CarrieJ

3.5 Stars

Okay this book started off iffy for me. I don't know if it was the time setting or the main character didn’t ring true. I would read a few chapters at a time and after I made it a third of the way through I finished the book in that one sitting. I started to get into the whole Wauregan atmosphere, not a care in the world.

I’m not a big fan of love triangles and there is one well sort of. Well it’s mostly in Helen's mind between Frank and Peter. Helen doesn’t know if her husband, Arthur, is still alive he’s been missing for 4 years. She doesn’t want to move on with the chance of Arthur coming home. Even if there was little chance of him returning home. I do think that the author Patricia Beard held my hand a little too much, always steering me into the relationship that she wanted the reader to form a bond with. You knew just by a few scenes at the beginning how everything was going to turn out. I’m okay with that but I would have liked a little more speculation on my side. Frank is a family friend who was with Arthur during the war who adapts to who he needs to be. Peter is also a friend of the family that Helen knows from Wauregan. Peter knows who he is and deals with his return from the war the best that he can. Peter has a little help with his war veteran friend Max. Max I have to say is my favorite character. I might be a little bias because I have my own German Shepherd. I think he was a great addition to the story. I did feel that the men who came back from war their behaviors were spot on. I can only imagine what it would be like to be in those positions and then come back to your jobs and families like nothing has changed trying fit into your old way of life.
Jack, Helen’s son, behaves better than what I think a 14year old boy would. He didn't rebel as much as I thought a teenage boy with hopes that his father would return from war as he watches mothers relationship with **** grow. He did a little but he seemed to accept everything much better than I would have thought.

Overall I liked the story even though I knew how it was going to end. It’s a good summer read. I wish I could spend a whole summer at the beach and not have to work. Would I read this book again? Maybe. Would I read this author again? Definitely.