The Beach at Painter's Cove

There are about a million and one different reasons to be attracted to a book. There's the appeal of the cover. The jacket copy can pique your interest. Sometimes a favorite writer blurbs the book. You hear other readers whose opinions you trust recommending it. The topic resonates with you. You've read and enjoyed the author's other works. And on and on. But a reason we don't often discuss is something as superficial as the name of the character(s) being yours. Shelley Noble's newest novel, The Beach at Painter's Cove, has a gorgeous cover. It sounds wonderful. I've read her novels before and enjoyed them. The topic and themes, a dysfunctional family in danger of losing their long time home, art, and love, completely appeals. But the show more biggest reason I wanted to pick up this book? The characters are Whitakers. I'm a Whitaker. My sister and I were always the Whitaker girls growing up. So even before I cracked open the book, these women felt like family, not that our family is anything like the family in the book, but still... Shelley Noble even spelled Whitaker right. Of course I was going to read this!

Issy Whitaker is a museum exhibit designer who is very sought after. She loves her job, both the creative part and the adrenaline rush of the actual installations. When she was small, her famous actress mother, Jillian, dumped Issy and her older sister Vivienne at Muses by the Sea, the family's seaside mansion and an artist's retreat, with her grandmother Leo, grandfather Wes, and great aunt Fae. Since Issy left home for college, she hasn't been back to The Muses, not even for her grandfather's funeral but when she gets a phone call from her niece, twelve year old Stephanie, telling her that Vivienne has done the same thing their mother did, leaving Steph and younger siblings Amanda and Griffin at The Muses, that Leo has been admitted to the hospital, and eccentric great aunt Fae is no where to be found, Issy knows she cannot just abandon the children much as she wants to. Taking a leave from her job, she heads back to the place that she loves with more questions than answers and walks into a mess about which she had no inkling. As Issy tries to make sense of the situation, she is horrified to discover that the money that her grandfather entrusted to Vivienne's husband to maintain the art work filled house and extensive grounds has gone missing (along with both Vivienne and her husband) and if Issy doesn't come up with a plan quickly, her beloved Leo and Fae will lose everything. And while she's saving the estate, she needs to try and save the rest of the family and herself too.

Any time there are four generations of one family under a roof, there's bound to be conflict but the Whitakers manage to put the fun in dysfunctional. Leo lives in the past, staying as much as possible in her grand love story with the deceased Wes. Jillian, finding it hard to age in Hollywood, has never had much of a relationship with her daughters, especially Issy. Issy has become so laser focused on her career that she doesn't often (ever?) spare a thought for family. And Steph is still just a child but she could be one of the lost so very easily if someone doesn't keep the spark alive in her. The plot here is one that steams along at a good clip although there are some repetitions that could have been eliminated: the retelling of Leo and Wes's love story, Issy's identical grappling with how to save the house at several different points in the novel, and so on. Leo, as the matriarch of the family, didn't quite come together as fully rounded out but the rest of the primary characters made up for that. The secondary characters of Issy's friends Chloe and Ben were a delightful addition to even out some of the tenseness of the family interactions. Great aunt Fae was airy fairy, just as her name implies and although she is an incredibly loyal person, she didn't quite fit with the rest of the family. This is a family who has to learn to untangle their relationships and resentments, to stop pushing each other away, to overcome their lack of understanding, to develop empathy for each other and everyone's limitations, and to work together. In the beginning, the reader needs to persevere past characters who are so wrapped up in themselves that they don't want to do the right thing and that can be hard but it is worth it to see the change in the Whitakers, to appreciate the passion they discover in purpose, and to see them learn about each other and themselves. This is a fun beachy, summer read even if you don't happen to be a Whitaker girl yourself. show less

Don't let this one fool you! Yes, it's a beach read. You can finish it in a couple of sittings. But it also has substance to it. I really grew to love most of the characters — even the ones I didn't like much at the beginning.Mayb of the characters showed growth and I enjoyed watching it happen!

