Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant Characterization in Outer Banks
Review: It's been years since they've seen each other but a reunion of college class mates is about to take place at the Outer Banks of North Carolina. An invitation from Ginger Fowler who owns the beach house there, requests the company of Kate Abrams now a successful interior decorator, Cecie Hart, Kate's former best friend, and Fig Newton, who has become a romance novelist and photograher.
Kate Abrams is the main character in this book. Now married, Kate was a cancer victim but is now out of remission and is somewhat reluctant to reply when this invitation arrives.
Persuaded by her husband, she goes off to the Outer Banks through she knows that the man who has broke her heart years ago will most likely poke his head in one day.
Paul Sibley now married to Ginger Fowler was once Kate's sweetheart. Paul was once the love of her life whom he held in very high self esteem and respect. Imagine him betraying her with one of her own friends, for the sake of money alone!
Kate and Paul Silbey had planned a future together but those plans were not to be. Charismatic Sibley made sure of that by making the wrong move. As they meet at the Outer Banks, new cans of worms are opened and new stories imparted stemming back from their days at college which when revealed is enough to shock the socks off of their lovely feet. Forgiving Ginger Fowler was made easy this time for Kate, for Ginger once the big beautiful Amazon has lost her looks and has deteriorated badly due to her many overindulgences and the daily stress she now faces in her life.
But that's not all that Kate has to settle. She has it out with Fig; accusing her of a multitude of things she has done behind her back in the past and then there's Cecie her former best friend. Although she and Cecie Hart have been talking good and everything with each other and relating about thier lives apart, there is something rather remote and distant about her. However the crunch comes much later when Paul Sibley makes his appearance and all hell breaks loose. But......it's a long way before these days at the Outer Banks comes to a unsuspecting tragic halt. The characters are brilliant and this is one of the books I'll be reading again in the near future. Thanks Ms. Siddons fro the entertainment............I hope more readers will purchase it soon.Heather Marshall
Sept 4th, 2001
Rating: 
Summary: Why did anyone do anything?
Review: Kate apparently couldn't make up her mind. About whom to love, whom to befriend, whom to trust, whom to screw. She seems to drift along attaching herself to others, hoping they will give her an identity. The only thing she does really well is cry. At the drop of a hat. I have noticed crying in all Siddons' books. Crying seems to substitute for deep emotion. Mild emotion. Slight emotion. UP ISLAND was better, but Siddons never seems to lose her Southern Belle persona, wherever she may place her characters.
Rating: 
Summary: Siddons shows brilliance with character development
Review: Outer Banks was the first book I have read of Ann Rivers Siddons', and I was not disappointed. The story was long and drawn out, however it kept my interest well enough that I didn't mind. It would make great summer/beach reading. The very best part about reading this work was the character development. Siddons does a brilliant job in creating and describing several different and distinct characters. They weave in and out of each others lives in believable and interesting ways. As I mentioned, this was my first reading of Siddons' but it will not be my last.
Rating:
Summary: Four Sorority Sisters Come Together Again
Review: Overall, I enjoyed this book fine. It speaks of four sorority sisters from a Southern campus in the 60's. They are bound by a rare, early friendship-spending two idyllic spring breaks at Nag's Head, North Carolina, the isolated strip of barrier islands where grand old weatherbeaten houses perch defiantly at the edge of a storm-tossed sea. The characters in the book are elegant Kate, walking a tightrope over an abyss of lies. Cecie is the sensitive, sensible, self-contained one. Ginger was the heiress, sexy, vibrant, richer than sin, and Fig, the eccentric character, very brilliant yet poor. The book is very good. Very richly written with a lot of detail and description.
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.
Rating:
Summary: Started well, ended poorly
Review: The beginning was captivating and engrossing. Unfortunately, it soon turned into Psycho Sorority Queen on a Rampage. It's almost like Siddons asked Stephen King to finish the book.
Rating:
Summary: I would give 10 stars if I could.
Review: The first novel I read by Ms. Siddons. I believe it is the best novel she has ever penned. I vacation at the Outer Banks in North Carolina, every summer, and I could picture each place she talked about in the novel. Each character is described in such clarity that you feel you know each one. The ending is a great surprise! Well worth your time and dollars spent.
Rating:
Summary: Correcting an error from comment of 1/21/00
Review: The outer banks are in North Carolina....not South Carolina! The book was great
Rating:
Summary: A larger-than-life story with crisp, emotional characters.
Review: This author never disappoints me with her garrulous prose and characters that stay with you well beyond the telling of the tale. The cool, aristocratic Kate, tells us the story of four friends that come together as members of a women's sorority house in college. The tiny, elflike Cecie is closest to Kate's heart, and their friendship becomes the staple of her college existence. Ginger and Fig share the room next door in this campus domicile that fills the hours of all their lives till graduation. Things are not always as they seem and life throws some curve balls that are unexpected by our Kate. These are times of great loves, and friendships, as well as great sorrows. Though devastating as it can be, life must go on and people do survive the disappointment that wreaks havoc with the plans of a lifetime. It is many years later and the women have decided to come together at Ginger's beach house on the Outer Banks. Who is the perpetrator that has manipulated this situation and what lies ahead for the group? It is an engrossing tale from start to finish. Kelsana 6/4/02
Rating:
Summary: Feh!
Review: This has to be my least favorite ARS book. What a disaster. The characters were all way overblown and stereotyped, and everyone just seemed so darn shallow. I like the comment that it seemed like Stephen King finished the book. Very true. Overall, a giant "feh"! Skip this book.
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