Ten Beach Road

Madeline is a suburban mother of two children who have now left the nest. She is all set to begin a new phase of life when she discovers that her husband lost his job and has been keeping it a secret from her for months. Avery and her ex-husband host a “do it yourself” show on HGTV. She’s not happy that she has been reduced to slightly more than a pretty prop, but she’s even less happy when she finds that she’s been fired from the show. Nicole is a matchmaker for the rich and famous, but she has been cheated out of most of her savings by someone she trusted more than anyone, Malcolm Dyer. Nicole may have lost her money, but she is even more afraid of losing her reputation. She wants to make sure no one realizes Malcolm Dyer is her brother. These women seemingly have nothing in common until they find out that they, along with countless others, have all lost their life’s savings to the scheming Dyer. Madeline, Avery, and Nicole find that they have each been awarded a third of an upscale beach house as part of a settlement against Dyer. When they meet up in Florida to take a look at the house, they find it is in a terrible state. They decide to spend the summer remodeling the house themselves, with the help of the “not so friendly” neighborhood contractor. If they succeed, the house should be worth millions more by Labor Day. The job is harder than any of them can imagine, and they’re each hiding secrets that burden them even more than the back breaking work. When they finally begin to open up to one another, they discover a companionship that will get them each through the toughest summer of their lives.

I wasn’t sure I was going to love this story when I began reading it. It was certainly an interesting premise for a novel, but Madeline’s storyline took a long time getting established, and I had a hard time connecting with her character at first. The setup for Avery’s and Nicole’s stories seemed to go more quickly, and when the three women finally arrived at the beach house and started interacting I really started to enjoy the book.

The dynamic between Chase and Avery seemed a little silly and forced at times. In fact it actually kept me from sympathizing with Avery for most of the story. “Two people who fight all the time but secretly like each other:” it’s an old story, but a lot of the time I was just wondering WHY they were both so angry and immature. When the explanations were finally made, I found myself saying, “That’s it?!” I think I would have been more satisfied with a more dramatic reason for Chase’s rude treatment of Avery. I prefer a dynamic such as there was between the two main characters on Moonlighting (played by Cybil Shepherd and Bruce Willis). They annoyed each other often, and they did fight, but they were clever about it and less irate. The relationship between Nicole and FBI agent Joe could have been cliché and frustrating too, but I thought Wax handled it well. At least Nicole could admit she was attracted to Joe, and it was completely understandable why the two characters were at odds.

**SPOILER ALERT** I love the unpredictability of the ending. The author gave a couple of hints, but I thought NO WAY would disaster ever happen. I thought the author would never dare do that to the reader who had so much invested in the blood and sweat of these characters. It would be too frustrating, but she DID dare! Even more amazing was that somehow I was okay with it, and I still had a happy feeling of hope when the story ended. Now that is really exceptional! If a writer can give the reader a “worst case scenario” ending and still leave the reader satisfied, I can’t help but be very, very impressed. I was also really glad that all of the romantic relationships weren’t tied up in neat little bows at the end. The reader can use her imagination and write a Jane Austen style ending if she so wishes, but it was much more realistic to leave some questions unanswered.

This book could definitely be qualified as “chick lit” in that I don’t think the story would appeal to most men, but I am categorizing it in a new category. I like to call it “chick lit plus!” It has a little bite to it, a little edge. It’s not as fluffy as say one of Sophia Kinsella’s Shopaholic books (which I do enjoy from time to time J). I read this selection for my book club, and I probably wouldn’t have picked it up on my own. But now that I’ve read it, I’d actually recommend it to my friends who enjoy the “chick lit” genre. The best compliment I can give this book is that I stayed up late finishing it, and the night after I got in bed and was disappointed when I realized I would no longer be reading Ten Beach Road.