Time 2 Read: Dorothea Benton Frank

Showing posts with label Dorothea Benton Frank. Show all posts

Thursday, May 3, 2018

Review: Same Beach, Next Year

Same Beach, Next Year

by Dorothea Benton Frank

Why I chose this book? I’ve enjoyed other books by this author

When I read this book? April 2018

Who should read this book? Fans of light women’s fiction

Source: TLC Book Tours

My Rating: ✰✰✰½ 3½ Stars

Here is a synopsis of Same Beach, Next Year from TLC Book Tours

New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank returns to her magical Lowcountry of South Carolina in this bewitching story of marriage, love, family, and friendship that is infused with her warm and engaging earthy humor and generous heart.

One enchanted summer, two couples begin a friendship that will last more than twenty years and transform their lives.

A chance meeting on the Isle of Palms, one of Charleston’s most stunning barrier islands, brings former sweethearts, Adam Stanley and Eve Landers together again. Their respective spouses, Eliza and Carl, fight sparks of jealousy flaring from their imagined rekindling of old flames. As Adam and Eve get caught up on their lives, their partners strike up a deep friendship—and flirt with an unexpected attraction—of their own.

Year after year, Adam, Eliza, Eve, and Carl eagerly await their reunion at Wild Dunes, a condominium complex at the island’s tip end, where they grow closer with each passing day, building a friendship that will withstand financial catastrophe, family tragedy, and devastating heartbreak. The devotion and love they share will help them weather the vagaries of time and enrich their lives as circumstances change, their children grow up and leave home, and their twilight years approach.

Bursting with the intoxicating richness of Dorothea Benton Frank’s beloved Lowcountry—the sultry sunshine, cool ocean breezes, icy cocktails, and starry velvet skies—Same Beach, Next Year is a dazzling celebration of the infrangible power of friendship, the enduring promise of summer, and the indelible bonds of love.

My Review

Same Beach, Next Year is a fun read and a very quick read. I’ve read several other books by this author and enjoyed them, so I was excited to be offered the chance to read and review this one. I’d been reading several nonfiction books including a very thick biography of Ulysses S Grant, so this was a wonderful change of pace for me!

I really enjoyed this book and breezed through it. It was one of those that I promised myself I’d read ‘just one more chapter’ and then stayed up until the wee hours of the morning. I felt like I got to know the characters, warts and all, and I really cared what happened to them. This is a story of friendship. Adam and Eliza are a couple with twin boys who vacation on the beach each summer with friends Eve and Carl and their daughter. The twist? Adam and Eve were high school sweethearts, and the connection is still there! The book traces these years of friendship, including the challenges and the fun, and because it is a good summer read, everything is resolved happily. Along the way, we get to know members of the extended families, complete with their strengths and flaws. Though at times any of these characters could be frustrating, they were also In short, this is a wonderful read to take to the beach for a warm spring weekend!

I’d recommend this to fans of Dorothea Benton Frank and women’s fiction, or anyone looking for a quick summer read. This would make a particularly good summer selection for book clubs, as it is a quick, light read, but still offers much to discuss. There is a reader’s guide with discussion questions in the back of the book, but books clubs will find plenty to discuss even without referring to the guide.

Purchase Links

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

About Dorothea Benton Frank

New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank was born and raised on Sullivans Island, South Carolina. She resides in the New York area with her husband.

Find her on the web at www.dotfrank.com, or like her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

This book review is included in a tour by TLC Book Tours. I was provided a copy for review purposes.

