Book Review: Sweet Salt Air by Barbara Delinsky

Sweet Salt Air
Author: Barbara Delinsky
Genre: Contemporary/Women's Fiction
Release Date: June 18, 2013
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Buy Links: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

Description:

On Quinnipeague, hearts open under the summer stars and secrets float in the Sweet Salt Air...

Charlotte and Nicole were once the best of friends, spending summers together in Nicole's coastal island house off of Maine. But many years, and many secrets, have kept the women apart. A successful travel writer, single Charlotte lives on the road, while Nicole, a food blogger, keeps house in Philadelphia with her surgeon-husband, Julian. When Nicole is commissioned to write a book about island food, she invites her old friend Charlotte back to Quinnipeague, for a final summer, to help. Outgoing and passionate, Charlotte has a gift for talking to people and making friends, and Nicole could use her expertise for interviews with locals. Missing a genuine connection, Charlotte agrees.

But what both women don't know is that they are each holding something back that may change their lives forever. For Nicole, what comes to light could destroy her marriage, but it could also save her husband. For Charlotte, the truth could cost her Nicole’s friendship, but could also free her to love again. And her chance may lie with a reclusive local man, with a heart to soothe and troubles of his own.

 Bestselling author and master storyteller Barbara Delinsky invites you come away to Quinnipeague…  

Sweet Salt Air is a contemporary women's fiction novel that focuses on two women, Nicole and Charlotte, who were once best friends on the island of Quinnipeague. Since growing up, Nicole and Charlotte have slowly grown apart and lost the close relationship they once shared. Nicole is a travel writer, and when she is assigned to write a book about island food, she immediately invites her old friend to accompany her back to their childhood home. While there, both women must face the secrets they've kept from themselves and each other - and may cost them dearly if brought to light. Will they be able to fully open up to each other once again or will the secrets they have kept for so long tear their friendship apart?

This was a beautifully written and heartfelt novel of friendship, love, loss, and the power of healing. The setting was perfect for the story - the small island of Quinnipeague really drew me in to the world that the author created. She tells the story with such detailed description and vivid imagery that I could easily imagine myself on the island alongside the characters. Speaking of the characters, Nicole and Charlotte were great leads in the book. Their relationship is long standing and full of complex emotions and secrets - just like most friendships are. I really enjoyed reading about both women and their relationship with each other as well as to others in their lives. The author did a superb job of creating a layered storyline for each character and then entwined them to make the overarching plot. All the parts flowed effortlessly together, creating a wonderful novel. The writing itself showcases the author's immense talent and her knack for revealing  the complex nature of friendship and of people themselves. I highly recommend this book for fans of contemporary fiction and women's fiction - or for those readers who would like to sit back with a fantastic summer read.

I was born and raised in suburban Boston. My mother’s death, when I was eight, was the defining event of a childhood that was otherwise ordinary. I took piano lessons and flute lessons. I took ballroom dancing lessons. I went to summer camp through my fifteenth year (in Maine, which explains the setting of so many of my stories), then spent my sixteenth summer learning to type and to drive (two skills that have served me better than all of my other high school courses combined). I earned a B.A. in Psychology at Tufts University and an M.A. in Sociology at Boston College. The motivation behind the M.A. was sheer greed. My husband was just starting law school. We needed the money.

Following graduate school, I worked as a researcher with the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and as a photographer and reporter for the Belmont Herald. I did the newspaper work after my first son was born. Since I was heavily into taking pictures of him, I worked for the paper to support that habit. Initially, I wrote only in a secondary capacity, to provide copy for the pictures I took. In time, I realized that I was better at writing than photography. I used both skills doing volunteer work for hospital groups, and have served on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and on the MGH’s Women’s Cancer Advisory Board.

I became an actual writer by fluke. My twins were four when, by chance, I happened on a newspaper article profiling three female writers. Intrigued, I spent three months researching, plotting, and writing my own book - and it sold.

My niche? I write about the emotional crises that we face in our lives. Readers identify with my characters. They know them. They are them. I'm an everyday woman writing about everyday people facing not-so-everyday challenges.

My novels are character-driven studies of marriage, parenthood, sibling rivalry, and friendship, and I've been blessed in having readers who buy them eagerly enough to put them on the major bestseller lists. Family Tree was published in 2007, The Secret Between Us in 2008, While My Sister Sleeps in 2009, Not My Daughter in 2010, and Escape in 2011. Sweet Salt Air, my latest, is a 2013 publication.

2013? Yikes. I didn’t think I’d live that long. I thought I’d die of breast cancer back in the 1900's, like my mom. But I didn’t. I was diagnosed twelve years ago, had surgery and treatment, and here I am, stronger than ever and loving having authored yet another book, this one the non-fiction Uplift: Secrets From the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Survivors. First published in 2001, Uplift is a handbook of practical tips and upbeat anecdotes that I compiled with the help of 350 breast cancer survivors, their families and friends. These survivors just ... blew me away! They gave me the book that I wish I’d had way back when I was diagnosed. There is no medical information here, nothing frightening, simply practical advice from friends who’ve had breast cancer. The 10th Anniversary Volume of Uplift is now in print. And the money I’ve made on the book? Every cent has gone to my charitable foundation, which funds an ongoing research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Visit my Facebook Fan Page: www.facebook.com/bdelinsky (Taken from Goodreads)


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