The Woman on the Beach by Julia Roberts
Genre: Contemporary fiction, Women's fiction, Chick Lit
Read: 15th August 2021
Published: 19th August 2021
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
I was so sure I saw Sophie on the beach that day. But it couldn’t be her. Sophie’s dead…
Ever since we swore to be best friends at school, Sophie was there for me. When she married my brother, she became family. We shared everything.
At least I thought we did.
After she died, I was devastated. Everyone else has moved on, but I can’t. She was so quiet, those last few months. I’m sure there is something I don’t know…
Now I’m standing on the beach we visited when we were younger, and there’s a woman with long blond hair a few metres away, playing with a dog in the sunshine. She turns, and I see Sophie.
Heart racing, I run after her, but before I can reach her she’s vanished, leaving only footprints in the sand.
It can’t be Sophie… Can it? And do I want to know, if the answer will destroy everything?
A gripping emotional page-turner about the ways we lie to ourselves and how love and hope can heal us. Fans of Amanda Prowse, Liane Moriarty and Susan Lewis will absolutely love The Woman on the Beach.
MY REVIEW:
I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Julia Robert's beautiful family drama THE WOMAN ON THE BEACH.
This is a story about family and friendship. Love and loss. Happiness and heartbreak. And above all, memories. It's a story that begins in one vein and ends up totally different in another. Having read the author's previous book "My Mother's Secret" I knew it would be a hard one to top as that one was just totally brilliant...but THE WOMAN ON THE BEACH is an enjoyable read in another way.
Three women - Liv, Sophie and Grace - have been best friends since their first day in senior school all those years ago. Upon graduating, the friends decide to take a gap year and travel before settling down at university. While Liv and Sophie both aced their exams, Grace hadn't and so she stayed behind to resit them and then join her friends on their travels in Mexico in January time to celebrate Sophie's birthday. But something happens on that trip that changes their course of their lives, and their friendship, forever.
Spain 2014: A woman sits in the airport lounge awaiting her flight to Guatamela, her hands shaking, when the TV screens surrounding them come to life, reporting the tragic news of a deadly train crash that the lives of all by two people. The woman tries to block it out. But the fragmented snippets invade her memory...falling...the silence...the explosion. The woman smiles beside her and asks her if she's alright to which she replies that she's a bit nervous of flying. But as she closes her eyes all she can hear is the sound of screaming metal and the silence before the explosion. Her hand shakes as she hovers over the button of the email she's about to send that will change everything. Now there is no going back.
Mexico 2018: Still reeling from her husband Jamie's unexpected revelation, Liv lays on the sun drenched beach in Tulum just outside her beachfront cabin ruminating over how their marriage has come to this. She knows she has not been the easiest to get along with in the past three years but it hasn't been plain sailing for her either these past three years. First there was her miscarriage then the tragic death of Sophie in Spain to Grace disappearing off the face of the earth and, more recently, the sudden death of her father to cancer...all of which Liv hasn't had a chance to grieve for any of it. So when Jamie suggested this trial separation Liv was devastated. Jamie's her soul mate and she can't imagine life without him. So to give herself some breathing space and time to think things over, Liv decides to go back to the place where she and her two best friends visited in their gap year but vowed they would never return for a week's reprieve.
Now as she enjoys the quiet almost secluded beach she drifts off to sleep and is suddenly awoken by a dog barking. She follows the sound to a bouncy gold retriever running along the pier and welcoming his owners as they return to the beach from their swim. Something about the woman strikes a cord with Liv as she watches them return to their pile of clothing on the sand and tossing them on over their wet bathers.
And then she sees it...the woman's arm...and it stirs a memory. Sophie. She calls her name...the name of her best friend who died three and a half years ago. And with those words she is sure she sees the woman freeze momentarily...or did she? Eager to catch up to the couple, Liv reaches around to hastily tie her bikini top but when she turns back...they have gone.
Was the woman on the beach Sophie or did she just imagine it? But how can that be since Sophie is dead? It would have been Sophie's birthday just a couple of days ago. What with that, her unresolved grief and her recent troubles with Jamie, it could well just be a case of her conjuring up the memory of Sophie as she has been at the forefront of her mind for the past three years. Without further regard, Liv pushes all thoughts of the woman on the beach from her mind and returns to England and hopefully back into the loving arms of her husband.
But Liv has only been home a week when an unexpected letter arrives throwing caution to the wind and everything she thought she knew is is now under question. The only way to uncover the truth is to return to where it all began...when the three friends were at their happiest before life took a tragic turn and changed them all forever. Before Liv married Jamie and Sophie married Tom, Liv's brother, and Grace moved to Spain. Before the train crash that claimed Sophie's life and caused Grace to disappear in a cloud of grief and guilt at surviving. Before university, when life was good and they were young and carefree. Before everything changed.
But is Liv prepared for what she is about to uncover? And will any of their lives ever be the same again when she does?
The premise for THE WOMAN ON THE BEACH is definitely intriguing and upon starting the book it wasn't long before I figured out the line along which it was heading. But that was only the beginning. What ensues is a far deeper tale of the joys and heartbreaks of these three friends and how things went tragically wrong.
The story moves along at a steady pace throughout with easily spaced chapters that weren't long and drawn out. The narratives alternate between Liv, Grace and Sophie mostly between 2014 and 2018 with some leading up the former and latter days. We go to see the respective husbands in Jamie and Tom respectively through Liv and Sophie's eyes whilst life with Luis through Grace's. I didn't like Tom and his behaviour I don't think was adequately explained in the end and didn't sit right with me. I do, however, love Jamie and Luis who were the kindest, most forgiving and compassionate. But my favourite character by far was Vince...and I'm so glad that he got his happy ever after above all!
Julia Roberts has an engaging writing style that easily pulls the reader in unlike others in the same genre. Contemporary women's fiction is not really my thing but there are but a handful of authors who easily capture my attention and hold it throughout and Ms Roberts is one of them. THE WOMAN ON THE BEACH is definitely an addictive page-turner with several twists to be savoured along the way and everything being tied up at the end...though not in the way I had expected or would have actually preferred. The original angle was my preferred choice as for me that was far more believable.
Overall, THE WOMAN ON THE BEACH is an emotional and heartbreaking read perfect for lovers of contemporary fiction or chick lit. And though it's not a patch on "My Mother's Secret", it is still worth a read.
I would like to thank #JuliaRoberts, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheWomanOnTheBeach in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Born in Nottingham, Julia Roberts travelled the world working as a professional dancer, singer and TV presenter. She has also produced and presented features for Sky Sports - she has a passion for football, particularly her team, Crystal Palace - as well as corporate videos and live presentations.
Julia has been writing and self-publishing her fiction since 2015 but has now signed a three book deal with Bookouture, under the name J G Roberts, for a detective/crime/thriller series centred around DCI Rachel Hart. The first book in the series, Little Girl Missing, will publish on June 14th 2019, with book 2 in the series in October 2019 and book 3 in April 2020, keeping her very busy as she also prepares for a beach wedding to her partner of forty-one years, Chris, in August.
Having survived paralytic polio as a baby, Julia is an ambassador for British Polio and the Rotary International 'End Polio Now' campaign, and has donated from book sales to both charities, as well as the blood cancer charity, Bloodwise.
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