Review: Shadows on the Sand by Gayle Roper

I loved the first four books in Gayle Roper’s Seaside series – Spring Rain: 1, Summer Shadows: 2, Autumn Dreams: 3, and Winter Winds.  Although all five books are based in Seaside, New Jersey, they can be read in any order or as stand-alones, as the main characters in each book are different, with only a few references to recurring minor characters.  If you want to know my absolute favourite, it’s always the one I read last – whichever one that was.  Each has its own appeal.  So when I found out that Roper had written another book in the series, I was keen to read it.  So, does Shadows on the Sand: A Seaside Mystery (Seaside Mysteries) measure up?  Certainly.  It is now my favourite – at least, until I re-read one of the other books (or the entire series). 

Carrie Carter runs Carrie’s Café, helped by her sister, Lindsay, Ricky (their cook, who is in love with Lindsay), Adie, a teenage waitress, and Jace, her part-time dishwasher.  Adie is madly in love with Bill, who apparently knocked Jace out at a party for spending too much time talking to Adie - but now Jace is missing again, having only recently returned to Seaside after several years with The Pathway, a cult in Arizona.  Carrie is concerned for Adie and her relationship with Bill, as Adie reminds her of the motherless teenage runaway she once was.

Greg Barnes (the Police Chief in previous books) lost his wife and children three years ago in a car bomb attack.  Having resigned from the police force, Greg now works as a property manager for some of the summer rentals around Seaside, eating at Carrie’s every day as he slowly recovers from his losses.  Carrie has been secretly in love with Greg for ages, but he never notices her. 

Meanwhile, Seaside has discovered Twitter, with all the happenings of the town promptly tweeted by an elderly café customer who manages to be wherever something of interest is happening.  This provides both a unique plot device and some amusing moments. 

Shadows on the Sand: A Seaside Mystery (Seaside Mysteries) follows the same successful romantic suspense formula as the previous Seaside novels.  The main story is told in the first person from Carrie’s point of view, and in the third person (which allows us to see the situation from the point of view of Greg and Adie), with both interspersed with brief insights into the mind of the (unnamed) villain.  Underneath, Roper explores recovery from grief, cults and forgiveness in a novel that is amusing, suspenseful and romantic in turns.

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Review: Best Forgotten by Paula Vince

A young man wakes up in hospital remembering nothing about who he is or how he came to be running through the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night, into the path of an oncoming car. The police soon identify him as Courtney Lockwood, return him home and reunite him with his family, but there Courtney finds that the person he feels he is inside doesn't have anything in common with the person he appears to have forgotten, and whose bedroom and life he is now inhabiting. As Courtney begins to explore his life with the help of his girlfriend, Jasmine, he uncovers old issues about his relationship with his father and raises more questions when the police find his best friend has disappeared. Where is Joel? Who is after Courtney, and why?

Best Forgotten explores the question of how much our backgrounds have made us who we are. If you could remember nothing about your past, if you could start afresh, would you be the same person? Vince shows us convincingly how our past is a vital component of the people we have become - but that we do have the ability to change if change is what we want. (And you don't have to have a near-death experience and a case of amnesia.)

I have always enjoyed amnesia stories - the idea is one that captures my imagination, and this is one of the most thought-provoking I have read. It also has an intriguing plot with elements of suspense and romance, strong characters and an underlying Christian theme (without being at all 'preachy'). Best Forgotten is  a book I will enjoy reading again (as I have enjoyed all the Paula Vince books I have read), and a book I can certainly recommend.

Paula Vince lives with her husband and three children in the Adelaide Hills, the setting for her four adult novels.  She has also written the Quenarden trilogy for younger readers.