Customer Reviews

Swimming Lessons (STP - Mira)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For several years, I've enjoyed the work of Mary Alice Monroe. And when I noted that Swimming Lessons was coming out, I knew I needed to catch up on my reading and start with the Beach House (the book that introduced us to the Swimming Lessons characters). As usual, the author didn't disappoint me and created a lovely book about mother/daughter relationships that I could easily relate to. But more than that, I became equally intrigued with Loggerhead Turtles. So the follow up book - Swimming Lessons, was an added bonus to keep involved with the characters. Again, wonderfully written, you form a deep attachment to the characters and get caught up with the lives of the turtles -- this time from a different perspective. I highly recommend Swimming Lessons, but also recommend you start with The Beach House.

This absolutely wonderful sequel to "The Beach House" brings together all the "turtle ladies" whose mission it is to rescue endangered sea turtles who lumber up onto South Carolina's beaches once a year to lay their eggs in a timeless ritual. Civilization being what it is, the nests would be destroyed, purposely or not, if this dedicated band of women (and men) were not there each year to tirelessly make sure that doesn't happen.

Like "The Beach House," this book is based on fact; Monroe herself is a self-proclaimed turtle lady. The plot revolves around the characters we met in the first book: Single mother Toy now has her degree and a job at the aquarium, which is about to get much more prestigious. Her darling little girl Lovie, named after the matriarch who passed away in the last book, is a precocious, wonderful 6-year-old, a self-proclaimed "LITTLE turtle lady." Cara and Brett, who fell in love in the last book and married, are trying hard to have a baby. Irrascible Flo is getting older and too proud to ask for help. And in this book, the menacing father of Toy's child, Darryl, suddently reappears, wanting to connect with the daughter he abandoned before her birth.

All of this makes for a quick and interesting page-turner, but the backbone of the book is the conservation of the giant turtles, and for me, that's the grabber.

"Swmming Lessons" is the perfect summertime book, whether you're at the beach (how more perfect could it get?), around a pool, or just lazing on your front porch. I urge you to grab it and gobble it up!

When Toy Sooner moved to the Isle of Palms in South Carolina, she made a promise to better her life. She had to: she was a new, single mother with few prospects. Thanks to kindnesses from people she now calls family, Toy has blossomed into a successful woman and mother.

After years of effort, Toy now works at a highly respected aquarium and volunteers with a sea turtle watch and rescue group. She finds the balance between work, helping sea turtles, and raising Little Lovie, her five-year-old daughter, a rewarding challenge. But when she is placed in charge of the Aquarium's new sea turtle hospital, the massive responsibility eats at her hard-won confidence. One of the Aquarium's top guns could be an obstacle to her success--or a much-needed ally.

The people in Toy's life are also going through major life transitions. Cara and Brett want a baby, Emmie is home after a rough divorce, and Flo is starting to feel her age. Family by choice, this tight-knit group will have its foundations turned to the very sand trod by their beloved loggerhead turtles. Will love and trust win out over life-altering challenges?

Toy is strikingly real as a young, single mother doing her best not to repeat her own mother's mistakes. When Little Lovie's father tries to reenter the picture, Toy--and her beloved friends--has very human reactions. In trying not to mess up, she does make mistakes, and this is only one aspect that will draw women to her character.

Once again, Mary Alice Monroe delivers a novel in the laid-back but emotional style befitting the South Carolina Lowcountry. She captures the ebb-and-flow rhythm of island life through the eyes of characters as real as your next-door neighbor. Monroe's moderate pacing is entirely appropriate to the novel's setting, gently placing readers into each scene.

Readers looking for a novel hopped up with fast-paced action and plots will not find that here. On the other hand, readers WILL discover a lovely novel written from the heart.

Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer
04/04/2007

4.5-Books on WUAT = 5-Stars on Amazon

SWIMMING LESSONS is the sequel to The Beach House

Mary Alice Monroe does it again in exploring relationships and real life. As a fan for many years now I couldn't wait to read this new novel. I read "Swimming Lessons" with a thirst to be quenched and wasn't disappointed in any way!!! This author is fantastic!!! Having lived on the SE Georgia coast for almost 25 years now I could relate to the surroundings and the pictures painted with Monroe's words were music to my soul. I visited the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island a couple of weeks after finishing the work and found the exact turtle rehabilitation set-up that was described. As I went around the Center and then to the Nursery I had to tell everyone that they needed to read "Swimming Lessons." Bravo, Mary Alice!!! Please create us some more to read!!! You not only write well but you make a difference with your stories as well...definitely a book worth reading and life well lived...

Swimming Lessons is a wonderful sequel to The Beach House. It has such wonderful relationships among the characters themselves and with the loggerhead turtles and the coastal environment.

Ever since I unknowingly picked up a copy of The Beach House to take on a vacation, only to discover that it was all about my beloved Isle of Palms with such delightfully created characters, I have been reading everything written by Mary Alice Monroe I can find. Swimming Lessons did not disappoint. I feel as though Toy, Little Lovie, Flo, Cora, Brett and Ethan are now my personal friends. As I crossed the connector bridge to the Isle of Palms last evening, I pointed out to my children, exactly where I imagine that Cora and Brett live. I can't wait to start walking the beach during turtle egg laying season to see the turtle ladies and their labors of love. I will also anxiously await another sequel to see how Cora and Brett fare with their quest for a child, to watch Little Lovie grow up in the lowcountry and Ethan and Toy's relationship progress, and to watch Emmi settle back into island living with her roommate, Flo. Thank you for another great read. Alas, it was to have been my first beach book of the season, however, once I started reading, I could not stop and never quite made it to the beach!

Five years have passed since Toy came to live with Olivia Rutledge. Toy has kept her promise and turned her life around. She completed college and is now a marine biologist at the South Carolina Aquarium. She is also a wonderful mother to her daughter, Lovie.

One day, Toy and Lovie find a sick and injured sea turtle. Toy brings it to the aquarium and, in addition to her regular duties, she starts a turtle rehab facility. At first Ethan, the director of the aquarium, is concerned that this is too big a project. As he watches Toy care for the growing number of injured sea turtle, he admires her dedication. As they work together on writing a grant, they discover that they also connect on a personal level.

Daryl, Lovie's father, returns to South Carolina. He is determined to win back Toy and Lovie. Toy must decide who will be the best male figure for Lovie and who will make her happy.

We also get a chance to catch up with the other "Turtle Ladies." Cara and Brett are trying to start a family. Emmi is trying to find love and Flo is thinking of selling her home. Will this be the best or worst summer of their lives?

Monroe is a wonderful storyteller and it was a pleasure to catch up with the characters that I enjoyed reading about in The Beach House. You can tell that Monroe also deeply cares about conservation and the environment. Through the efforts of the Turtle Ladies, she educates her readers without ever sounding "preachy."

This is the sequel to The Beach House. If you haven't read the first book, you will still enjoy reading Swimming Lessons. If you read the first book, this is like a reunion with old friends. I highly recommend this book!

Armchair Interviews says: Find out what happens next to the Turtle Ladies on the Isle of Palms. Her next book geared to children, Turtle Summer, continues this story.

This was a wonderful sequel to the Beach House. Mary Alice Monroe does such a good job of providing an analogy between a mother and her child through her characters and with the sea turtles. It truly warms your heart.

This book makes you want to move to the South Carolina coast. I spent a lot of time as a child on the SC coast. I said ' I would live there someday.' Monroe's books take you back there. A great book!

This book is so great. I had read "The Beach House" and was so happy to find there was a sequel. Now Id love a sequel to "Swimming lessons". The characters are so real and alive in this book, Id hate not to know what happens in their lives.