This review is from: Clair (Beach Brides Series) (Volume 4) (Paperback)
I like the premise of this series; twelve members of the Romantic Hearts Book Club meet at a Caribbean beach resort and decide before departing to send individual messages out to sea in bottles. There is something about a secret message launched into the ocean that speaks to anticipation, the promise of hope, and the possibility for new connections.
Each book in the series tells how individual book club member's lives change when the bottles with messages they toss into the sea set off life altering chains of events.
In Grace Greene's Clair, three sisters have returned to their childhood home in Emerald Isle, NC where the rose bushes once full of vibrant blooms are now barely recognizable. Mallory, the oldest, on the heels of a divorce, finds solace in work and caring for her youngest sister Darcy, who's been shell shocked by the worst life has to offer. Middle sister Clair's life turned upside down following her book club's resort weekend; she grapples with the sudden loss of love, livelihood, and her crushed dreams for the future. What once seemed solid in Clair's life is suddenly washed away like a sand castle on the beach when the tide comes in. The sting of recent betrayal makes it difficult for Clair to trust again, and her usually rose colored glasses have taken on a more somber hue.
The familiar, comforting rhythms of seaside living begin to have a healing effect upon the sisters. When Gary Prescott shows up on the island, youngest sister Darcy seems to have an instant intuitive connection with the handsome stranger. He later asks Clair what Darcy's issues are; the author describes Darcy as "lost within the geography of her own reality, in her own mind."
What first seems like a chance encounter between Greg, Darcy, and Clair, may prove more an act of design than happenstance. Greg tells Clair, "I look at you and I see a mystery." When Clair finds the note she never expected to see again had been in Greg's possession all along, her world is suddenly uprooted again. When she learns details about what really brought Greg to Emerald Isle, attraction turns to anger, disappointment, and exhaustion. As Greg reaches for her hand, she reels from the emotional impact of all that has happened in such a short time, until she feels his touch and its powerful effect is instantaneous.
The storyline moves quickly as the dialogue between characters flows freely and naturally. The author's descriptions of the North Carolina coastal setting make you feel as if you are there.
I was offered a copy of this book for an honest review...all opinions are my own