Beach Trip: A Novel (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Break out the tissues, sunblock and margarita mix as four old friends reunite after 23 years for a beach party in Holton's feast of Southern friendship (after The Secret Lives of the Kudzu Debutantes). Mel, Sara, Annie and Lola head out to Wild Dunes, a beachfront palace owned by Lola's super-rich husband on exclusive Whale Head Island in North Carolina's Outer Banks. Spacy Lola is miserably married and leans heavily on medication to deal with her husband's manipulations. Obsessive-compulsive Annie still broods over a college fling with a married professor even though she's got a great husband. Social worker Sara still envies glamorous Mel, a witty crime novelist (I'll Sleep When You're Dead is her latest) living in New York who's unlucky in marriage. At 45, each stands at a familiar crossroads covered by many novels of the midlife-empowerment genre, but Holton refreshes the action with winning humor, especially with Mel, whose take-no-prisoners attitude inspires everyone to embrace their present and let the past go. (May)
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Review

Praise for Cathy Holton’s novels:

“Holton’s headstrong heroines deliver homespun wisdom and hearty laughs. . . . Uproarious.”
—Booklist, on The Secret Lives of the Kudzu Debutantes

“Holton has a lively, fluid style that shifts easily among the viewpoints of several characters and goes down as easily as sweet tea.”
—The Boston Globe, on Revenge of the Kudzu Debutantes


From the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; First Edition edition (May 12, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345505999
• ISBN-13: 978-0345505996
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #95,240 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One that caused me to lose sleep ..., May 27, 2009

By	Holly Kincaid "Book addict" (Fishers, IN USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is the story of four women who graduated from the same small, liberal arts college in North Carolina in the early 1980s. The women are all very different and yet have a bond that seems to hold them together even when circumstances should tear them apart. The book moves between their college years and 2005 when they all get together for the first time after college at the luxurious beach-front cottage owned by one of the women's husbands.

I was expecting a light, fun summer read along the lines of a Debbie Macomber book but it is much, much more complex and much deeper than that. The characters are well developed and are dealing with the life choices they have made and where those have lead them. Unfortunately, I actually didn't get enough sleep a couple of nights because I couldn't put the book down and turn out the light. This author really knows how to tell a story ! Great writing and some very insightful portions. Each character is three-dimensional with flaws and strenghts exposed -- I came to care about them all.

I will definitely be seeking out other books by this author and will be recommending this book to friends.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Substance Outshines Frothy Title, May 13, 2009

By	Mr. August "Literature lover" (Highland Park, IL) - See all my reviews

The strength in this novel was the characters' ability to stretch and rearrange the truth. Meet Mel, Sara, Annie and Lola, women in their 40's who plan a reunion at Lola's luxurious North Carolina beach house. They are graduates of a prominent liberal arts college in the 1980's which sets the tone that readers will be privy to the lives of educated, complex women.

Holton moves us back and forth from the 1980's to the present 2005. These are southern women with diverse backgrounds: Mel is wealthy, beautiful and can commit to friendship, not marriage. She is a succesful mystery writer who comes off as a harsh critic of her friends and their life decisions. Sara is beautiful, an attorney with solid parents, but appears to be consumed by guilt. Annie, the weakest character, had a discretion during their "carefree" college days which she cannot seem to absolve herself. And Lola, beautiful Lola, with the traditional southern mother who only cared about tradition foisting her daughter into a troubled adulthood.

In an attempt to reconcile their lives, they spend days together unraveling their past and connecting it to the present. Holton's flashback to the womens' southern upbringing gave me the strongest insight to interpret the present. Holton showed off her solid southern writing when she wrote of the past. I believe the plot was weaker during the day to day activities of the reunion. There is a great, satisfying twist at the end, and I was assured that Holton's theme of strong women was justified. The title, "Beach Trip" suggest a chick lit superficial story. It is not. The title should have been more representative of the comedic and literary talents of this writer.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Can you go home again?, May 24, 2009

By	mellion108 (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews

One of the challenges of friendship is if it can weather and survive the things life throws at it through the years. Mel, Sara, Annie and Lola became friends at their small, private, all girls' school in the early 80s. They've managed to at least stay in touch with one another and now find themselves in their 40s - the kids are growing up or have already left the nest, some men have come and gone, careers have waxed and waned, and each woman has significant questions about the next stage of her life.

Lola, the starry-eyed waif who married an ogre with more money and power than compassion and humanity, invites her friends to spend a week with her at her new beach "cottage" on Whale Head Island in North Carolina. Successful, single, more-mouth-than-sense Mel flies in from New York. She's between novels and trying to figure out where her life is going. Sensible, OCD, prudish Annie joins the group, knowing she's going to let them talk her into doing something she doesn't want to do. And Sara, smart and beautiful with what others think is the perfect family, relunctantly accepts the invitation even though she and Mel have, at best, had a rocky relationship over the last several years. Each woman has her own private pain, and there are secrets and guilt galore in this friendship.

What do women with too many responsibilities and too few chances to let their hair down do for a week at a beautiful, remote beach home? Why, they do what any sensible group of girlfriends would do in that situation - they fire up the blender, pour the drinks, let go of some inhibitions, and open up for some long overdue soul searching.

There's a slew of "southern sisterhood" novels out there. Some are quite good, and some leave a lot to be desired. On the surface, Beach Trip looks like a fluffy, these-strong-women-still-need-a-man type of book. Don't be taken in by the stereotype of what tends to be termed women's literature these days. Beach Trip is thoughtful and funny and manages to be entertaining while delivering some pretty good insights into the hearts and souls of its main characters. Given the title, it's inevitable that this book will be labeled as a beach or summer read, and I admit that I finished it on a sunny day, lounging on the deck with the wind rustling through the trees. But this is simply a darned good book. It was at times a bit too close to comfort to some of the same issues my close friends and I have gone through over the years (minus the expensive beach home and amenities!). I think most women will find something they can relate to in these pages, and I see this book becoming the hit of bookclubs in the next few months.