off the coast of North Carolina.  There was one prior reunion in England, however only 3 of the ladies attended.  This would be the first time in 20 years that all four of them reunited.

Mel is the sassy, sexy, wild, and free writer who devours men.  Coming to the reunion after two failed marriages, she looks for good times with men wherever she goes.  Lola is the quiet, subdued “kept” wife of a rich control freak and daughter of a dominant mother.   However, Lola is as nice as they come, generous as the day is long and everybody loves her!  Sara is the lawyer turned mom with two children and a solid marriage.  She is well rounded and level-headed.  Annie is the uptight clean freak who has stifled her inner goddess and sexual being.  After being married to her college boyfriend, she often takes him for granted.

After the women arrive, they have a week to get caught up on each others’ lives and find their way back to each other.  There are a couple of strong plot twists in the story that I shall avoid discussing as these are definite “spoilers,” but let’s just say that it were these plot twists that I enjoyed most about the book.

Holton displays a solid writing style and you do establish a connection to the characters.  Her writing is greatly descriptive which enables the reader to feel present in the story.  She has created enough depth and richness for the readers to enjoy this book as the perfect summer read.  The downside for me, however, is that the pace of the book is slower than I like in a novel.  I found myself wanting to speed up the pace of the story and not relax on the beach with the ladies anymore.  Maybe this book would have been a better read on the sand?

On Sher’s “Out of Ten Scale:”

I am looking forward to the discussion that we are planning on having with this book.  I’ve never been part of a “group read” before and this should be a ton of fun!  I’m curious to see who the other readers related to the most.  

The rating that I am going to give this book for genre:Fiction is a 7.5 OUT OF 10. 

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