Dune Road

This was the first Jane Green book I read and the feel and style reminds me of Carole Matthews. If you like her books then this is sure to be also your cup of tea and vice versa. It was a a lighthearted, fun and easy read and I liked it. The plot focuses mainly on the 4 women in the book: there’s Kit, who’s recently divorced from Adam, her friend Charlie, married to someone with a job in financing, and Tracy, a yoga instructor. And then there's Annabelle, Kit's unknown sister who turns up out of the blue. A rocky road waits them all, with tough times and some unwanted changes. Add to that a drop of romance and a few secrets and this book is a perfect recipe. ( )

This book presents itself as, I quote, ‘the book to pack in beach bags next summer’.
Now, my definition of the beach book is: fluffy, romantic, easy, and possibly with a little mystery twist.
Dune Road, however, does not check many, if any, of these categories. As the other books I have read from Green so far, this book seems to be tainted by an unhealthy, chilling darkness.
This review will have spoilers, but they are here to make you aware of what you are getting yourself into, as the book description will make sure not to tell you.
For a starter, what the description does not tell you is the amount of alcoholism, drug abuse, domestic violence, and moral degradation present in the book. Here are the details (I am not putting them into spoiler-mode because I think you should really read this before getting into the book. However, if you don’t want to, just do not read further):

Annabelle, the secret sister: She’s an alcoholic who used every possible kind of drug, and went into rehab after overdosing. She has rejection issues since their mother refused to ever get involved with her. She steps onto our heroin's doorstep and tries to take everything from her. She ends up being rejected even further and everyone tries to keep her as far away as possible.
The writer’s mystery: the mystery here is basically that he and his wife were a couple of swingers who hated each other, and he was happy when she had an accident and died.
Tracy, one of the supposed friends: This part definitely sunk the book and pinned it to the not-to-read shelf. She was a victim of domestic abuse from her first husband. So after escaping him, going through a second husband she didn't love, who had a fetish for bondage parties, and finally settling down in a small Connecticut town starting a new life and a business… what does she do? She Facebooks the abusive husband and invites him back into her life. When he obviously becomes abusive again, she goes along with his plot to steal money from the wealthiest man in town, i.e. our writer. Not only she tries to steal money from some of her best friends as well, she also feeds our heroine to her abusive ex-husband as a part of their plot, setting up their first meeting and never guarding her friend from the danger she’s getting into. Well, at the end of the book, she actually falls in love with the writer and confesses everything. The part that enraged me the most is that nobody holds her accountable for her deeds, they do not even as much as blink. Not even the friend that was fed to the abusive man and threated by Tracy like a servant when Tracy starts dating the famous writer! Seriously?! Tracy’s excuse is that she was afraid he would kill her, to stay on the ‘fun and fresh’, so what? You send your best friend to be killed instead? What if she did get sucked in? You lie to everybody because you are the victim? NO. If she asked for help in the end, she was able to do it also before, instead of manipulating everybody, with lies and deception. Annabelle the sister gets crucified, and Tracy is excused in the full? I’m sorry it doesn’t work for me. She even gets married to the millionaire writer.
However, can somebody please explain where is the, I quote again from the book description, ‘fun and fearless adventure’?
There was no fun, and every character was scared to death of one thing or the other. On the other hand, there was plenty of sadness, degradation, violence, and creepiness. KEEP AWAY. ( )

I continue to read Jane Green’s books, thinking they have to get better. So weird, as feel she always sets up the books for a great novel and likeable characters. However, she continues to talk over and over about feelings from the characters as almost overboard, and then forgets the actual story? There is never much of a story or substance, it is more about what this one thinks and that one with lots of drama.
I did like this one better than some of the others as listened to audio as Cassandra Campbell, is easy on the ears and enjoy her performance. All Jane Green’s leave you feeling frustrated with the storylines and unnerving at times. Maybe one day I will run across a real story!
( )

Loved it...such a great read. I just discovered Jane and can't wait to read more of her work.
This was a joy to read and I would highly recommend it. I love the way Jane writes. ( )

I don’t know why I am surprised that I do indeed like the occasional chick–lit. This was definitely in that category, but surprisingly, right off the bat it was engaging, relatable and very predictable. There were a couple of “woest me” moments, but those I overlooked in my pursuit of trying to put a face to the reclusive Best Selling Author and trying to stop thinking of the late Kathryn Joosten whenever the delightful character Edie stepped on the page. A good little summer read. ( )