Sweet Salt Air

To be released June 18th

 

Good story behind this book.  Many moons ago when my daughter was in elementary school (Not really that many moons but it sounds like a good way to begin) I was the chair person for the used book sale at my daughter's school.  I got this idea that I would contact the book publishers and see if they would contribute books.  OMG some actually did! Thank you Random House. In addition to the books I was placed on some of their newsletters and mailing lists. 
 

Several months ago I received a newsletter. One of the publishers St Martins Press was looking for book clubs to preview this book so I entered on behalf of my book club thinking no way.  OMG we were chosen to preview the book. It was really fun! As always we sat, had a wonderful dinner, kudos to our hostess (who made a dinner that was delish) and some very animated discussion. 

 

This qualifies as one of my summer reads and of course it is a romance novel. It is definitely written for the female audience. I think I speak for all of us when I say that the book is a good beach read and that it would make a great lifetime movie.  This is the type of book that you can’t say too much without revealing too much of the story.  But I will say this much Charlotte and Nicole were best friends who spent every summer on Quinnipeague.  I googled this and it does not appear to exist but it made a great setting for the book.  I grew up on Long Island and while the two don’t really compare, I do remember waking up on a summer day and going down the block to the water.  We lived off a tributary that separated Oceanside and Baldwin.  I loved waking up and getting out early when the sun had just come up and the neighborhood was still asleep. It was so peaceful. I lived in a small community where everyone knew everyone and people rallied around each other in their time of need.  It is sad that you don’t see this sense of community as much anymore.  Many people don’t even know any of their neighbors. I have included a picture of the Nathan’s which was one of only two.  The original was in Coney Island.  It was sad when the restaurant was torn down and a fast food Nathan’s took its place.  SO NOT THE SAME. The big treat in my family was having dinner there on a summer evening.  It didn’t happen often but when it did my brother and I was thrilled.

Charlotte and Nicole had been estranged for years but then Nicole reached out to Charlotte to help her write a local cookbook.  Nicole is a blogger with a big following. The cookbook is to feature local recipes from Quinnipeague where they both had spent many summers together. The two girls are almost considered islanders.

Charlotte is a journalist travelling all over the world.  Charlotte agrees even though she is still haunted by guilt due to an event that occurred ten years ago.  Once there they fall into their old relationship. As a bonus Charlotte discovers Leo.  All is calm for awhile until Nicole unburdens herself and Charlotte follows her lead.  I will say no more.

Here are just a few of the comments we made for the publisher.

We all agreed that our favorite characters of the book were Leo followed by Charlotte and of course the lovable dog Bear.  We all could see why the two were so attracted to each other especially since their family life growing up was completely dysfunctional. Talking about Leo naturally led us to talk about the character Cecily his Mom.  We all felt that her story was not discussed enough in the book and that her life would have made a wonderful addition to the story. It would have given us more insight into what made Leo tick.  Maybe that can be part of another book.

This is a good book if you just want to escape for a few hours.  It’s a good read for the beach or an airplane ride. We enjoyed it!