Ten Beach Road Revisited and Giveaway!

Ten Beach Road
Wendy Wax

Release Date: May 3rd, 2011 (April 2012 mass market paperback release!)

Publisher: Berkley (Penguin)

Page Count: 432

Source: Deb Tobias at Joan Schulhafer Publishing & Media Consulting in exchange for an honest and unbiased review (thank you!)

On the brink of ruin, three very different women discover themselves where they least expect... at Ten Beach Road.

Madeline, Avery, and Nikki are strangers to one another, but they have one thing in common. They each wake up one morning to discover their life savings have vanished, along with their trusted financial manager... leaving them with nothing but co-ownership of a ramshackle beachfront house.

Madeline Singer is a homemaker coping with empty-nest syndrome and an unemployed husband. Avery Lawford is an architect—or was, until she somehow became the sidekick on her ex-husband's TV show. And professional matchmaker Nikki Grant is trying to recover from her biggest mistake...

No one is going to save them but themselves. Determined to fight back, they throw their lots together and take on the challenge of restoring the historic beach house to its former glory. But just as they begin to reinvent themselves and discover the power of friendship, their secrets threaten to tear down their trust, and destroy their lives a second time.

Last year, I had the opportunity to review Ten Beach Road at Romancing the Book (you can find my first-read thoughts here!), so I was thrilled when its publicist contacted me about the new mass market paperback release and word of a sequel, Ocean Beach, which came out last week, and whose review was posted at Books à la Mode yesterday (you can check that out here).

I was surprised that even after a year, Ten Beach Road's characters flowed back to me as smoothly and wonderfully as they did the first time around. I guess that's the magic of such lovable characters—no matter how, when, or where you read them, they'll always feel like family. Coming back to this book was both nostalgic and illuminating. Picking up its pages once again made me feel like I was home, as strange and delightful of an experience that is, and I noticed small sentiments I hadn't before.

Wendy Wax's writing is vivid and brimming with sensory images. I absolutely love her style and found it to be one of the best aspects of this book. That, and her true-to-life characters.

Maybe I just noticed this because I also read Ocean Beach, but Ten Beach Road is heavy on the emotional pain and physical labor of Bella Flora's reconstruction—the grueling efforts and teeth-gritting vexations are what fuel the plot and heal the hearts of each of the involved characters. Ocean Beach, on the other hand, focuses mainly on the emotional dilemmas and situational complications. Both techniques appeal to me in different ways, which made my reading of the two books dynamic and varietal, rather than boring. The two books are similar in mood, but individual in flesh, and that's what I love about the saga as a whole. 

Check out these links!

My original review of Ten Beach Road.

Ocean Beach review and giveaway.

Giveaway!

Because I love these books so much, I've opportunities for you to try BOTH books with fantastic giveaways!!!  Thanks to the publicist, Joan Schulhafer Publishing & Media Consulting, today, there is ONE print copy of Ten Beach Road up for grabs! Be sure to enter my giveaway which was posted yesterday for Ocean Beach, its dazzling sequel, as well. To enter this giveaway, all you have to do is fill out the Rafflecopter form below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway runs through July 18th, 2012 at 11.59 pm (EST).

Open to US and CAN readers only!

Winners have 48 hours to claim their prize once they are chosen, or else their winnings will be forfeited.

As a reminder, you do not have to follow my blog to enter, though it is always very much appreciated ❤

Good luck!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥: Ocean Beach by Wendy Wax and Giveaway!

Ocean Beach
Wendy Wax

Release Date: June 26th, 2012

Publisher: Berkley (Penguin)

Page Count: 433

Source: Complimentary ARC provided by publicist, Joan Schulhafer Publishing & Media Consulting, in exchange for an honest and unbiased review (thank you!)

Unlikely friends Madelin, Avery, and Nicole have hit some speed bumps in their lives, but when they arrive in Miami's South Beach neighborhood, they are all hoping for a do-over. Literally. They've been hired to bring a once-grand historic house back to its former glory on a new television show called Do-Over. If they can just get this show off the ground, Nikki could get back on her feet financially, Avery could restart her ruined career, and Maddie would have one shot at keeping her family together.

