Review: A Stranger on the Beach by Michele Campbell

 A Stranger on the Beach

by Michele Campbell

Publisher: St Martin's Press

Pages:  352

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  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.

Kritters Thoughts:  Caroline has just finished construction on her dream home on the beach and she is ready to live the beach retired life when a stranger on the beach comes into her life and sets quite a bit of things in motion!

The first half of this book was really hard to read.  It bounced from perspective between Caroline and Aiden - the man on the beach and their chapters conflicted with each other so the reader is left to wonder who is telling the truth or are either of them?  I didn't enjoy this.  I don't mind one character where I question what they were saying but to question everything I was reading was exhausting.  I bounced back and forth between believing one or the other and by the time the truth came out I was tired of it all.  

The second half was good but it wasn't as awesome as I wanted it to be to overcome my feelings of the first half.  I more or less got through this book and that is never a feeling I enjoy.  

I would read another by this author in hopes that the formatting was different.  The characters were fine and the plot was interesting, but this book wasn't meant for me.  I could see how others would enjoy it and if you don't mind a book where you are second guessing everything then this is right up your alley.


Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from St Martin's Press.  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.