Review: Forever Beach by Shelley Noble

Forever Beach

by Shelley Noble

Publisher: William Morrow

Pages: 416

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  
Two women…
One little girl…
Can they forgive the past in order to ensure the future of an innocent child…?

Once a foster child herself, Sarah Hargreave can’t wait to finalize the adoption of her foster daughter Leila. Sarah longs to give her all the love and stability she was denied in her own childhood. She’s put her own friendships and even her relationship with Wyatt, her longtime lover, on hold in order to give Leila her full attention. 

When Leila’s biological mother suddenly reappears and petitions the court for the return of her daughter, Sarah is terrified she’ll lose the little girl she’s come to love as her own. Convinced the mother is still addicted to drugs, Sarah and her social worker enlist the help of high profile family lawyer, Ilona Cartwright. But when they meet, Sarah recognizes her as Nonie Blanchard who grew up in the same group foster home as Sarah. They’d promised to be best friends forever, then Nonie was adopted by a wealthy family, and Sarah never heard from her again. Sarah still hurts from the betrayal. But Nonie harbors her own resentment toward Sarah who she believes abandoned her when she needed her most.

Mistrustful of each other, the two women form a tenuous alliance to ensure Leila’s future, but when Leila’s very survival is on the line, they’ll have to come to terms with their own feelings of hurt and rejection to save the child they both have come to love.

Kritters Thoughts:  Women can be friends and be the biggest support system for each other and this book reminded me that at moments no one else is a better call when you need to vent or an opinion!  Sarah, Reesa, Ilona and Karen are all interconnected and each needs something from someone else in their group.  I loved reading women supporting women.

The other big thing this book taught me was the ins and outs of foster care.  I don't know that I had ever read a book that dealt solely on foster care and not adoption.  From both the perspective of the soon to be mother with a daughter from foster care to the woman who works as a caseworker "in the system."  I loved reading both sides of the coin as a woman is trying to get her daughter out of the system and the caseworker who is trying her hardest to keep her life and job going forward.

I have now read four Shelley Noble books and have rated them 4 stars or above, so I am officially a Shelley Noble fan and need to read her backlist and at the same time can't wait for what comes next!


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.