At least, that's the plan—until the women realize that having their work broadcast is one thing, having their personal lives play out on TV is another thing entirely. Soon they are struggling to hold themselves, and their project, together. With a decades-old mysteryÒand the hurricane season—looming, the women are forced to figure out just how they'll weather life's storms...

What Stephanie Thinks: Wendy Wax is back and better than ever with her sequel to Ten Beach Road, which I reviewed last year. Though Madeline, Avery, and Nicole have reunited to tackle this time, The Millicent, a majestic mansion brimming with love, history, and overlooking Florida's most modern and exquisite of beaches that is in desperate need of tender loving care, Ocean Beach isn't just another home-improvement story; it isn't just the same people in a different setting, time, and situation. Ocean Beach is, in sorts, a reprise of Wax's glowing characters we met and fell in love with in the first book, but moreso a whole new journey that, in itself, has a similarly satisfying and just-as-heartfelt destination.

My heart soared high at the return of each of the characters that I loved like my own siblings, mother, and children, even the minor ones, such as Maddie's still-vulnerable, yet strong kids, Andrew and Kyra, Avery's ever-understanding and swoon-worthy boyfriend, Chase, and Nicole's very protective and very spicy love interest, Special Agent Joe Giraldi (woooo) and even higher at the introduction of new ones, such as the delightful Max, The Millicent's owner, and Kyra's precious son and Maddie's first grandson, Dustin. While Ocean Beach itself is a fine piece of work and would make a fabulous stand-alone novel, I think readers and fans of the first story will be able to appreciate it and once again fall hard even more, this time around.

Wendy Wax's voice is prolific—descriptive, tender, wry, and warm in all the right places. Her words sparkle off the pages; her writing is therapy for the soul. There isn't one stray sentence in Ocean Beach (and in Ten Beach Road!); her conventions and structure are pleasantly well-written and easy to read.

Another thing I like about this book is how there is an element of mystery and suspense, which wasn't prevalent in the first book. A vague, secretive mystery involving the disappearance of Max's son more than forty years ago shrouds the entire storyline, as well as unsettling and unconventional discomforts regarding Nicole's first client in her matchmaking business that she's determined to have on its feet once again, and also the notorious and Daniel Deranian: Dustin's insufferable celebrity father.

A huge predicament is Do-Over's television network's shameless lack of privacy and threat to cancel at anytime. This concern looms over everyone in the Millicent, and is an interesting, realistic, and completely frustrating aspect of the story. There are other numerous complex storylines weaved together in Ocean Beach; a few I admired and gobbled up (like my favorite type of pie) include the budding relationship between the stubborn Avery and her once-estranged and now-repentant birth mother, Deirdre, the difficult, complicated affair between Kyra and Daniel, and the 'golden' past of Max Golden.

I absolutely recommend this one to all lovers of feel-good beach reads that aren't shallow and fluffy, not because it has a beachy theme, but because it actually has substance and genuine emotions, as well as to fans of women's fiction with strong familial anecdotes. Both in content, style, and resonance, Wax brings her lovable characters to life and pens a well-organized and meaningful story in Ocean Beach.

Stephanie Loves: "[Kyra's] brain knew and remembered all the reasons she'd had to give [Daniel] up. Her heart seemed to have developed a worrisome case of amnesia."

Radical Rating: 8 hearts: An engaging read; highly recommended. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Giveaway!

Thanks to the publicist, Joan Schulhafer Publishing & Media Consulting, there is ONE print copy of Ocean Beach up for grabs! Stay tuned tomorrow for a giveaway for a copy of Ten Beach Road as well as my revisited review ;) To enter this giveaway, all you have to do is fill out the Rafflecopter form below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway runs through July 17th, 2012 at 11.59 pm (EST).

Open to US and CAN readers only!

Winners have 48 hours to claim their prize once they are chosen, or else their winnings will be forfeited.