Dorothea’s Tour Stops

Instagram Stops

Sunday, April 22nd: Instagram: @girlsinbooks

Tuesday, April 24th: Instagram: @prose_and_palate

Wednesday, April 25th: Instagram: @booenetics

Thursday, April 26th: Instagram: @jackiereadsbooks

Friday, April 27th: Instagram: @the_need_to_read

TBD: Instagram: @writersdream

Review Stops

Tuesday, April 24th: A Soccer Mom’s Book Blog

Wednesday, April 25th: The Book Date

Thursday, April 26th: The Geeky Bibliophile

Friday, April 27th: Books and Bindings

Monday, April 30th: Instagram: @prose_and_palate

Tuesday, May 1st: Instagram: @booenetics

Wednesday, May 2nd: Staircase Wit

Thursday, May 3rd: Time 2 Read

Monday, May 7th: Wining Wife

Tuesday, May 8: Jessicamap Reviews

Wednesday, May 9th: Bibliotica

Thursday, May 10th: A Bookish Affair

Monday, May 14th: bookchickdi

Tuesday, May 15th: Instagram: @Novelmombooks

Wednesday, May 16th: Broken Teepee

Thursday, May 17th: Always With a Book

Monday, June 22, 2015

Review: All The Single Ladies

All The Single Ladies

by Dorothea Benton Frank

Why did you choose this book? it sounded like a good ‘friends’ story

When did you read this book? June 2015

Who should read this book? fans of Dorothea Benton Frank or ‘Southern’ lit

Source: TLC Book Tours

Here is a synopsis of All The Single Ladies from TLC Book Tours

The perennial New York Times bestselling author returns with an emotionally resonant novel that illuminates the power of friendship in women’s lives, and is filled with her trademark wit, poignant and timely themes, sassy, flesh-and-blood characters, and the steamy Southern atmosphere and beauty of her beloved Carolina Lowcountry.

Few writers capture the complexities, pain, and joy of relationships—between friends, family members, husbands and wives, or lovers—as beloved New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank. In this charming, evocative, soul-touching novel, she once again takes us deep into the heart of the magical Lowcountry where three amazing middle-aged women are bonded by another amazing woman’s death.

Through their shared loss they forge a deep friendship, asking critical questions. Who was their friend and what did her life mean? Are they living the lives they imagined for themselves? Will they ever be able to afford to retire? How will they maximize their happiness? Security? Health? And ultimately, their own legacies?

A plan is conceived and unfurls with each turn of the tide during one sweltering summer on the Isle of Palms. Without ever fully realizing how close they were to the edge, they finally triumph amid laughter and maybe even newfound love.

My Review

If you have read other books by Dorothea Benton Frank, you already know a little about what you can expect; her wonderful descriptions of life in the Lowcountry and her sense of humor! And if that is what you expect, you won’t be disappointed.

This story is a little bit romance, a little bit mystery, and a whole lot friendship. Lisa is a middle-aged mother of an adult daughter whom she raised as a single mom when her husband abandoned the family — a daughter she is currently estranged from. Lisa works at a local assisted living facility where she has a patient, Kathy, who is dying of cancer. Kathy has two friends, Suzanne and Carrie, who bond with Lisa when they visit. They, too, are single ladies as the result of failed relationships, concerned about what the future holds for them. Suzanne and Carrie live in a beach house owned by Suzanne’s nearly 100-year-old grandma, Miss Trudie. (Miss Trudie, by the way, is the highlight of the book! Everyone needs a Miss Trudie in her life!) Pretty soon, Lisa is in the midst of a housing crisis, and is invited to join the crew at the beach house! And before you know it, they all meet single men, and romance ensues.

Meanwhile, there is a bit of a mystery on their hands. When Kathy succumbs to her cancer, Lisa, Suzanne, and Carrie are approached by Kathy’s landlady to clean out her things from the apartment so that the landlady can quickly re-rent the apartment. Though it seems like she is rushing things, they agree to take care of it. But when the landlady comes in while they are cleaning the apartment and begins placing stickers on antiques, claiming ‘Mine!’ and that she was just loaning these things to Kathy, red flags go up. How are they to know what was Kathy’s and what was not? As they clean and look for clues, they stumble upon a side of Kathy that they never knew existed.

While I don’t think the resolution of the problem was realistic — I don’t think things would have played out quite they way they did, but I don’t want to spoil things and tell you why I feel that way — the situation was resolved, the mystery solved, and we are left to assume everyone lived happily ever after.

Even though things are predictable at times, and even a bit unrealistic, this was a fun story and a quick read. If you are a Dorothea Benton Frank fan, you will definitely want to pick this one up for your summer reading pile!

About Dorothea Benton Frank

New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank was born and raised on Sullivans Island, South Carolina. She divides her time between the New York area and the Lowcountry.

Find her on the web at www.dotfrank.com where you can read and excerpt of All The Single Ladies, or like her on Facebook or Twitter.

