Guest Review: Beach Trip, Cathy Holton

When we first heard about Beach Trip, my mom knew she wanted to read it right away.  So she had the first crack at the review copy and here are Carolyn’s thoughts!

Beach Trip is a story of four girls: Mel, a mystery writer living in New York, Sara, an Atlanta attorney, Annie, a successful Nashville businesswoman, and Lola, sweet-tempered and absentminded, who all went to college together. After 23 years they agree to go on a week vacation to Lola’s lavish North Carolina beach house. They go here in an attempt to relive the carefree days of their college years. But as the week wears on and each woman’s hidden story is gradually revealed, these four friends learn that they must inevitably confront their shared past: a failed love affair, a discarded suitor, a betrayal, and a secret that threatens to change their bond, and their lives, forever.

I found Beach Trip to be the kind of book that once you start reading it you don’t want to put it down. All the characters in the book are so real and likeable. I would like to be friends with these woman. Mel, with her strength and her inability to have a lasting relationship probably caused by her dysfunctional childhood. Sara, who is struggling with her son’s autism. Annie, who is struggling with her inappropriate affair with a professor in her college years. Lola, whose her sad life has led to her being kept away from her true love and being controlled by her mother and husband. That’s just to name a few of the many things that happen in these woman’s lives told to us by this wonderful author.

Cathy Holton wrote a terrific book. She gives us so much information about each of these woman. She tells us about them from their childhood up to present time. They all have very complicated and very real lives. In so many books you read, everyone is beautiful and has perfect lives. These women could be any one of us. Their parents weren’t perfect and they themselves all made plenty of mistakes. The all survived through the good and the bad.

The only part I didn’t like about this book was I felt that there was excessive drinking of alcohol. I don’t think you need to get drunk to have a good time or to reconnect with your friends.

I would recommend this book, it is a wonderful read. It is a book about real woman and real lives. Read it with a friend because you will want to discuss it with someone as you’re reading it. It also had a shocking ending, which I loved and never saw coming.

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