Mary Alice Monroe

Life is hard in McClellanville, South Carolina. It was built on shrimping, a difficult and demanding industry that had once been good. With the easy access to foreign shrimp and the decreasing catches over time, more and more people are leaving McClellanville behind. Carolina and Bud Morrison have lived the shrimper's life. They married with much passion and high hopes for the future, but they're marriage is about as vital as Bud's credit. Bud leaves for work on his boat, the Miss Carolina show more in the morning without making Carolina get up to fix him breakfast. She was up with a toothache most of the night and he wanted to allow her some more sleep. Still, they had faught the night before and he left without a kiss. They both remember the glory of their early days together and wonder if the lethargy and lack of forgiveness that has engulfed their marriage is just part of being married for so long. They had no idea what would happen to Bud that day on the Atlantic and how it would change their perspective on everything.

My favorite scene of the novel was the scene where Bud, his father Oz, his brother Buddy, and his cousin Pee Dee found their own secret sweet spot of shrimp and brought in the haul of their lives. Despite the harsh lifestyle required to be a shrimper, it was easy to see why the exhilaration of that day would keep a man working in that craft for life. It's equally easy to understand why a man looking to regain his place in his community and his stature in his family would choose to return to that spot even when the conditions were not favorable. His marriage is rocky and the fact that he can't provide basic dental care for his wife makes him feel even worse. He found magic in that spot of the ocean where the Morrison family stacked their claim thirty years ago. Going back was the only logical thing he could do to save them.

This is the first novel I've read by Mary Alice Monroe. I've only heard good things about her writing and now I see why. From the beginning there was something comfortable and familiar about her prose. There was just something about this story and the way that it was written that felt like home. The simple introduction of Carolina barely awake with a toothache while Bud prepared for the day felt so lived. That passage brought to mind flashes of Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson from In the Bedroom, a movie with just the right tone and lighting for their home and their marriage. Just as in the movie, the characters are real. They don't sleep in full make-up and they are almost simply resigned to their fate.

Last Light over Carolina is a beautiful novel that tells the story of a marriage, a family, and a struggling coastal South Carolina town. What happens to McClellanville and the Morrison's marriage mirror each other. They both have lost the passion that made them what they were. From the moment I picked it up, I never wanted to put it down. Reading this book made it so easy to understand why the life surrounding shrimp is so often romanticized. Despite the hard work and awful hours, the world opens up in a special way only for them. It's no wonder when you Google shrimp boat, you'll find so many oil paintings and watercolors. Just like Monroe's writing, it captures and keeps your imagination. I cannot recommend this novel highly enough. show less

Book on CD read by the author
2.5**

Luz Avila’s mother abandoner her when she was a toddler, and she’s been raised by her grandmother. Now she sets out on a road trip to take her grandmother’s ashes back to her native village in Mexico, an area near the Monarch butterfly sanctuary.

I knew this was a chick-lit, road-trip, find-yourself kind of novel going in. I was intrigued by the link to the monarch butterfly migration, and by the main character’s journey from Milwaukee (where I show more currently live) to San Antonio (where I grew up) and on to Mexico.

There were parts of this story which I really liked. I liked that Luz was a young woman with some uncertainty in her past and uncertainty about her future, who decided to take on this trip without help or assistance. Of course, that’s a somewhat foolish goal, and she DOES need help along the way, but she manages to usually figure out a way to keep going without relying on her boyfriend to rescue her. Brava! I also liked the various people she picks up along the way: Ofelia, Margaret, even Stacie. These characters bring a new way of thinking to Luz, and help her to eventually find her own path.

I also liked that the ending, while hopeful, was NOT just wrapped up in a pretty little happy-ever-after bow.

I was not so keen on the way that Monroe basically dropped the additional characters along the way, however. And I really disliked Mariposa, Luz’s supposedly dead mother. I quickly got tired of her self-imposed guilt trip and how thoughtless she was about Luz and the ofrenda she had worked on to honor her Abuela, Mariposa’s own mother.

In general, I would probably give this 3 stars – an enjoyable, chick-lit read. Except…

Monroe reads the audiobook herself. She clearly has the emotional connection to the book and to these characters, and that comes through on the audio. Her pacing is good, as well. However, her pronunciation of Spanish was so bad that it completely distracted me from the book. I kept yelling at the CD whenever she mispronounced “la Virgen de Guadalupe” and other key Spanish phrases. So, she gets only 1 star for her audio performance, and that brings the entire rating down. show less

It is wedding season in Charleston and the Lowcountry. And boy, is it a treat. A wonderful beach or a fascinating old plantation....decisions, decisions, decisions.

These three half sisters, Carson, Harper and Dora, meld so well together and infuse the story with such charm and grace. The complexities of each character and their relationships seem to compliment and bring diversity to this novel. I was enraptured with where this story was going and where it ended. I so hope there is another show more novel in this series. This was like visiting with old friends.

I do not want to give away a spoiler. Let's just say, Carson and Harper are coveting each other's wedding. This brings on some classic turmoil and squabbles, like you can only see in a family. But, it also brings the sisters closer to each other and strengthens their family bond.

I fell in love with this series in the first book, The Summer Girls. I love the setting of the Lowcountry. I feel like I am there, experiencing the wildlife, the smells and the view.

To say Mary Alice Monroe does a fantastic job is an understatement. I can relate to each sister and I so want to go visit the Lowcountry. I just want to crawl inside this series and live!

I received this novel as part of Simon and Schusters XOXPERTS. show less

Monroe's books normally feature locations somewhere along the South Carolina coast. In this one, everyone is leaving the coast because a hurricane is forecast to hit. The characters share an interest in horses and are all moving inland to Tryon, North Carolina, in the Blue Ridge Mountains where a friend's farm can accommodate the horses. One character "comes out." One reunites with an old friend. One couple ends up trapped on Isle of Palms when they take too long boarding up. The book simply show more wasn't up to the writer's usual quality. While I enjoyed revisiting characters from some previous novels, the story jumped too much, seeming to leave readers wondering when certain threads might be tied up--or if they would remain unresolved. I hope the author returns to the Charleston area for the next installment. I much prefer the beach setting for beach reads. show less