The Rose Petal Beach by Dorothy Koomson
Released 30th August 2012
Paperback 416 pages
Publisher Quercus
Rating 5/5
Source Purchased
Summary...
Every love story has a dangerous twist. Tamia Challey is
horrified when her husband, Scott, is accused of something terrible - but when
she discovers who his accuser is, everything goes into freefall. Backed into a
corner and unsure what to think, Tamia is forced to choose who she
instinctively believes. But this choice has dire consequences for all
concerned, especially when matters take a tragic turn. Then a stranger arrives
in town to sprinkle rose petals in the sea in memory of her lost loved one. This
stranger carries with her shocking truths that will change the lives of
everyone she meets, and will once again force Tamia to make some devastating
choices...
My thoughts...
I am a long standing fan of Dorothy
Koomson, from The Cupid Effect to My Best Friends Girl to Goodnight Beautiful.
Her latest offering, The Rose Petal Beach is in true Dorothy style and did not
disappoint one bit.
The story focus’s around Tami, a wife
and mother who has a seemingly perfect life – two beautiful children, a
stunning home, gorgeous husband, her dream job and a life that she had always
dreamed of. Then one day, all that she knows about her life comes crumbling
down around her, with dire consequences, where nothing will ever be the same
again.
The tale is told from various
different angles – Tami, her best friends Mirabella and Beatrix and newcomer
Fleur. Mirabella and Beatrix both live in the ‘close’ – Mirabella works with
Tami’s husband Scott and Beatrix is like a member of the family and Tami’s
oldest friend. And Fleur pops up out of the blue one day, revealing secrets to
Tami about one of her best friends, but is it too late to change things?
Tami, like so many of Dorothy’s
leading ladies, is a strong, fiery, heroic woman, a true protector to all of
those that she loves and someone that I think so many people can relate to. If
I were faced with situations like Tami, I would hope that I could be just like
her and handle the grief, betrayal and deception with that much dignity.
The Rose Petal Beach does fit into
Dorothy’s usual genre of ‘Chick Lit’ but with the fast pace, edge of your seat,
page turning, roller coaster that you get from a crime thriller. The chopping
and changing from character to character really keeps the story going and left
me wanting more after each chapter, I even stayed home on Saturday reading
until I had finished the book as I needed to know how it ended!
One thing I love about Dorothy is her
ability to create such interesting characters. In this book each of them change,
some more dramatically than others, however they are all believable. She
develops them over time and in a way that you can believe. Take Scott for
example – he starts off as a kid from the wrong sort of background, he grows up
and takes a different direction from his family, he is then a loving husband
and father who would do anything to make his family happy, he then becomes a
career focus, his ego takes over causing his marriage to suffer and the rest
you will find out about in the book. Scott goes from one extreme to the other,
but I didn’t think at any point that it had been taken too far.
The ending isn’t all happy and jolly,
where everyone kisses and makes up, like most chick lit’s, but it is fair to
all of the characters. It must have taken a lot of time to decide what to do
with each of them, but I think it was fitting and believable.
I cannot recommend this book enough,
The Rose Petal Beach is a story that be read by both men and women and I can
really see that being made into a TV drama.
I LOVED this book and cannot wait to
read more from the lovely Dorothy Koomson.
