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Beachcombing

by Maggie Dana (Goodreads Author)

3.85 of 5 stars 3.85 · rating details · 26 ratings · 7 reviews

Sometimes old flames burn the brightest
Funny, sophisticated, and wise,this heartfelt bookis a coming-of-middle-age story about girlfriends when you are no longer a girl, growing up when you are already grown, and the price you are willing to pay for love. Jillian Hunter treasures her independence. She has raised two sons by herself, launched a small business, and restored...more

Paperback, 352 pages

Published July 9th 2010 by Macmillan New Writing (first published June 5th 2009)

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Jun 02, 2009 Carole rated it 5 of 5 stars

Synopsis (from Amazon):
Jillian Hunter treasures her independence. She's raised two sons by herself, launched a small business, and restored a tumbledown beach cottage in Connecticut. But when a trip to London reunites her with Colin an old flame she hasn't seen in 35 years, Jill falls for him all over again. Love makes Jill reckless. This could be her chance for a new beginning. But Colin isn't quite the boy she remembers..........

My Thoughts:

If I could pick my next door neighbour it would be Ji...more

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Jun 25, 2010 Annie rated it 4 of 5 stars

This one really appealed to me when I saw it on the Romantic Novel of the Year longlist - lovely summery cover, love story, heroine in her 50s... It's not a bad read at all, good central character, well drawn friendships, nice tingly love story of older lady re-finding first love. It starts a bit all over the place but builds into a good story with some real humour and sadness, and it struck several chords around love in middle age and living on your own. And she has a wonderful character cat ca...more

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Jan 08, 2012 Margaret rated it 2 of 5 stars

Beachcombing is the story of Jill who is fifty-two, divorced and living alone in a beach cottage in Connecticut. On a visit to her friend, Sophie in England where they grew up, she meets Colin, a boyfriend from their teenage years. From the moment she fell down the stairs and fainted at his feet I could see what was coming.[return][return]Of course, Jill falls in love with Colin, who thirty-five years later is not the boy she thought he was. She thinks he� s going to marry her and come to live w...more Beachcombing is the story of Jill who is fifty-two, divorced and living alone in a beach cottage in Connecticut. On a visit to her friend, Sophie in England where they grew up, she meets Colin, a boyfriend from their teenage years. From the moment she fell down the stairs and fainted at his feet I could see what was coming.[return][return]Of course, Jill falls in love with Colin, who thirty-five years later is not the boy she thought he was. She thinks he� s going to marry her and come to live with her leaving his partner, Shelby, and the prosperous little hotel they run in the Cotswolds. And then, everything goes wrong! She has to work her way through heartbreak, work and financial problems, and innumerable car problems. At times she had fallen out with both of her best friends. The only problem free relationships she has are those with her two grown up sons.[return][return]Jill has a phobia about middle aged men leaving their wives for younger women and that colours her relationships so much so that she cannot see what is so obvious to everyone else. Despite having friends she is lonely and mistakes lust for love. I began to despair that she would ever come to her senses. I got to the point where I wondered what could possibly go wrong next and even at the end when things seem about to get better I wasn� t convinced they would.[return][return]The things I liked about Beachcombing were the way the characters are delineated (Jill is actually an amalgamation of a few women I� ve known) and the descriptions of the locations:[return][return]But I� d have liked it more if it wasn� t written in the first person present tense. It� s a personal thing - I� m never too keen on that. Instead of adding to the drama I found that the continual crises Jill encountered actually lessened their impact; once one had passed it had gone, in a series of � nows� . I had the same problem reading The Time Traveler� s Wife.[return][return]The back cover describes Beachcombing as[return][return] & a coming-of-middle-age story about girl friends when you� re no longer a girl, and growing up when you� re already grown up, and the price you� re willing to pay for the love of your life.[return][return]I think that is a good summary. I wondered what the title - Beachcombing - implies. It occurred to me that the sea casts up a lot of rubbish on the beach and maybe that symbolises the rubbish that came into Jill� s life. It can also leave treasures. Jill� s problem was that she had difficulty in distinguishing the rubbish from the treasures.(less)

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Sep 16, 2009 Leah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-2009, for-review

Beachcombing is Maggie Dana’s debut novel and tells the story of Jillian Hunter, a fiercely independent mother who has raised two children, fixed up her small house and started her own business in Conneticut. However when she returns to London she meets up with her old boyfriend Colin whom she hasn’t seen for thirty-five years and she falls for him all over again. After thirty-five years apart, can they make it work?

