By: Joanne DeMaio
ASIN: B00BORGOVC
Publisher: Joanne DeMaio
Publication Date: 3/1/2013
Format: Other
My Rating: 5 Stars Street Blog Tour New York Times Bestseller! Escape to Stony Point, cuff your jeans and walk along the water's edge in this nostalgic story bringing old friends, and their lives, back to the sea. After years of pursuing a denim design career, Maris Carrington never imagined trading her Chicago studio for a New England shingled cottage. But a forgotten home movie tucked inside a dusty attic box leads to an unexpected summer ... One of uncovering family secrets while settling her father's estate, one of inheriting a forlorn German shepherd, one of reconnecting with old friends on a weathered boardwalk, beneath starlit skies on a beach nestled in a crook of the Connecticut coast.
Her design career had become a shell, curving around her like the intricate whorls of a conch, shielding her until now. Until fried clam dinners and carousel rides beckon a lost love. But can Maris ever really go back? Can these beach friends ever be who they were to each other all those summers ago? Now one of her circle is dead; another unemployed and struggling in a tenuous marriage; another regretting a fateful decision; while one is missing a mother, ever seeking a connection she longs for.
To the backdrop of seaside cottages and a boarded-up beach hangout, to the soundtrack of whispering lagoon grasses and a vintage jukebox, Blue Jeans and Coffee Beans asks if we can really design our own lives, or if our fate lies somewhere in the stars.
My Review
BLUE JEANS AND COFFEE BEANS was my first read by Joanne DeMaio and loved it! Since this time I have read all her newer books, and each one is unique and engaging. The characters begin their journey here.
There are so many stories within this charming read and great takeaways. Each character brings a unique part to the novel –each of the characters is dealing with demons of their own and the soothing seas of this quaint beach town of Stony Point help them all face their fears and begin healing.
A story of real life and connections, friendships, family, loss, secrets, regrets, and love. A captivating story which was hard to put down. You will fall in love with the characters and the writing style of seamlessly connecting the past with the present.
Maris is a fashion designer from Chicago who travels back to her favorite beach town to tie up loss ends from her father’s death while considering a marriage proposal from a corporate attorney in Chicago.
Jason is still guilt-ridden after his brother’s death-a successful architect who returns home to this same beach town to deal with his demons. Could he have a life with Maris-something started years ago?
Eva, her oldest friend, is someone to whom Maris feels a very close connection. The others, like Lauren, Kyle, and especially Jason Barlow, whose life has tragically taken its toll on him....their connection also tugs at her, and as she extends her time at the beach, she begins to believe that there is more in this town for her. This sea environment is inspiring her as she completes her designs.
While Eva is looking for her real mother, Maris finds out she has a sister out there somewhere, Lauren and Kyle fight for a life outside of Neil who died in accident years ago. This book holds so many mysteries and lives begin to come together.
Each of the friends has a secret they are carrying around from their past. One by one, they reveal the tragedy that keeps them from the life they are seeking. Life throws us curves and sometimes what does not kill us makes us stronger.
My top New England author! An avid fan; everything the author writes is brilliantly crafted and compelling, and the characters linger long after the book ends.
Highly recommend, along with Joanne’s other novels, Whole Latte Life, Snowflakes and Coffee Cakes, True Blend, The Denim Blue Sea, Snow Deer and Cocoa Cheer, and Wishing on Snowflakes. You have to read them all. It is like visiting special friends. All 5 star winners.
Now, please: Wishing for a Hallmark TV series!
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About the Author
Joanne Demaio is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary fiction. She enjoys writing about friendship, family, love and choices, while setting her stories in New England towns or by the sea. Joanne's novels include the New York Times Bestseller Blue Jeans and Coffee Beans; Whole Latte Life, a Kirkus Reviews Critics' Pick; Snowflakes and Coffee Cakes, a USA Today Bestseller; True Blend; The Denim Blue Sea; and Snow Deer and Cocoa Cheer. Her latest books are Beach Blues and Wishing on Snowflakes, a wintry keepsake collection. Joanne lives with her family in Connecticut and is currently at work on her next novel, due out in 2017. Read More
