Book Review: At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen

After making utter fools of themselves during a New Year's Eve party that ushered in the year 1942, Maddie and her husband Ellis are cut off by her in-laws. Her father-in-law, a former army Colonel, is already disappointed in Ellis because he got out of fighting in the war due to being color blind, and her mother-in-law despises Maddie. Left with nothing, Ellis convinces Maddie and their friend Hank to help him on an adventure to prove himself to his father.

At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen takes us on this adventure to Scotland in search of the Loch Ness Monster. The three travel across the ocean through the middle of the war and land in Scotland, weary and out of their element. Staying in a small inn in a small town, the men expect to be pampered as they always have, but Maddie begins to make connections with the people who work in the inn.

I enjoyed this unusual story, particularly because of the characters. Each is a complex individual with positive and negative traits, although for some these weren't quite as balanced as others. I especially liked the women of the inn, Meg and Anna. Maddie spends a lot of time reflecting on her situation and her marriage as the men go off to hunt the monster. There's a bit of mystery around not only the monster but also the different characters.

While this is historical fiction, and there is a war going on, it's more of a story of one woman's journey to find meaning in her life. It's a bit slow at times, and a bit over the top at other times. But overall, it is a unique story with interesting characters and a bit of a mystery to unravel.

My Rating: 3.5/5

Read an excerpt from At the Water's Edge
Visit the author's website

This review was written based on a copy of At the Water's Edge that I received from Random House through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This post includes Amazon Affiliate links. If you click on one of these links and make a purchase, I will receive a very small commission and your price remains the same.

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Getting back to blogging

It seems that blogging has dropped to the bottom of my list for the past year, and was pretty low for the year or two prior to that. I love to read, and am continuing to do so, but as my regular readers know I haven't been around much. My last blog post was almost a year ago!!

There are many things that have taken me away from blogging. Work has been much more challenging and interesting these past few years, but that means I really don't want to get back on the computer when I get home at night - or on the weekends.

Family life has been more busy with kids having multiple activities in the evenings, leaving little time to just hang out and write about the books that I read.

I will admit to a bit of a Facebook addiction, which means way too much time spent scrolling through my newsfeed instead of doing something more productive. This is one of the things I'm working on and hoping that this will free up some time for getting back to the blog.

Overall, life is good. Work is …

Freedom to Read Giveaway Hop

I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and Mundie Moms are hosting the Freedom to Read Giveaway Hop in honor of Independence Day in the United States, and I've decided to participate.

To stick with the theme of Independence Day, I'm doing what I did last year for this hop:

I'm giving away a book of your choice that is written by an author from the United States.
It can be any genre as long as the author is from the United States. You choose the book (up to $15), and I'll order it and have it mailed to you from Book Depository.

The contest ends on Thursday, July 5th at midnight Eastern Time. The winner will be notified by e-mail. If they do not respond within 48 hours, a new winner will be drawn.

Happy 4th of July! I hope you have a safe and fun holiday!

Enter here:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Now check out all of the other giveaways you can enter at the links below!

Freedom Giveaway Hop

Simply Stacie and I Am A Reader, Not A Writer are hosting the Freedom Giveaway Hop in honor of Independence Day in the United States, and I've decided to participate.

To stick with the theme of Independence Day:

I'm giving away a book of your choice that is written by an author from the United States.
It can be any genre as long as the author is from the United States. You choose the book (up to $15), and I'll order it and have it mailed to you from the vendor of my choice.

To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment below telling me your favorite U.S. author (this doesn't have to be the author of the book you choose if you're the winner). Include your email address so I can contact you if you win. This giveaway is open to U.S. and Canadian mailing addresses only. I've decided to open this up to international entries as long as Book Depository ships to your address.

For extra entries:
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