As a reminder, you do not have to follow my blog to enter, though it is always very much appreciated ❤

Good luck!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥: Ten Beach Road by Wendy Wax

Ten Beach Road
Wendy Wax

Release Date: May 3rd, 2011

Publisher: Berkley (Penguin)

Page Count: 432

Source: Complimentary copy provided by publicist, via Romancing the Book, in exchange for an honest and unbiased review (thank you both!)

On the brink of ruin, three very different women discover themselves where they least expect... at Ten Beach Road.

Madeline, Avery, and Nikki are strangers to one another, but they have one thing in common. They each wake up one morning to discover their life savings have vanished, along with their trusted financial manager... leaving them with nothing but co-ownership of a ramshackle beachfront house.

Madeline Singer is a homemaker coping with empty-nest syndrome and an unemployed husband. Avery Lawford is an architect—or was, until she somehow became the sidekick on her ex-husband's TV show. And professional matchmaker Nikki Grant is trying to recover from her biggest mistake...

No one is going to save them but themselves. Determined to fight back, they throw their lots together and take on the challenge of restoring the historic beach house to its former glory. But just as they begin to reinvent themselves and discover the power of friendship, their secrets threaten to tear down their trust, and destroy their lives a second time. 

Wendy Wax understands the most difficult of dilemmas regarding family, secrets, undying passion, and inner turmoil, and that makes her stand out as a writer. Carefully, she identifies three women with three different concerns and takes readers on a journey that highlights not only on how their problems are solved, but also the struggles the three women go through, in order to get there.

A headlining Ponzi scheme involving Malcom Dyer leaves Maddie, Avery, and Nikki (among hundreds of others) abruptly penniless; they each now only have a beach house—actually not even, since they each own a third of the beach house—to their name. Bella Flora was once a majestic mansion overlooking the shore and the sunset, but today, its grounds are nothing short of ancient ruins.

To destroy the house, or to rebuild it are the only options the three women have, so they decide to take the risk and spend one summer making Bella Flora beautiful again.

Maddie needs to hang on, or else the rest of her family will fall apart. She's got an unemployed and quite depressed husband, an unmarried pregnant daughter, a college dropout son, and a ruthless mother-in-law on her hands. She needs to prevail with Bella Flora; it may be her last chance.

Avery is famous for her looks as a Vanna White on her ex-husband's home improvement television show—but she's the one with the architecture degree. Every cent her late father left her is gone, thanks to Dyer's theft, and having been abandoned by her biological mother as a young child, she's not sure where to turn. But suddenly, her mom and a childhood crush are both back in her life to offer help with Bella Flora, though Avery is certain she doesn't need it. Determined to fix the house and fight on her own, just the way she's been her whole life, Avery learns the lessons of forgiveness and honest love, both strong parts of her that could either lift her up or bring her down.

Nikki's taking the loss the hardest, not only because no money means no more designer dresses and pretty car, but because Malcom Dyer is her brother. How can the man she's raised from a little boy (since their parents' deaths) commit such a monstrous act against her? Her fortune is gone and she is torn, but more importantly, she doesn't know how she'll cope with this ultimate betrayal.

Ten Beach Road is the perfect summer beach read, but not because it's fluffy and romantic. Ten Beach Road weaves a complicated story that brings the lives of three prominent women together, and changes them forever as well. In each of the characters, Wax depicts expert emotion; she brings to life everyone, from an adoring mother, to a frightened lover, to a self-conscious "power woman" and knows exactly how to personalize each of her characters.

Relationships between mother and daughter, old acquaintances, and siblings brings sentiments of the breathtaking human life together, in Wax's novel. While reading, you feel like each of the characters are your own mother, your own sister, your own best friend. And by the end, you wish they actually were.

Check out my revisited review here!

Stephanie Loves: "The words settled over her. [Madeline] hadn't thought in those terms, she'd just been plowing ahead trying to hang on. But Kyra's recognition was like a balm to her soul; one she hadn't realized she needed.

'[I didn't realize how strong I was, either],' Maddie said. 'You don't really know what you're made of until things fall apart.' "

Radical Rating: 8 hearts: An engaging read; highly recommended. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