Better than average Chick-Lit. Yes, there’s a little romance, but it’s not smarmy. Yes, the friendship theme and the coming-home theme are there, also. Dysfunctional family, family secrets – yep, got those, too. And a beach! I do wish she'd gotten the details, right, though. A skill saw for cutting up storm-downed branches? C'mon.

As the cover says, “four generations of erratic, dramatic women”, star in this book. And their story is woven around the old home place on the beach, which used to be an artists’ colony. Saving the house, saving the art, saving relationships – is there any better beach read?

I enjoyed reading this book. This is the story of four generations of women who all have their own lives and issues, who come together to save their family history. All of the women are very independent, but they learn that it is good to lean on others sometimes, and that together they can make a difference. The story occasionally jumped around, making it a little difficult to keep track of events, but overall I was hooked from the very start and was engaged through the whole book.

The Beach at Painter's Cove is the first novel from Shelley Noble that I have read and I was very pleased. While this is a very straightforward novel I enjoyed the characters very much and found myself eager to get back to the book when I was away.

If you're looking for lots of surprises and twists you may be disappointed but if you enjoy an interesting story with likable characters you will find much to please you here. The themes of family (what exactly is family?) and community are woven into the story. The couple of character issues I had were not flaws in the book but rather personal preferences I would have liked. But that is true of almost every book so nothing to complain about.

One thought I had during the book (I think one of show more the characters mentioned the idea but I don't remember) concerned whether we do things out of love or obligation when family is concerned. My thinking is that they are not two separate things and in some way hierarchical. We do act out of obligation quite often but the reason we feel obligated is because we love our family, or at least the idea of our family. The obligation is freely taken on and is not forced from without, so there is not the negative connotation often associated with the idea. For my thinking, I prefer to acknowledge that yes, I am acting out of a sense of obligation, but it is a sense of obligation I chose, on my terms, because I love my family. It isn't either/or but both together.

I would recommend this to any reader who enjoys a character driven novel with some suspense but not particularly full of twists and turns. Characters change or, as often, learn what they needed to know to better understand their family members and their family dynamic. Enjoyable, feel good and a quick read.

Reviewed from a copy made available through Goodreads First Reads. show less

This novel has so much that I love: a private beach cove, an old rambling mansion full of art that once was the hub for a community of funky artists and flamboyant characters, add in good friends, a dysfunctional family, and a mystery wrapped around an epic love story.
The hub of the story is the 2 eldest surviving members of the Whitaker family, they own Muses by the Sea, a former renowned artists colony which in present day is falling into disrepair. Leo is the grandmother and her sister-in-law Fae are struggling to keep up with all the maintenance when Leo’s granddaughter Vivienne drops off her 3 children without telling anyone where she’s going and if she’ll be back. Leo’s daughter Jillian is a world famous actress, who is show more always traveling and not reliable, so when an accident happens the only one left to help is Leo’s other granddaughter Issy. Issy, Isabelle Whitaker is a curator, who with her team installs exhibits for Museums and Galleries around the world. She is installing one exhibit, getting another ready to move when, right before the reception, she gets a call from Vivienne’s children begging her to come help them. The future of the children, her grandmother, and Muses by the Sea depends on the choices she’ll have to make.
I’m giving Shelley Noble’s novel 5 stars and putting it on my favorite list, of course I might be a tiny bit bias because I’m married to an artist, but this book has so much going for it that it will appeal to a wide audience. It was the perfect way to start my summer reading. show less

While Shelly Noble’s The Beach at Painter’s Cove is far from the typical novels I tend to read, I like to experience different sorts of authors and I can say I ended up really enjoying it.

It’s basically the story of several generations of the Whitaker family and how they react to a financial crisis situation. Yet the book is full of the love of art, along with a little flight of fantasy involving fairies and an elf king.

Noble is an engaging storyteller and I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys contemporary fiction.