To summer tourists, it's the crown jewel of the town's stunning scenery. To the residents of Whiskey Beach, it's landmark and legend. To Eli Landon, it's home...
A Boston lawyer, Eli has weathered an intense year of public scrutiny and police investigation after being accused of murdering his soon-to-be ex-wife. And though there was never enough evidence to have him arrested, his reputation is in tatters as well as his soul. He need sanctuary. He needs Bluff House.
While Eli's beloved grandmother is in Boston, recuperating from a nasty fall, Abra Walsh has card for Bluff House, among her other jobs as yoga instructor, jewelry maker, and massage therapist. She is a woman with an open heart and a wide embrace, and no one is safe from her special, some would say over-bearing, brand of nurturing - including Eli.
He begins to count on Abra for far more than her cooking, cleaning, and massage skills, and starts to feel less like a victim - and more like the kind of man who can finally solve the murder of his wife and clear his name. But Bluff House's many mysteries are a siren song to someone intent on destroying Eli and reaping the rewards. He and Abra will become entangled in a centuries-old net of rumors and half-truths that could pull them under the thunderous waters of Whiskey Beach...
Comment: As many who come here know, I'm a fan of Nora Roberts. As with all authors, I like some of her books better than others. I'm happy to have enjoyed this one as well, I must say I'm truly satisfied she's getting good books lately after some not as well done titles.
This novel tells the story of Eli Landon, a man accused of murdering his wife but he's in fact innocent and nothing was ever proved despite the evidences. After a unspeakable year, Eli has come to Whiskey Beach, to his grandmother's house, to look for it while she's recovering from a fall. Eli feels like a recluse at first but soon he can't say no to what life has to offer, being it food, fighting back or even trying to be happy again. With a little help from his housekeeper/cook/potential girlfriend and some well intended people from the village where he spent great years in this boyhood, Eli will get his feet back up and reclaim who he was and what he always loved.
I think this was well achieved romance. The author has a trademark, a certain style that evolved with the years and experience but many can't enjoy her works at their full potential. Personal taste is like that. Personally, I like her wok, one of the things I tire off is how the lives of her main characters are perfect or close to it even if they weren't in the past. I guess I'd like to see some not as successful people, maybe with not so well done jobs...Abra multi-tasks her many occupations and among them is cleaning. She cleans houses, she does odds things, teaches yoga and has a dream and I thought great, some wonderful characters doing not such a glamorous job...but after learning her past I just sighed because it wasn't as simple as she being a simple character. Well, one has to take things as they come, I guess...
Apart from this and the constant feel of perfection, being it jobs, occupations, ideals, ways of behaving and dealing with life, people, things that ms Roberts always gives to her books and her wording, I must say I enjoy her stories quite a lot...even when the bad guy speak, something I wouldn't mind not having.
Eli is a fascinating character. He was wrongly accused, tried to distance himself from the ugliness of things but only on Whiskey Beach he got some peace. I thin he has an interesting evolution, from surly, not paying attention to things around him to become someone concerns, interested in what is happening, in what has happened in the past, in trying to prove he wasn't the guilty many thought him to be...I think his evolution was well done, well paced and for the most part, I liked seeing him change, getting better, moving along. Of course, I'd change a thing here and there, but it's only a matter of personal perspective, nothing major if one thinks about the big picture.
Abra is an even more fascinating character and I like all her facets..well, apart from one tiny detail but, once again, that's me. She helped Eli a lot and I really liked their interactions, the way they supported each other on the fiction level and as two clashing but fitting characters in a book. Their ending seemed rushed, not because their romance wasn't well done or balanced because it felt like it, but mainly because it seemed it was there just because...that could have been worked out a little better.
The main mystery was intriguing, as always, what happens until we see things solved is the key to enjoy the book and in this case it worked, I was curious and interested. The final resolution once again seemed the easier path and although understandable, it also could have worked out better. But all in all, not that bad.
In the end, another interesting, good book. Not her best of my favorite, but much better than some and certainly worth the time. I hope she keeps going with this vibe of good books in what's to come.
Grade: 8/10
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