Disclaimer: Most of my books are in storage. My husband and I are renovating our house in Washington DC and except for tools and two bicycles, we have an empty first floor. So, when I finished my last two books, I realize “I need to buy something for Cannonball!” And I was at Rite Aid waiting to pick up a prescription. I looked at the books and I knew Sweet Salt Air would be the kind of book I would hate to admit that I would like and I bought it and read it and I AM NOT ASHAMED I REALLY LIKED IT. Is it destined to be one of the Great Books? Heck no, but I got it at Rite Aid and I was entertained and I liked the characters she created. The Maine island community she created was quirky without being try hard. And the predictable romance between the girl who never settled down and the guy who was the loner, well it was believable OK not in real life but in a book it was totally acceptable. And everyone ends up happy at the end which OK FINE I NEED THAT ONCE IN A WHILE.
So that Disclaimer is pretty much my book review 🙂 I could tell you about the plot a little bit. It’s two dear, but now distant friends, who reunite for a summer on this beautiful Maine island. It is only accessible by boat. There is a Jeep Wrangler. There is windblown hair and mornings perfect for chunky sweaters and hot coffee. And lot of good food is described. One of the friends, Nicole, is writing a cookbook about this island’s wonderful herb-infused food. The herbs belong to the deceased loner’s mom. The other friend, Charlotte, is a feature story reporter. Nicole engages her to write the interviews for the book. Charlotte gets curious about the herbs then the loner himself. There is tension between Nicole and Charlotte over this. It bubbles over into other reasons they were distant, and although this is completely predictable and resolves predictably, it is actually written very well. I never read 50 Shades, so I was wary about the quality of writing in a drugstore romance paperback. But the story is actually charming. It’s very well thought out and nothing feels particularly contrived to make the story actually work.
So Husband and I went to our beach cottage a few weeks ago and I left my copy of it there. I hope a renter will pick it up and also enjoy it. It is PERFECT beach reading. Or pool, or summer day. If you need a literary break, or a reason to work on a tan, it is its own version of a great book.
