Customer Reviews

Under the Boardwalk (Costas Sisters, Book 1)

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

 

 

Under the Boardwalk by Carly Philips

Courtesy of WWW.Loveromances.Com

Here's a great beach read to pass the time away on a long lazy summer afternoon: Carly Phillip's UNDER THE BOARDWALK. It's the story of an identical twin that returns home after years of living apart from her family, to find her twin sister that has gone missing. The novel is funny with a little bit of intrigue and adventure and some romance as well, as Ariana Costas, the main character, does her best to find her sister.

Ari has never felt that she belonged with her crazy family. Her parents, cousins, aunts and uncles are all a bunch of crazy Greeks who enjoy a good con job to make some instant cash. They don't see their actions as doing anything wrong. They are just trying to earn a living the only way they know how. In addition, as the reader gets involved with the hi-jinks of the Costas family, it is not difficult to fall in love with this zany family. However, Ari always felt she had to be straight-laced and clean, and could not stand living with them. She was embarrassed to be a part of this family. Years ago, she had made a decision to be different from the rest of them, and left home to become a professor at a college in Vermont. Her only reason to return home to New Jersey was because of her sister. Although the two were not as close as they once where, blood is thicker than water.

Upon her arrival back in town, Ari runs into a good looking man that thinks Ari is her sister Zoe, and although there is some confusion at first, Quinn Donovan realizes it has to be the other twin. Their meeting occurs while Ari becomes a target as live bullets are firing upon her. Quinn saves her life and makes his introduction. Ari finds out that Zoe and Quinn worked together at the local Casino, and Ari feels that the casino holds the clues to her missing sister. While Quinn tells Ari to go home, because she is putting herself in danger by staying, Ari does the opposite and gets herself a job at the casino. She soon finds her life on the line, as she gets closer to the truth about Zoe.

In the mean time, there are sparks flying between Ari and Quinn, but Ari thinks it's because she has dressed herself up to look more like Zoe, who was always been the more glamorous of the two. Quinn, who unknown to Ari is an undercover detective, finds himself drawn to Ari. There are a number of steamy scenes between the two, amidst the action at the casino. The book ends with a climactic scene at the casino, Ari learns the truth about her sister and as with all romances, there is a happy ending.

This reviewer enjoyed UNDER THE BOARDWALK for what it was, a beach read. While it wasn't the perfect book, as a casual read it fit the bill. The mix between the mystery behind Zoe's disappearance, the adventures in the casino and the romance between Ari and Quinn did not work well for this reviewer. The book may have been better if there was more emphasis on comedy, especially the Costas family (including their silly little monkey) and less emphasis on the serious themes, such as the subplot of the young foster child that gets involved with the Costas. Although the story was touching, and it helped show off Quinn's personality, this reviewer felt it might have been better to make that story a separate book. Despite these negative points, there were plenty of positives in UNDER THE BOARDWALK, and as a beach read, it's a recommended read. This reviewer gives the book 3 and a half stars.

When Vermont based psychology college professor Ariana Costas learns that her twin Zoe is missing and probably dead, she takes a leave of absence and returns to her family home in Ocean Isle, New Jersey. She does not believe Zoe is dead because she has a certain affinity for her sister though they have been estranged for five years since Ariana fled her family of con artists.

Quinn Donovan is stunned to see Zoe's sister walking on the beach as Zoe promised that Ariana would never come home. Someone fires a shot at Ariana, but Quinn reacts and knocks her down. After he reluctantly gets off her, they talk. He tells her he worked with her mother and her sister at Damon's Casino, but hides his instant attraction to her and that Special Agent Zoe is safe. Ariana informs him she will stay until Zoe comes home. Quinn worries she will destroy his undercover work at the casino trying to prove illegal happenings. As Ariana and Quinn fall in love, he breaks the rules of undercover work for her while worrying about her safety and their future together.

This exciting police procedural romance works on several levels but readers will especially feel the attraction between the two lead protagonists as well as that of a secondary couple. The vast cast adds depth as Ariana learns what family means through the reactions of a street teen to her likable con artist kin though her constant insistence that she does not belong amongst loved ones becomes irritating. Romantic suspense readers will take immense pleasure with this fine suspense laden tale starring a lovable You Can't take It With You cast.

Harriet Klausner

Ari Costas has always felt like a fish out of water when it came to her family. After fleeing for sedate Vermont for the last five years, she returns to her Atlantic City roots and quirky Greek family of con artists, as she searches for her missing (and presumed dead) twin sister, Zoe.

Within hours, she is tackled by Quinn Donovan on the beach when someone takes a shot at her, assuming she is Zoe. Quinn recommends that she go back to Vermont. She is not sure what to think of him, but throws caution to the wind, and gets a job at the casino Zoe worked at to investigate her disappearance and get closer to Quinn, though she does not know that he is a cop deep undercover, and her nosiness could destroy two years of work. As he tries to watch over her, they become involved even deeper, threatening his cover. They think that they are too different - she has a loud, Greek family that she is ashamed of, while he spent most of his youth in foster care.

There is so much packed in to make it funny, like a pocket-picking monkey with a penchant to strip, a lonely runaway in need of a good family, and a odd-ball assortment of relatives that would rather con their way into riches (or don "Addams Family" garb and perform) than get 9 to 5 jobs.

While not exactly worthy of a Pulitzer, it will provide plenty of chuckles and is pure escapism.

