Book Review: Shadows on the Sand by Gayle Roper (Seaside Mysteries #5)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Strong characters pull you into the story

Cons: Plot a little predictable; point of view works but could be better

The Bottom Line: 

Some strong characters

Make this book hard to put down

As you race to end

Dark Forces in Seaside Might Bring Some Light

I've been a fan of Gayle Roper for years, although I must admit I have fallen behind on her books.  For instance, I've only read one of her Seaside Mysteries before picking up Shadows on the Sand.  While more focused on romance than I what I normally read, I still got very caught up in this book.

The Seaside Mysteries are set in the fictional resort town of Seaside, New Jersey.  It appears each book in the series focuses on a different batch of characters.  While this was the fifth book (and I read the first too long ago to really remember), I didn't find references to past events that confused me at all.  Based on my experience, I feel confident that you could pick up any book in the series and read it without any confusion.

Carrie Carter owns a diner in the resort town of Seaside, New Jersey.  A life long single woman, she has fallen for the dark and brooding Greg Barnes who is still too busy mourning over the loss of his wife and kids three years ago to notice her even though he stops in her cafe every morning for breakfast.

The two are suddenly thrown together when a tenant eviction at one of the apartment complexes Greg manages goes wrong.  With the dishwasher from Carrie's cafe missing, there is plenty of danger to go around.  Will their new love survive the intrigue to come?

Carrie and Greg were real characters from the start, and I couldn't help but root for them to get together.  They each have very tragic histories, and I truly felt for them.  As the book progressed, this lead to several scenes I was reading through tears, both sad and happy.  The rest of the cast also becomes real over the course of the book.

As I mentioned earlier, this is really romantic suspense and not a mystery like I normally read.  It had elements of thriller to it since we figure out early on who the bad guys are, which makes the second half more suspenseful.  As a result, parts of the book were predictable, although I did feel the climax was much stronger than I expected.  Heck, it had me cheering at times as the heroes wormed their way out of their predicament.

The book is written partially from Carrie's first person point of view and partially from several other characters' third person point of view, most notably Greg's.  There was never any confusion switching back and forth since it always happened at chapter breaks.  This helped tell the story, although I think it might have been stronger if Carrie's sections were written in third person as well.

This is a Christian book, so the romance is chaste, which I appreciated.  That element of things helped flesh out the characters and felt natural to me.

Minor complaints aside, Gayle Roper still can tell a strong story that will keep you turning pages.  If you enjoy romantic suspense, you'll enjoy Shadows on the Sand.  I think I'm going to have to go back and revisit the rest of the books in this series.