Outer Banks

Rating:
Summary: Can You Go Back?
Review: Anne Rivers Siddons, the author of Outer Banks is comfortable explaining the southern soul, but she also understands the depth of friendships that develop during a young woman's formative years. Many of us can remember the deep friendships we formed when away at college for the first time. We often look at these friendships with idealism and nostalgia.

Kate who is fighting a battle with cancer is asked to attend a reunion with her three closest college friends, Cecie, Ginger and Fig. Kate is unsure that she wants to return or see these friends again. There was a time when she loved them dearly, but that time is long past and betrayals bridge that gap.

Siddons presents a book in which things are not what they seem . There are numerous deceptions and undercurrents beneath the surface of the happy reunion. Each participate has developed their own agenda and their perception of their happy college life differs vastly.

The setting of the outer banks is intriguing and the reader feels the attraction of the sun and ocean. Soon the reader also begins to feel the compelling and seductive force of the waves and is effect on the lives of those of the shore dwellers.

I highly recommend this book to those who enjoy stories about complex relationships

Rating:
Summary: Not for me
Review: I usually enjoy Anne River Siddons, but this book just left me unsatisfied. I thought the twist at the ending was just silly (with Paul and Fig). I have to say this is my least favorite of Siddons' books so far.

Rating:
Summary: had me going until the end
Review: Siddons does a good job of character development and I got into the book. Living near the Outer Banks, being a member of a sorority, and knowing what small town southern life is all about helped to develop a kinship with the main character. But Siddons lost her touch toward the end. She throws such a poor twist in the plot, that it leaves the reader behind and wishing they had never even finished the book. So much effort seemed to be put into the beginning but the end seemed very hastily written.