From the Bookshelf of Q&A with Josh Lanyon…

Stranger on the Shore

Josh Lanyon

Start date: May 1, 2022

Finish date: May 31, 2022

Discussion: Book of the Month Club

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Book of the Month Club

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What Members Thought

Feb 09, 2014 Leanne rated it really liked it

Shelves: mm, romance, mystery, hurt-comfort, autobuy-author, enemies-to-lovers, slow-burn, best-of-2014

3.5 stars

This was great. It's Lanyon, what can I say? Lovely slow burn, enemies-to-lovers style romance and nice little mystery all wrapped up in some assured, wonderfully descriptive writing. (view spoiler) That being said, I devoured this in one go, something I haven't felt in ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Apr 30, 2014 JSidelinger rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

Publisher Description:
Twenty years ago, little Brian Arlington was kidnapped from his family's Long Island estate and was never seen again. The trail went cold, but investigative journalist Griff Hadley has always thought there was more to the story—much more. When the Arlingtons' patriarch invites him to stay at their estate to research his true crime book, Griff can't say no. It's the story of a lifetime.

But not everyone is happy about Griff's presence. Relatives and staff alike regard him co ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Apr 11, 2014 Lady*M rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery, m-m-romance, contemporary

4.5 stars

Stranger on the Shore has a flavor of cosy mystery - it centers around the group of closely connected characters in a fairly isolated setting. Throw away the cell phones, laptops and flat screen TVs and the story gets that timeless aura of Christie's stories with all the diffused sunlight that permeates the pages and nostalgic soundtrack of old music and words in the background.

Griff is a perfect character to lead the reader through the setting with his mixture of awe, incredulity and 4.5 stars

Stranger on the Shore has a flavor of cosy mystery - it centers around the group of closely connected characters in a fairly isolated setting. Throw away the cell phones, laptops and flat screen TVs and the story gets that timeless aura of Christie's stories with all the diffused sunlight that permeates the pages and nostalgic soundtrack of old music and words in the background.

Griff is a perfect character to lead the reader through the setting with his mixture of awe, incredulity and bias towards the 'old money', his honesty and determination. Having being hired by Jarrett, the patter familias of Arlingtons, to write a book about the kidnapping of his grandson, Griff meets with a lot of resistance but non as great as that of Pierce Mather, the family lawyer and friend. Griff's honesty is a great foil for Pierce's mistrust and cynicism. The sparks fly, as they say, but don't diminish whodunit at all. I liked how the progression of their attraction was subtly laid out (for example, through Griff's initial dislike of Pierce's aftershave to his later enjoyment in it). I liked how Griff gave as good as he got. The author does well in describing his confusion, but also his courage. I liked Griff a lot and Griff and Pierce together more.

The romance, though, is in the background of the mystery. While part of the mystery was easy to guess half way through the novel, it kept me glued to the pages because I wondered how it would play out. Maybe it has been too long since Lanyon released a novel, because I worried the reveal would be constructed and unnatural. I shouldn't have. The heavy forshadowing proved to be smart foreshadowing and I was satisfied how Lanyon explained what happened to Brian. Still, it would have been better if the realization came later in the novel (which is why this is 4.5 instead 5 star read). I especially liked how characters were presented to us, how they became complex throughout the novel and could make me feel for them even when they were being obnoxious.

All in all, this was the most pleasurable experience for mystery and romance fans both. I'm glad that some things never change - you can always count on Lanyon. ...more

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Apr 19, 2014 Cerulean rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: lylbtb-review

4.75 stars

The world the extremely rich Arlingtons live in is a far cry from Griff’s, yet he ends up quickly developing an easy rapport with the likeable grandfather of Brian. The same can’t be said when it comes to the family’s ruthless lawyer, Pierce Mather. As Griff gets drawn into the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Brian, he also finds himself drawn to the surprisingly charismatic man. Sure, he was a bit of a jerk at first, but as events throw them together, Griff discovers that the 4.75 stars

The world the extremely rich Arlingtons live in is a far cry from Griff’s, yet he ends up quickly developing an easy rapport with the likeable grandfather of Brian. The same can’t be said when it comes to the family’s ruthless lawyer, Pierce Mather. As Griff gets drawn into the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Brian, he also finds himself drawn to the surprisingly charismatic man. Sure, he was a bit of a jerk at first, but as events throw them together, Griff discovers that there’s a lot more to Pierce than just his good looks and cynical attitude. In fact, it becomes obvious that Pierce is fiercely loyal to the family, which treats him as one of their own.