My Rating: ★★★1/2 3-1/2 Stars

This book review is included in a tour by TLC Book Tours. I was provided a copy for review purposes and have written an honest review which appears above.

Dorothea’s Tour Stops

Tuesday, June 9th: Many Hats

Wednesday, June 10th: A Chick Who Reads (spotlight)

Thursday, June 11th: Sara’s Organized Chaos

Friday, June 12th: Kritters Ramblings

Monday, June 15th: From the TBR Pile

Tuesday, June 16th: bookchickdi

Wednesday, June 17th: Always With a Book

Thursday, June 18th: Dreams, Etc.

Monday, June 22nd: Time 2 Read

Tuesday, June 23rd: Peeking Between the Pages

Wednesday, June 24th: Novel Escapes

Thursday, June 25th: Raven Haired Girl

Thursday, July 2nd: A Chick Who Reads (review)
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Monday, June 8, 2015

Tuesday Memes: All The Single Ladies

Every Tuesday Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where you can share the first paragraph, or a few, of a book you are reading or thinking about reading soon.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along!

Today I am spotlighting All The Single Ladies by Dorothea Benton Frank

Opening Paragraph

Chapter 1

Meet Lisa St. Clair

June 2014

I hail from a very theatrical climate. Coming to terms with Mother Nature is essential when you call the Lowcountry of South Carolina home. At the precise moment I ventured outside early this morning, my sunglasses fogged. In the next breath I swatted a mosquito on the back of my neck. The world was still. The birds were quiet. It was already too hot to chirp. And, Lord save us, the heat was just beginning to rise. I thought the blazes of hell itself could not be this hot.

My Teaser

“Here I am with my dear friend’s ashes in my arms, practically warm, mind you, and her landlady wants me to hustle and get her belongings so she can rerent the apartment. What is this? New York?”

page 30

So...what do you think? Is this one you would pick up? Leave a comment below! post signature

Monday, May 25, 2015

Tuesday Memes: The Last Original Wife

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along!

Today I am spotlighting The Last Original Wife by Dorothea Benton Frank

Leslie Anne Greene Carter is the last original wife among her husband's group of cronies. They've all traded in their first wives-the middle-aged women they long ago promised to love and cherish 'til death did them part-for riper peaches: younger . . . blonder . . . more enhanced models.

Leslie is proud of her status and the longevity of her marriage. Sure the spark isn't quite as bright and sometimes takes a little longer to flame. And it wouldn't be too much to ask if her husband paid just an itty bit more attention to her desires. But there's something to be said for a comfortable and deeply familiar relationship. Or at least she thinks until the day, out golfing with her husband and his friends, she slips into a manhole. And nobody realizes that she's gone.

That one misstep opens Leslie's eyes to the sham her perfect life has become. No longer will she be invisible. No longer will she accept being taken for granted. With the healing powers of South Carolina's lush white beaches, candy-colored sunsets, and fiesty and funny residents, Leslie is going to transform herself and reclaim the strong, vibrant, sexy woman she was meant to be.

The Last Original Wife is classic Dorothea Benton Frank: an intoxicating tale of friendship and love that is as refreshing as a soothing breeze across a golden lowcountry marsh and as invigorating as a dip in cool, salty waters on a sizzling South Carolina summer day.

Opening

CHAPTER 1

Leslie and Wesley’s Present Situation

ATLANTA, SEPTEMBER 2012

Welcome to Saint Magnolia’s Wounded Theater. At least that’s what I called it. Within these slick walls reside Atlanta’s pish-posh team of premier psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, and relationship counselors who specialize in the broken hearts / crushed egos of the privileged and renowned. Their lavish confessionals, pershed high above the city, are, well, breathtaking. I was here because my husband, Wesley, insisted this was the only place he’d even consider receiving, as he was loath to say, therapy. And as is was on my first visit, the vast waiting area was packed.

Just for the record? Wesley needed therapy. I. Absolutely. Did. Not.