I was pleasantly surprised to find that I really enjoyed Beachcombing. When Magg...more Beachcombing is Maggie Dana’s debut novel and tells the story of Jillian Hunter, a fiercely independent mother who has raised two children, fixed up her small house and started her own business in Conneticut. However when she returns to London she meets up with her old boyfriend Colin whom she hasn’t seen for thirty-five years and she falls for him all over again. After thirty-five years apart, can they make it work?

I was pleasantly surprised to find that I really enjoyed Beachcombing. When Maggie Dana offered me the chance to read it she told me her heroine, Jill, wasn’t as young as most chick lit characters (she’s 53!) but that didn’t really make a difference as far as I was concerned. It was written so well you could forget Jill is supposed to be 53!

Beachcombing is told in the first person which helps it flow enormously. I started reading it yesterday and after reading for an hour or so I was really into the book. The chapters just slip by – that’s how well written it was. The chapters were also short-ish which made it all the easier to read.

Jill was really well written by Maggie and I enjoyed her narrative. She came across fiercely independent but when she saw Colin again she became reckless. She ignored advice from her friends, she risked losing everything and yet I still enjoyed her character. I could totally understand that she felt this was her chance, that Colin was The One. Even with everything that happened I found myself rooting for Jill, wanting her to overcome her difficulties.

I have to admit I couldn’t stand Colin. Not at all! However, bar Colin, I pretty much loved all of Jill’s friends. Lizzie, Jill’s best friend in Conneticut, was great; Harriet, Anna and Beatrice, Sophie and Claudia in London, Tom Grainger, Jill’s next-door-neighbour. All well-written and all close-knit to Jill. They were like a big family and I loved that feel to the novel. Not forgetting Jill’s cat Zachary and her two sons, Jordan and Alistair who pop into the novel from time-to-time.

I also liked that the novel alternated between Conneticut and London, giving it a trans-atlantic theme.

I was also very surprised at the family secret of Jill’s we learnt of during the novel, it definitely caught me off guard and I didn’t see it coming.

Overall it was a really enjoyable and really well written debut. I loved the descriptions of the beach where Jill lived in Conneticut, I loved the easiness of the writing – good writing always makes a book so much easier to read.

Rating: 5/5

I’d like to thank Maggie and her publishers, PAN, for sending me a copy of the novel to review.(less)

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May 01, 2012 Sarah Sammis rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: pc, read-in-2011, exwishlist

Beachcombing by Maggie Dana Maggine Dana is a mature romance that spans both sides of the pond and about forty decades. The main character, Jill, is not the typical twenty or thirty-something woman with everything she could dream for except for a good man. Instead, Jill is in her mid to late fifties and is established in her life and career.

Jill grew up in England but made a life for herself and her two sons on a beach in Connecticut. After years of being disconnected from her childhood friends...more

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Mar 23, 2011 Susan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Yawn...

Thank heavens I grabbed this from the library and did not spend money on it. Basically it's chic lit aimed at a slightly older reader. Can love happen when you are a bit older?

It did the job of filling a rainy afternoon, but I would not recommend this to anyone looking for a book with substance, or even a likable plot.

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Jun 06, 2013 Liana Qissy Cat rated it 3 of 5 stars

Predictable storyline. But all in all,it wasnt that bad. :)

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Apr 23, 2013 Bkepub added it

Shelves: contemporary, fiction, general, romance, women, chick-lit

Feb 25, 2013 June McCullough marked it as to-read

Feb 14, 2013 Michael Murphy marked it as to-read

Mar 07, 2013 Hilary Clare rated it 2 of 5 stars

Jan 17, 2013 Mary marked it as to-read

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Feb 25, 2013 Nichola rated it 3 of 5 stars

Sep 17, 2012 Gypsyinpearls marked it as to-read

Sep 15, 2012 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out marked it as to-read

Jul 31, 2012 Amber rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-in-2012

Jun 09, 2012 Therese Casey rated it 5 of 5 stars

May 24, 2012 Anne Treasure rated it 5 of 5 stars

Apr 25, 2012 Kerry Johnson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jan 08, 2012 Debbie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Dec 26, 2011 Super-E-Books E-Books added it

Dec 16, 2011 Sarah Bergeron rated it 3 of 5 stars

Dec 07, 2011 Elizabeth marked it as to-read

Nov 30, 2011 Arielle rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: real-life, written-this-century, chick-lit

Nov 19, 2011 Vika added it

Sep 07, 2011 Laura marked it as to-read

Sep 07, 2011 Kellie Demarsh marked it as to-read

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