Dune Road

June 15, 2009
In the latest inviting summer read from bestseller Green (The Beach House), divorced mom Kit Hargrove learns about family, love, and the price of secrets while rediscovering passion for life and her small Connecticut beach town. As the off-season begins, Kit is still recovering from the breakup of her marriage (to solicitous but work-obsessed Adam), working for famously reclusive author Robert McClore, and practicing yoga with her new friend Tracy. Upheaval soon arrives in the form of a mysterious new boyfriend and a long-lost sister, as well as a scandalous secret regarding Kit's much-desired employer. Green's newest has all the right elements for a sun-baked afternoon of reading: sandy locales, hints of sex and scandal, and lots of strong female characters. With three main plots, however, Green tries to pack in too much story, ultimately shortchanging her characters and her readers.

Kit Hargrove, a newly minted divorcée, trades in her luxurious but lonely lifestyle for a cozy house and a part-time job as assistant to a reclusive author. Robert McClore is a man with a past and secrets to keep. Still drawn to her ex-husband, Kit learns about the importance of family and friendships while also discovering that people are not always what they appear to be. Cassandra Campbell has an energetic narration style, but she barely differentiates the voices of the many characters in this story, which meanders through too many subplots, most of which lend little to the main story. All in all, a disappointment. A.C.P. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine