Young woman, twice married, tutors a young lady from a dysfunctional family in their ocean side cottage. A story of her healing and involvement with family.

between 3.5 and 4. this is the best shreve that i've read in a while. i feel like i always like her writing but i'm not always sold on the story; this one is satisfying in both realms. it's a bit odd, actually, because the writing is a bit removed, the characters feel a bit cold, and yet it works. for a character-driven story, i wouldn't have thought that would be true. maybe it's because all of the characters are a bit removed from themselves (with the possible exceptions of julie and mr edwards, but then they don't feel as cold, either). i also, of course, really like the unreliable-narrator nature of sydney's understanding of the situation.

a personal exploration, a sibling exploration, a family exploration. there aren't huge shifts, but there is gained understanding and growth at the end. and really good writing. it makes me excited to keep reading her. ( )

Easy reading story. I could see how Sydney could get wrapped up into the Edwards family and their sons as a result of her emotional state. Amazed how quickly Sydney fell into love with the son. Liked the descriptions of body surfing, the relationship developed with Mr. E, how a house can have a history (especially when it is from other books the author has written), and how drawing and a life was created for the daughter Julie. ( )

Summer on the New Hampshire coast.
I originally read this book back in 2010 and only gave it 3 stars. Then a friend recently gave me an abridged audio version and so I decided to give it another go. The shortened version was more enjoyable and I gave it 4 stars this time around, maybe I was just in the mood for it - or maybe the full version lost my attention somehow.

Sydney is only 29, but has already been divorced from one husband and bereaved from a second. While she reassess her life, she takes on the job of coaching Julie, the not-so-academic daughter of Mark and Anna Edwards. They are spending their summer at the beach house - quite a mansion to be just a summer home - and Julie needs help to get her through her final year at school.
Everything seems fine until Julie's two older brothers, Ben and Jeff, join the family for their summer vacation. Jeff is involved with Victoria, a local girl he's known from childhood, and an announcement is expected. Ben is single. The presence of Sydney rather upturns the apple-cart and events proceed from there.

As others have commented, there was rather too much description of what characters are wearing, which doesn't really add anything for me and starts to irritate after a while. Otherwise, the characters were well drawn, even in the abridged version, and I'd completely forgotten the ending, which helped.

I didn't purposely set out to read all four books in the Fortune's Rocks quartet, in fact, I didn't originally realise that they were connected. I did, however, start to wonder whether the house on the New Hampshire coast that each of the novels revolved around was in some way connected; it seemed it was sharing its history with us through each of the novels. I love the reappearance of characters or features from previous works, so this was a bonus for me.

Fortunes Rocks Quartet (my ratings)
Fortune's Rocks (5 stars)
The Pilot's Wife (5 stars)
Sea Glass (5 stars)
Body Surfing (3, 4 stars) ( )

I like this book very much! I would have enjoyed deeper character development because I wanted to get to know the main character even more; she intrigued me. Or, maybe the circumstances of her life intrigued me so I wanted to know more. This was the first book I've read by Shreve and perhaps this is her style. That said, I couldn't put the book down and I've just purchased 'Testimony' by her and will review after I've read. ( )