Review & Giveaway: Ten Beach Road by Wendy Wax

  About ( from Wendy Wax Website):

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 that 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 on is going to save them but themselves. Determined to fight back, they throw their lots in 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…

My Thoughts:

Ten Beach Road is a perfect book for summer reading. You will find yourself escaping into a compelling story of friendship, perseverance, love and determination.  Madeline, Avery and Nicole are three women from different backgrounds and life experiences and they find their lives thrust together as they all invested and lost money with a man who ended up running a ponzi scheme. They are each awarded partial ownership of Bella Flora, a mansion on Ten Beach Road in Pass-A-Grille, Florida as compensation for the money they lost. Once the women meet to assess the property, they realize that their "mansion" is a run down beach front property in severe neglect. They decide to move forward and restore the historic Bella Flora beach house to it's former glory in hopes of selling it and recouping some of the money they lost. They decide to take on this challenge which requires a lot of hard work, determination and ingenuity. As the story unfolds, the three women have to pull up their bootstraps, quite literally, and challenge themselves beyond their comfort zones. They learned new things about their ability to struggle and  survive and become stronger as well as being able to work with others that were strangers at the start of their journey. They learn new things about themselves along the way as they discover the power of friendship and how much they are being restored personally as they restored this beautiful home. 

Ten Beach Road is a wonderful example of the power of friendship and the strength and determination we can find within ourselves when we persevere even when the going is rough and we want to give up. I loved that focus on female friendship and the mother daughter relationships that were highlighted as well.  Wendy Wax did a wonderful job developing strong characters  and relationships which were well developed and realistic. She also drew vivid descriptions of the Florida coast and beachfront area, so much so that it made me want to head to the beach and hear the waves crashing against the sand. 

If you're looking for a great summer read, definitely pick up a copy of Ten Beach Road and add it to your summer beach bag.  Add a bottle of wine and some cheese doodles and you'll fit in with the ambiance perfectly.  Ten Beach Road would also be a great summer book club pick, it's available in paperback and there is a Reader's Guide at the back of the book.

Thanks to TLC Book Tours  for providing me an opportunity to be part of the book tour for  Ten Beach Road by Wendy Wax. You can visit all the other tour stops here. Be sure to check out Wendy Wax's website as well as checking her out on Facebook.

*GIVEAWAY DETAILS*

I have one copy of Ten Beach Road to give away complements of TLC Book Tour and the publisher, Penguin.

To Enter: GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED

For 1 Entry: All you have to do is leave a comment about this review and what you found interesting about Ten Beach Road. Make sure to include your email address (no email, no entry)

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Open to US and Canada only.


Enter by June 26, 2011   GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED