Seashell Season

Available” June 28. 2016

Thank you to NetGalley.com and to the publisher for the ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

While child abduction/missing children novels are a hot topic right now – they typically only deal with the suspenseful search of finding the missing child. Very few books deal with the aftermath of the situation and the daily trials of building a relationship between parent and child. “Seashell Season” moved at a really slow pace – too slow for me and I began to get annoyed and frustrated by the book. I had felt like I had been reading forever and had to be at least halfway through the book. I looked down at my Kindle – nope – 27%. UGH!

What I loved: Both Verity and Gemma/Marnie kept addressing the reader directly within their chapters. Are they talking to me? Am I like their therapist? It’s a little weird to be talked to but really never addressed when you first start reading the book but its different – and different can be good.

What I didn’t love: Verity sucks as a mother. I get it – her child was ripped away from her as an infant and she never had a chance to become a mother but I think even if Gemma/Marnie was there for the full 17 years she still would have sucked as a mother. She’s too rigid, too afraid of her feelings, too judgemental, too ANNOYING! She doesn’t accept her daughter as her own person but rather expects G/M to be an automatic extension of herself and is offended when G/M is completely different.

What I learned: Nurture wins over nature – almost every time

Overall Grade: B-

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