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Carolina Girl (2013)

by Virginia Kantra(Favorite Author)

3.89 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0425251225 (ISBN13: 9780425251225)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Berkley

series

Dare Island

review 1: I won four of the Dare Island books by Virginia Kantra in a Dear Author giveaway. Carolina Girl is the second in the Dare Island books I have read. I read the first one, Carolina Home, about six months ago. I planned to pick up the others in the series, and then other books in the TBR pile got in the way. But I was very excited when I won the rest to continue the journey.These books, so far, can be read as standalones. They have allusions and references to previous happenings, but nothing is so complex as to require an annoying info dump.Meg Fletcher and Sam Grady have known each other for over 25 years. Sam is the best friend of Meg’s older brother. As often happens, Meg had a mad crush on Sam at the age of eight (and a bit more when she was older), but life evol... moreves and they go their separate ways, as is the wont in romance novels.But circumstances conspire for them to be on (guess where) Dare Island again. The reasons for neither are all positive. Sam is helping with an ailing parent, as is Meg. But Meg has other reasons for being there, a lost job and a relationship with a long-term, live-in boyfriend gone awry, she thinks.Anyway, our couple meet up again. Sparks fly. Sparks are acknowledged, again, the fare you would expect in a romance novel. But yet it is not. Ms. Kantra has a way with words, a way with situations that makes you want to just bite your lower lip with joy (or am I the only one that does that?). The humor, the evocation of place and attitude, well, she can do it and she can do it well. I can give many examples of this, but I think one encapsulates her style perfectly. This is a scene when Meg has returned “home” to New York. “She was back, baby. “She was back. The smell of sweat, cement, sewers, and dying leaves rose from the gritty sidewalk. Energy swirled from the street. Meg pressed forward against the blinking light, part of a stream of swarming schoolchildren, office workers rushing home, joggers and pedestrians racing to get in their daily allotment of exercise. She’d always enjoyed the walk home along the railings of Central Park, the elegant architecture on one side of the street, the bright pushcarts and horse-drawn carriages on the other. The city was noisier, dirtier, more frenzied than she remembered, even in the shadow of the fading trees. Taxis blared. Busses billowed exhaust. Snatches of conversation permeated the air.“’ …had a urinary tract infection…’“’Your face is ridiculous.’“’…hammer out a restructuring plan.’“’So I told her…’“’Don’t lick your brother.’”I wanted to wallow in that passage. It transported me back to my trips to NYC. I love not living in NYC. I have never wanted to live in NYC. But I love to visit in NYC. And this is how I feel when I go there. It is an assault of the senses. You can’t absorb it at once. You have to layer your awareness until it becomes a single entity. This passage brought that all back to me.Ms. Kantra’s writing is like that throughout the book. You have a layering, a layering of the physical, a layering of the emotional. This book has a lot going on. There are many stories and subplots going on. You know (okay, I know since I am now in possession of four books from this series) that there will be sequels. But the sequel baiting is not glaring or oppressive. Deus ex machine sequelae, anyone? Okay. I totally made that up. But we have been victim to it. Whether it is a cute British boy in a school uniform or an LAPD homicide cop, we all love a series and hunger for the next chapter. But it is not overbearing here. Pleasant glimpses into what might be. So basically, I love the writing. The characters are people you want to hang out with. You get a sense of family and a sense of place. You want to visit Dare Island and ride a wobbly bike from one end to the other. It is easier to pick up the books than to pack your bags and find a plane to take you there.But here are my negatives. And this is all “just me.” I value loyalty and fidelity. I don’t usually read books when I know there is going to be a breaking of a fidelity by either hero or heroine. So I am a bit conflicted by this. Meg is involved in a six-year relationship with a live-in boyfriend. No, they are not engaged. They split everything half and half, from the mortgage to the sexual favors. The boyfriend is alluded to in the first book and he is set up as, well, not worthy of even boyfriend status let alone anything of a higher nature. But the fact remains, they are in a committed relationship, or at least Meg views it as a committed relationship evidenced by the joint ownership of pricy NYC real estate.So we get it. But the fact remains they are still living together when Meg goes to the island for her many valid reasons. They are still together when Sam and Meg kiss. They are still together when Sam and Meg talk in deeply meaningful ways on levels that “just friends” don’t go. This is not forgotten by either of them. They mention it or think of it often. But the fact remains, their passion is just too great and those details are moot in the action. I really don’t like that. I wish that part had been dealt with earlier. But it wasn’t and the book is great so I guess I should let it go. But I know I am not the only one who doesn’t appreciate the breaking of a trust like that. Yes, you will read the story and go, “Well, he deserves it.” No doubt he does. But that is after-the-fact information.Another issue I have is it is a bit rushed at the end. The actual occurrence of Meg and Sam meeting up again and connecting from what I can tell happens over about a two-month period. That’s fine. They have known each other 25 years. But still Meg deals with family turmoil, loses her job, deals with SO issues, deals with ghosts of her past, changes her whole view of who she is vis-à-vis her career, and on and on (no spoilers here) but in two months she uproots everything and all for the love of a good man. Done and done. But given the constraints and customs of the genre (one I love, not denigrating it at all), it “makes sense,” I guess. I am looking forward to the next two in the Dare Island series. My negatives above in no way keep me from wanting more more more.
review 2: Meg Fletcher is just getting back after spending time with her family in their moment of need. The matriarch of the Fletcher family, Tess, was in a car accident and the Fletchers rallied together in order to get things done. Meg might have enjoyed being with the family on Dare Island, but she is glad to get back to Manhattan, her job, and her long-term boyfriend and roommate Derek. However, the return isn’t anything like Meg expected. Meg is fired on her first day back at her job of twelve years and she loses Derek. Returning to the Island, Meg is picked up by her high-school crush --Sam Grady-- and soon finds herself confiding in him.Carolina Girl is the second book in the Dare Island series. The first title in the series Carolina Home told the tale of her brother Matt, who stayed home on Dare Island. The third book in the series, Carolina Man, continues on with the siblings, telling the story of Luke, a Marine like their father. In Carolina Girl, we get the story of the family's only girl, and readers grow ever closer to this North Carolina family and the values they live by. This series is down home sweet. If you're from NC or just from a small town, you'll be able to relate to the characters in these novels. less

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