A Stranger on the Beach by Michele Campbell Book Review
I did not like these people but I kept reading anyway . . .
Dark Fiction | Goodreads | Amazon
Source: Library Borrow
A Stranger on the Beach by Michele Campbell
Released July 2019Dark Fiction | Goodreads | Amazon
Source: Library Borrow
From the bestselling author of It's Always the Husband comes a novel about a love triangle that begins on a fateful night...
There is a stranger outside Caroline's house.
Her spectacular new beach house, built for hosting expensive parties and vacationing with the family she thought she'd have. But her husband is lying to her and everything in her life is upside down, so when the stranger, Aiden, shows up as a bartender at the same party where Caroline and her husband have a very public fight, it doesn't seem like anything out of the ordinary.
As her marriage collapses around her and the lavish lifestyle she's built for herself starts to crumble, Caroline turns to Aiden for comfort...and revenge. After a brief and desperate fling that means nothing to Caroline and everything to him, Aiden's obsession with Caroline, her family, and her house grows more and more disturbing. And when Caroline's husband goes missing, her life descends into a nightmare that leaves her accused of her own husband's murder.
A Stranger on the Beach is Strangers on a Train meets Fatal Attraction in Michele Campbell's edge-of your-seat story of passion and intrigue.
There is a stranger outside Caroline's house.
Her spectacular new beach house, built for hosting expensive parties and vacationing with the family she thought she'd have. But her husband is lying to her and everything in her life is upside down, so when the stranger, Aiden, shows up as a bartender at the same party where Caroline and her husband have a very public fight, it doesn't seem like anything out of the ordinary.
As her marriage collapses around her and the lavish lifestyle she's built for herself starts to crumble, Caroline turns to Aiden for comfort...and revenge. After a brief and desperate fling that means nothing to Caroline and everything to him, Aiden's obsession with Caroline, her family, and her house grows more and more disturbing. And when Caroline's husband goes missing, her life descends into a nightmare that leaves her accused of her own husband's murder.
A Stranger on the Beach is Strangers on a Train meets Fatal Attraction in Michele Campbell's edge-of your-seat story of passion and intrigue.
My 2 Cents For Free!
A snooty woman named Caroline has moved into her brand new million dollar beach house and spies a hunky beach bum staring at it with longing in his beautiful eyes. She assumes he’s out to rob her. So what does she do? Call the coppers, maybe? Nope. She sleeps with him! And things go terribly awry from there because she is married but it’s sort of, kinda okay because hubs is cheating too.
What is wrong with me that I am drawn to these kinds of books? Please don’t answer that.
Anyhow this book delivers if you’re looking for an unbelievable tale about wealthy jerks with lots of secrets doing terrible things to everyone around them because they can. For me it veered too far into ridiculousness and I truly despised Caroline who was conceited and spoiled and just 100% ugh. I don’t care how beautiful she was supposed to be, I found it very difficult to believe the beach bum (Aiden) who was closer to her daughters age would fall so fast and hard for her when she wasn’t even nice to him. He was weird. I know I was supposed to dislike Caroline so that’s actually a strength of the book because man did I despise her but I also figured out what was going on long before the big reveal and I’m not really good at these guessing games and that is the fault of the book. I will give it points for making me guess for a bit with all of its unreliable narrators and for keeping me hooked until the end because I had to know if I was wrong.
I’ll give it a reluctant three stars for its fearlessness in using coincidence to get from point A to point B and for using its unbelievable plot twists to its best advantage and also for creating such ridiculous people. I probably wouldn’t read it again but I’m not sorry I stuck it out until the end.
What is wrong with me that I am drawn to these kinds of books? Please don’t answer that.
Anyhow this book delivers if you’re looking for an unbelievable tale about wealthy jerks with lots of secrets doing terrible things to everyone around them because they can. For me it veered too far into ridiculousness and I truly despised Caroline who was conceited and spoiled and just 100% ugh. I don’t care how beautiful she was supposed to be, I found it very difficult to believe the beach bum (Aiden) who was closer to her daughters age would fall so fast and hard for her when she wasn’t even nice to him. He was weird. I know I was supposed to dislike Caroline so that’s actually a strength of the book because man did I despise her but I also figured out what was going on long before the big reveal and I’m not really good at these guessing games and that is the fault of the book. I will give it points for making me guess for a bit with all of its unreliable narrators and for keeping me hooked until the end because I had to know if I was wrong.
I’ll give it a reluctant three stars for its fearlessness in using coincidence to get from point A to point B and for using its unbelievable plot twists to its best advantage and also for creating such ridiculous people. I probably wouldn’t read it again but I’m not sorry I stuck it out until the end.
3 out of 5
These people do sound horrible and I can't stand cheaters. I can tolerate them in books to a point but I don't know about this one. Great review though!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Barb. It was a struggle, this one but something about the writing kept me going.
DeleteWell, that's exactly what I would do, too. To be fair. LMAO.
ReplyDeleteLOL!
DeleteI think I'd be more inclined to read this one if the wealthy snobs got eaten by some creature coming out of the water! ;D
ReplyDeleteNow that would've been a perfect and fitting ending! I like the way you think, lol.
Deletegreat review. i love the dark and your review had me going back and forth. yes, no, yes, no...i love to hate characters so that is another plus.
ReplyDeletesherry @ fundinmental
haha, you sound as conflicted as I was reading the book. Sorry about that! :)
DeleteOh my gosh this sounds kinda fun haha!
ReplyDeleteIt was a bit wild!
DeleteDon't feel bad. I'm drawn to these kind of books too. Movies also. LOL
ReplyDeletelol, it's a sickness. The Lifetime movies are the BEST.
DeleteI can't help struggling when I don't like the characters...that is my number one reason to DNF these days!
ReplyDeleteSometimes it works, usually it doesn't!
DeleteOh lord, that plot... LOL!
ReplyDeleteCrazy, right?!
Delete