Was not as good as her other books. Ms. Phillips really showed her writing talents in "The Bachelor", "The Playboy", and "The Heartbreaker", but this book left something to be desired. There were times when I wanted to put it down and move on to reading something else, but I held out til the end. I like Ms. Phillips books and will continue to buy them, and I can't wait to read her next release.

This book could have been 100 pages. All Phillips did was reiterate the same psycho bullcrap over and over. I would give it a negative rating if I could.

When I finished with this book (and that was a struggle), I kept trying to analyze why it was so tedious. The crazy family part of the book was mildly interesting, but the main characters are simply too nice to be believable. There's not a fault in any of them -- other than a little emotional backwardness -- so there's really no dramatic tension at all, although there's plenty of sophomoric psychology 101, which was way, way overdone. Personally, I like characters with a little bit of an edge to their personalities to keep a book interesting. When you couple unintriguing characters with a very thin plot, you have a deadly dull read.

Carly Phillips's latest novel, UNDER THE BOARDWALK, takes the reader to New Jersey and inside the world of casinos, the Mafia, and a crazy Greek family not unlike that from the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. A great beach read, this book has it all --- comedy, danger and, of course, romance --- the perfect book to take with you on vacation or read on a lazy summer afternoon.

Ariana Costas left New Jersey years ago to escape her crazy Greek family. She grew up being embarrassed by this insane group of con artists, and she did her best to be everything they weren't: conservative, proper and stable. She left behind parents, grandparents, cousins and her twin sister, all of whom seemed destined to live out their lives tied to one another by family loyalty and, quite possibly, by a jail cell. Her family was quite proud that they were all very good at making money the unconventional way. For the Costas family, there was no shame in pickpocketing or conning someone out of their money. It was all in a day's work!

When Ari returns home to try to find her missing twin sister, she accidentally runs into a very good-looking man who thinks she's her twin, Zoë. Ari finds it hard to believe that anyone can confuse her with Zoë, because Zoë is as unconventional as the rest of the family. Zoë is known as the exciting sexy sister, while Ari is the very conventional, boring one. It doesn't take too long for Quinn Donovan, undercover detective, to figure out who Ari really is. According to Quinn, Zoë is nowhere to be found, but Ari has a feeling that he knows how to help her find her sister.

Quinn and Ari's first meeting happens to occur while someone is taking a shot at Ari out on the beach, and Quinn saves her life. Once Quinn figures out who she is, he tells Ari to go home. What he doesn't tell her is that she is endangering a secret undercover surveillance, and her actions could very well get her killed if the wrong people saw her, which they already have. But Ari still does not understand why her sister is missing. All she knows is that Quinn and Zoë worked together at the Casino, and now Zoë has disappeared.

When Ari lies to Quinn and says she is returning home to Vermont and her teaching job at the University, she reappears vamped-up and hot-to-trot, and gets a job at the casino so she can do some detective work of her own to find her missing sister. In the meantime, Quinn and Ari find themselves attracted to each other, which makes matters worse. Ari thinks he is attracted to her because she is starting to dress and behave like her sister, and Quinn is worried that Ari's life is in danger. He knows that if Ari is not careful, her life could be on the line.

While their adventures at the casino is a major plot line, the action surrounding the Costas family would make a great book on its own. They are constantly up to no good. Add a pet monkey named Spank into the mix, and one has a regular circus. The subplot involving a young teenage foster child named Sam, who Quinn has always looked out for, rounds out the book.

UNDER THE BOARDWALK is the perfect book to be read during the lazy summer months. A typical beach read, the story is an escape from reality, with plenty of outlandish characters as well as a romance thrown in. The story line involving the casino and the missing sister is told in light comedy fashion, despite the heavy undertones. Anyone expecting literary fiction may want to skip this one, but for a fun and light romp, UNDER THE BOARDWALK is a sure thing.

---(...)

I had to force myself to finish this book. The characters were not engaging or even enjoyable. The "messages" were extremely repetitive and very cliche. The mystery was so lame and the romance was flat because of the the flat characters. It was a waste of my time.

I read Carly Phillips series with the Chandler brothers and just loved them, so I was excited to read this book too. I'm a fan of quick reads - romance novels with some action mixed in. This story had all of that and was a lot of fun to read.

Ariana Costas returns home when she finds out that her twin sister is missing...and presumably dead. For years Ariana was embarrassed by her family (and their conniving ways), so she moved to Vermont and didn't have a great relationship with her sister or her parents. She didn't understand them and they didn't understand her. But, in the time of crisis, she realizes she needs to go home and help the family.

Quinn Donovan is an undercover cop trying to wrap up his undercover case at Damon's Casino. He comes from foster care and doesn't know what it's like to have a family...let alone a crazy one you'd want to run away from. He helps foster kids feel like they have a friend (in him) in his spare time, and especially tries to help a little girl named Sam find a home.

All these characters come together for an exciting adventure. Ari goes to work at the casino in hopes of finding out answers about her sister's disappearance. Of course she meets Quinn and they have instant attraction. Sam gets involved in their story, along with a monkey named Spank, and the Costas family and all their eccentricities. It's a really fun read!

I just finished the book at lunch. I have now read everything written by Carly Phillips. I think she's great. The way that Quinn put Ari feelings about her sister first were heart warming. The electricity that was between these two characters was great. Spank the monkey, I could just see in my head the way she acted when Zoe came home. Too funny.