Stranger On The Shore is first and foremost a mystery, and a very good one at that. With a tight, cohesive plot and just enough clues to formulate theories on but not obvious enough to become annoyingly easy to solve straight away, I really enjoyed the way this story was put together. The interest-grabbing story combined with fascinating characters made this book very difficult to put down, especially so once the premise of the story is established. Griff was an easy MC to like, smart; determined, sometimes prickly and eminently believable, I really enjoyed experiencing the story through his POV.

I loved Griff and Pierce’s evolving romance. As this was predominately a mystery, the romance was well balanced as a story element without competing or taking over from the mystery. The chemistry between Griff and Pierce built slowly, and not always smoothly, lending a realism to the romance, especially given their abrasive start. Just like he did for Griff, Pierce grew on me, although, also like Griff, I didn’t ever truly dislike him. I found him intriguing despite his initial apparent arrogance.

The writing is beautiful with a surreal, almost dreamy feel to it, which perfectly matches the story. Every word has a purpose, whether it be to paint a vivid picture of the location, to create an atmospheric sense of anticipation or to portray wonderfully realised characters and convincing dialogue. All in all, a clever and thoroughly enjoyable mystery.

Read the full review at Live Your Life, Buy The Book ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jun 18, 2014 Rie rated it really liked it

*4.5

This what Lanyon should write!! I love the mysteries, the characters, and the romance.

1 like · Like · see review

May 16, 2014 Cynthia rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book ranks among my favorite of Josh's books (and that's saying a lot). The writing was perfection, the main characters were well developed, the supporting characters were annoying, lovable, quirky and/or interesting. I loved the plot, setting and atmosphere of the book. It was one of those books that I didn't want to put down, but I also didn't want to read too quickly because I didn't want it to end. ...more

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Oct 21, 2014 Sara rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 05, 2014 Cally73 rated it really liked it

Really enjoyed it. One mystery was obvious fairly early on, but still needed to see how all the threads tied together.

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Jun 17, 2014 Lora rated it it was amazing

A twist on a prince/pauper tale.
There is an incredible amount of detail in the descriptions of the setting. you never realize how much research Josh does until the story is in your own backyard. With one glaring exception: travel from Sing-sing to Muttontown in heavy traffic would take a lot longer than two hours. Honestly, traffic here on Long Island is worse than even Los Angeles.

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Mar 24, 2014 Jordan Lombard rated it it was amazing

Shelves: bpl-biblio-review, a-favorites, a-own-ebook, g-romance-m-m, y-2022reads, bpl-staff-pick, a-own, a-own-audio, y-2014read, y-2016read

Just as good the third time around! An Atmospheric mystery with a romance that’s sweet and comforting in all the right places. The audiobook narrator is fantastic!

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Feb 09, 2014 Stephanie rated it really liked it

Shelves: josh-lanyon, amazon-com, 2014

Feb 10, 2014 Sagajo rated it really liked it

Feb 13, 2014 Sylvia rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, josh-lanyon, favorites-2014

Mar 03, 2014 Chris, the Dalek King rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: mc-pairing-mm, missing-senses-broken-things, owned-ebook-or-audio, murder-and-mystery, white-collar, arts-and-letters, newsies, contemporary

2 likes · Like

Mar 24, 2014 Calathea rated it it was amazing

Shelves: m-m, mystery-suspense-thriller, contemporary

Apr 03, 2014 Anne Barwell marked it as to-read

Apr 26, 2014 LJ rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook-good-narration, 3-5-stars, audiobook-mm-lgbtq, audiobook-extra-star-for-good-nar

Apr 30, 2014 SueM marked it as wish-list-mm

Jul 18, 2017 Venecia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: these-boots-are-made-for-reading, y-lawyers-judges, murder-mystery-suspense, y-reporter, y-hidden-identity, reads-4-25-stars, y-location-new-york, y-kidnapping, romance, mm-romance

May 01, 2014 Anna rated it it was amazing

Shelves: m-m, i-own-mobi, age-difference, amazing, 5-stars, favourites, smokin-hot-guys, awesome-couples, mm-mystery-crime-suspense, mm-seriously-adorable