3.2 out of 4 stars.
It is NO “Me Before You”.
Moyes toys between a mystery, a love story, and a moral compass plot line in “Silver Bay”. I, myself, was less interested in the love story and wanted more of the crime that took place before the book began (of course).
I was a huge fan of Jojo Moyes’ “Me Before You” so my standards were set high that at least I would get a memorable romance between the main characters, Liza and Matt, if nothing else. Unfortunately, I didn’t connect with Liza and Matt’s spark so I took interest in the alluded crime that Liza was on the run from and why she began her life in Silver Bay when she was originally from England. All sounds crazy right? Let me back up.
The book’s premise is unique which I did enjoy. It takes place in Australia’s Silver Bay where Liza lives with her Aunt Kathleen and her daughter Hannah. As mentioned earlier, Liza ends up in Aussie for reasons we are not sure until the end, but we know early on that Aunt Kathleen has made herself quite a household name in those parts for her love of the sea and her scrappy attitude.
The area has a love for whales and dolphins and sea touring is one of the ways that the three women make their money. The other is the small inn that they have that is more vacant than not. This is until Mike is welcomed into the story.
He is an English business man that sticks out like a sore thumb with his pressed shirts and khakis when he arrives to the fisherman roughneck land. He is on location to map out plans for his company to build a multi dimensional resort with water recreational sports. Do you smell trouble yet? A guy that isn’t too concerned with putting people out of their homes if it is means making the big bucks (insert moral compass scenario).
A LOT of things happen from here on out and this book does have some awesome zings put in there. I think it is a situation of SO many things and too little time it had me feeling a little lost. I believe Moyes could of picked and chose a few things to really zoom in on. Instead the reader digs into them all. Mind spin!
I will leave you with that because I don’t want to tell you the whole book. Especially because this post would be a novel in itself if I was to tell all the talking points that were brought up in here. I think it is a worth while read but nothing you have to race to the store for. I would 100 percent read “Me Before You” if you haven’t and really see what Moyes can really do!
To mix it up here is a picture of Sparky after he finished the book:
