Reviews

Beachcombers by Nancy Thayer

curlyjessreads's review against another edition

2.0

This book probably has its place, but it wasn't for me. Although it takes on some pretty serious topics, overall it is very surface level. So many of the problems the characters go through are self induced, the resolutions are not realistic, and everything wraps up too pretty in the end. And although this was published in 2010, the resolution to every girls' problems should not be "get you a man"! 😒 Especially when the relationships seem very superficial and surface level. 
Not my favorite. If you're looking for a book where everything works out in the end, maybe you'd like it. 

kimreadz's review against another edition

3.0

I received this advanced copy through the Goodreads 'first reads' program. I enjoyed this book and would give it a 3-1/2 stars if that were possible. This was a good, light story....perfect for an easy summer read. It is fun and with a happy ending, but it is not 'deep'. It would make a good 'Lifetime' movie. The story is about 3 Nantucket sisters who lost their mother 15 years ago, while they were still children. Their father has rented their former playhouse, converted to a cottage, for the summer to a woman who has recently divorced, and he becomes intrested in the woman. The sisters are leery of this. Each sister is unattached when they return to the Island, and, being a good summer story, relationships blossom for all 4 women. Kind of a 'boy meets girl' story......times 4. Though much of it is unrealistic....everything falls into place quickly and neatly...the happy endings are what make these kind of stories fun to read.

bsmith27's review against another edition

3.0

Some parts of this novel really annoyed me. It has to pretend that in order to be happy you must be with a man. The author also sneaks around the story of mental health. At times it seems they blame the victim. It's a quaint novel that will make you think very much. It does have a woman who breaks up a marriage but it seems like she is in the right. Annoying at times had a quaint novel.

wife228's review against another edition

5.0

Bravo, bravo, bravo!!! If I could give this book 10 stars I would. Excellent fast read. Now on to her next one!!!

nickbyers's review against another edition

1.0

Okay, I'll be honest for the first half of this I thought it was going to be like a solid three stars. You know some problems but overall a fine story. But the second half absolutely tanked that I might even change this two stars to one star. I'm not entirely sure. This starts out like a standard beach read. Nothing too difficult. Classic story of several women dealing with radical changes in their lives or circumstances outside of their control. And it goes on like that for a good chunk of time. But then it starts to go downhill. First of all, I don't know why adultery and affairs are such a staple of this genre. There's always an affair in one form or another. Someone is cheating on someone else. It's either happening to the protagonist or the protagonist is doing it. And when the protagonist is doing it, I'm not sure the thought process of the author. How do they expect us to see this character that we're supposed to root for doing something pretty unforgivable sure they dress it up with like? Oh, the circumstances of this marriage aren't good and they don't love each other. Doesn't matter. They're married. They're in a relationship, a committed relationship. So until they're not in a committed relationship, there's no excusing cheating for anyone. Plus in this circumstance the the cheaters delude themselves into thinking that it's actually better for everyone involved that this is happening and it's also better for the child of the married couple that this is happening that the marriage is going to break up because they're not happy. So that brings me to the married couple that Abby is having an affair with the husband. The wife and basically all antagonists in this book are so clear-cut villains, they have no redeeming qualities that they are cartoonish. You are hit in the face that you're not supposed to like these people in any sort of way. You're not supposed to feel any sympathy that it is insulting to me, at least as a reader. Now let's talk about the other relationships that form in the latter half of the book. Emma has no romantic interactions with Spencer but then in the like last 10% of the book he reveals to her that he loves her and wants to get married and they've known each other casually. No dates for like 2 months. Lily also gets into a relationship. She has dates with Jason and they sleep together all this kind of stuff. They get engaged at the end of the book. She is 22 years old and she is getting engaged to someone. She's been dating for 2 months and no one bats. An eye. Everyone's just fine with him. He's like this is completely normal. It's not. Buckwild. Now that I've text to speeched all of this, I'm realizing that this book actually sucks so bad. Like I can't even think of really any redeeming qualities because there's not really any conflict. All conflict is basically resolved without any consequences whatsoever. And it almost feels like the author bit off more than she could chew in terms of how many characters she decided to focus on. So she focuses on four characters but it feels like stuff are just kind of like hand. Waved conflict is handwaved and events are hand waved away because otherwise this book would be even longer than it is. And yes, at the beginning it starts off talking about these three girls and their mom who has passed away. It's implied that she committed suicide don't don't be prepared to hear. Basically anything else about that until a gigantic info dump about their mother in the final chapter like an entire chapter, them dedicated to revealing things about their mother as a mom before she killed herself and I'm like you couldn't have woven this in throughout the book. You had to wait until the end and just drop it all on us. I don't care about this person. I've heard about her a grand total of like two times throughout this book. I don't care that she's dead. I don't care that she killed herself. There's nothing about her that I'm like. Oh man that's too bad. So yeah actually I'm changing this. It's a one star. It's bad.

marysues's review against another edition

lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

stephaniesteen73's review against another edition

3.0

A good, quick read - would be ideal for the beach. An engrossing plot, but it makes me realize what a great author Elin Hilderbrand is...same setting (Nantucket), same subject matter (family drama), yet something was missing.

rebelkiss's review against another edition

4.0

I was really able to lose myself in this book and connect with the characters. I found myself wanting the youngest daughter to be more vocal about what was going on with her.

angela1025's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

jreadsalot's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0