My Teaser

Funny question. Just so you know, I’m only here for the marriage. Going back to how things were would be fine with me, but my wife has other ideas.

page 21

So...what do you think? Is this one you would pick up? Leave a comment below!
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Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Review: The Hurricane Sisters

The Hurricane Sisters

by Dorothea Benton Frank

Why did you choose this book? I’ve heard great things about the author

When did you read this book? May 2014

Who should read this book? readers looking for an easy-paced but interesting summer read

Source: TLC Book Tours

Here is a synopsis of The Hurricane Sisters from TLC Book TOURS

Hurricane season begins early and rumbles all summer long, well into September. Often people’s lives reflect the weather and The Hurricane Sisters is just such a story.

Once again Dorothea Benton Frank takes us deep into the heart of her magical South Carolina Lowcountry on a tumultuous journey filled with longings, disappointments, and, finally, a road toward happiness that is hard earned. There we meet three generations of women buried in secrets. The determined matriarch, Maisie Pringle, at eighty, is a force to be reckoned with because she will have the final word on everything, especially when she’s dead wrong. Her daughter, Liz, is caught up in the classic maelstrom of being middle-age and in an emotionally demanding career that will eventually open all their eyes to a terrible truth. And Liz’s beautiful twenty-something daughter, Ashley, whose dreamy ambitions of her unlikely future keeps them all at odds.

Luckily for Ashley, her wonderful older brother, Ivy, is her fierce champion but he can only do so much from San Francisco where he resides with his partner. And Mary Beth, her dearest friend, tries to have her back but even she can’t talk headstrong Ashley out of a relationship with an ambitious politician who seems slightly too old for her.

Actually, Ashley and Mary Beth have yet to launch themselves into solvency. Their prospects seem bleak. So while they wait for the world to discover them and deliver them from a ramen-based existence, they placate themselves with a hare-brained scheme to make money but one that threatens to land them in huge trouble with the authorities.

So where is Clayton, Liz’s husband? He seems more distracted than usual. Ashley desperately needs her father’s love and attention but what kind of a parent can he be to Ashley with one foot in Manhattan and the other one planted in indiscretion? And Liz, who’s an expert in the field of troubled domestic life, refuses to acknowledge Ashley’s precarious situation. Who’s in charge of this family? The wake-up call is about to arrive.

The Lowcountry has endured its share of war and bloodshed like the rest of the South, but this storm season we watch Maisie, Liz, Ashley, and Mary Beth deal with challenges that demand they face the truth about themselves. After a terrible confrontation they are forced to rise to forgiveness, but can they establish a new order for the future of them all?

Frank, with her hallmark scintillating wit and crisp insight, captures how a complex family of disparate characters and their close friends can overcome anything through the power of love and reconciliation. This is the often hilarious, sometimes sobering, but always entertaining story of how these unforgettable women becameThe Hurricane Sisters.

My Review

I really enjoyed this book. It has a relaxed pace, perfect for a summer read, but is hard to put down once you get started. As you probably picked up on from the synopsis, this is a slightly dysfunctional family. But unlike the dysfunctional families we often meet in fiction, these members of this family are all flawed, but likeable despite their flaws. I connected with all of the characters, but particularly enjoyed Maisie, the octogenarian matriarch who used her ‘crazy’ to seek attention and let everyone know she was still a force to be reckoned with. I also liked Ivey, the gay son, who seemed to be the most level-headed, rational member of the family who served as advisor and general problem-solver for the family.

The story is told by the women of the family, alternating their points of view between chapters, with Clayton, occasionally chiming in with his side of the story. This method of writing worked well for me. It was interesting to see the same event through the eyes of the different characters and understand why they thought as they did. One thing I would have liked, however, was to get a little more of Ivey’s point of view in the story, as he seemed to be the most objective thinker in the book.

Though a relatively light read, the book takes on some serious issues, including adultery, domestic abuse, and date rape. This will be an excellent selection for book clubs, pleasing both members who value an easy-to-read, entertaining story, as well as members who want fodder for discussion.

About Dorothea Benton Frank

New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank was born and raised on Sullivans Island, South Carolina. She is the author of many New York Times bestselling novels, including Lowcountry Summer and Return to Sullivans Island. She resides in the New York area with her husband.

Find out more about Dorothea at her website or connect with her on Facebook.

My Rating: ★★★1/2 3-1/2 Stars