Sandcastles (Mass Market Paperback)

by Luanne Rice (Author)
Key Phrases: Luanne Rice, Aunt Bernie, Blue Grotto (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Given the title, July 4 pub date and settings on the Connecticut shore and County Cork coast, readers may expect the consummate beach feast from bestselling Rice (Summer of Roses). She almost delivers: all the ingredients for a clambake are here, but Rice doesn't bother to light the fire. Honor Sullivan is a woman torn apart. Her famous earthworks artist husband, John, has spent six years in an Irish prison for killing a man who attacked their then 14-year-old daughter, Regis. Now he's back at Star of the Sea Academy, the convent and school in Connecticut where the Sullivans live and teach"or rather, is in the area, but hesitant to return home and face Honor's ire at being effectively abandoned. His notes find their way to Honor, perhaps via Sister Bernadette Ignatius, who runs the community and is John's sister, and Auntie Bernie to John and Honor's daughters. Or perhaps they come via Tom Kelly, still in love with Bernie and bone-loyal to John. Add a little moonlight mysticism, Regis's impending bad marriage and a red-haired nurse given up for adoption the same year Tom and red-haired Bernie went off to Ireland to trace family roots. If only Rice seemed to care. If only she didn't craft an entire paragraph out of the word "Moonstones," which will have fans wistfully recalling nuanced Rice fiction like Blue Moon. (July 4)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
Honor Sullivan travels from Connecticut to Ireland with her three young daughters to join her artist husband. Also an artist, Honor is worried about her marriage and her husband's extreme methods. John builds a sculpture on the rugged coast that turns into a nightmare for the family as John and his oldest daughter face a tormentor, and John is imprisoned for six years. When he is released, he returns to his beloved family and the Connecticut shore and finds that much has changed. Honor is scared of her reaction to John. She has worked hard to raise her family and teach art. As they struggle to find a way to reconnect as a family, more trauma ensues that will either bind them or drive them apart. With deft style, Rice delicately handles heartbreak and redemption, once again pleasing her fans with her latest story about the inhabitants of her beloved shore town. Patty Engelmann
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; First edition (June 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553587676
• ISBN-13: 978-0553587678
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #119,170 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not One of Rice's Strongest, But Not Bad., July 21, 2006

By	JJ Stark (Cicero, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sandcastles (Hardcover)

I've read nearly every one of Luanne Rice's novels since CLOUD NINE. Nearly every one of these has similar themes with stories and characters that either grab you & keep you turning the pages wanting more, or they fall flat with little enthusiasm for the ending. SANDCASTLES fell into the latter category. I just don't think it was one of Luanne Rice's better stories.

I still think when it comes to Woman's Fiction and Love Stories, Rice is one of the best, but something seems to be getting old here. Many of her recent novels feel like recycled material with similar characters and plot lines

SANDCASTLES seemed promising before its release, but once I started reading it, I found it very predictable with characters that I didn't really care that much about. I never really connected with Honor or felt the love she once she had for John. Nothing really happened that made me want to see them work things out and/or "live happily ever after." There were times in fact, when I thought Honor was just being plain selfish or even a "B**CH. Her reasons for falling out of love with John weren't really explored and/or explained. It's almost as if she just woke up one day and realized that John wasn't really the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

As for Regis, I kinda knew from the very first chapter which direction her story was going to go. The ending didn't surprise me and I wondered why it took so long to get to that point. As for her engagement, it seemed like a ploy to keep readers guessing with an extremely weak conclusion.

The supporting characters weren't as strong in SANDCASTLES either. Many times, Luanne Rice uses characters from previous novels to fill in the "neighborhood." There was only the briefest mention of previous characters and I don't even remember what relevance (if any) they had to the story. The characters of Bernie and Tom were far more interesting than Honor and John and I cared more about their love story than I did Honor and John's. Although it too was fairly predictable. I would rather have read & learned more about their love story and journey rather than the one readers were given.

Don't get me wrong here, SANDCASTLES isn't exactly the worse novel I've read lately, but it's definitely not one of the better ones. It's certainly one of Luanne Rice's weaker releases. Perhaps she needs to explore fresh material with new pllotlines and a variety of characters. Some writers stick to what they do and know best, and for a while, Luanne Rice was on a winning streak. But her last couple of novels just fell a little flat for me. Had any of these been the first Luanne Rice novel I had read, I don't think they would have been strong enough to keep me coming back each year. With previous works such as CLOUD NINE, FOLLOW THE STARS HOME and BEACH GIRLS, readers know that Luanne Rice is capable of writing beautiful stories about the many loves in a woman's life (husband, boyfriend, children, parents & friends). We just need to read some new material with stronger characters and storylines that capture and holds readers' attention. I'm looking forward to future releases with high hopes of improvement.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars interesting family drama , June 28, 2006

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Sandcastles (Hardcover)

After six years in an Irish prison for killing the man who assaulted his fourteen years old daughter Regis, renowned earthworks artist John Sullivan is freed. He returns to Connecticut, but is hesitant to go home to the nearby Star of the Sea Academy and convent where his family works and lives because he fears his beloved spouse Honor will reject him for the harm he caused her and their three daughters.

He turns to his sibling Sister Bernadette Ignatius and his best friend Tom Kelly to serve as communicators between him and his wife as John worries that Regis is heading down the aisle into a bad marriage while his offspring wants him at her wedding. His other two daughters do not openly greet him either as one feels he abandoned her and her siblings and the other does not know him as she was too young when he left. However all that is topped by his trepidation that his beloved Honor will not take him back; if he can find the courage and get her alone amongst the Connecticut Moonstones perhaps the magic will surface for he believes it remains alive just dormant.

This is an interesting family drama due to the differing reactions of the three siblings as one desperately wants her dad back in her life; another wants him totally out of her life; and the third is unsure what she wants when it comes to him. John knows he has made mistakes that he can never atone for, but prays for a second chance with his beloved fearsome female foursome. Though the solution seems too simplistic, contemporary fans will enjoy this second chance at love.

Harriet Klausner

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Predictable melodrama, September 12, 2006

By	Tracy Vest (Northern California) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Sandcastles (Random House Large Print (Cloth/Paper)) (Hardcover)

It's been six years since patriarch John Sullivan had the freedom to spend time with his family. Jailed in Ireland after pleading guilty for killing the man who attacked his art and his daughter, the family returned to Connecticut and his wife Honor broke off communication with him. Her plans to seek a divorce are cut short when he suddenly reappears just in time for daughter Regis' upcoming wedding.

John is a scarred and tormented man. Always a risk taker, Honor knew it was only a matter of time that one of his many jaunts would fracture the family. Now he is trying desperately to reconnect with the daughter who missed him terribly, the one who prayed for a spiritual sign, the one that barely remembers him, and the wife he loves with all his heart, while she holds him at arm's length. His sister, who happens to be a mother superior at the local convent, is his greatest ally. Growing up, Bernie, John, Honor, and Tom Kelly were the four musketeers. Until separate events in Ireland altered all of their lives.

I had a hard time getting into this story - mostly because it was completely predictable and had few surprises. Within a handful of pages, it is clear where the story is headed, and it takes soooo long to get there. Honor was a hard heroine to sympathize with; she just came off as cold and selfish, which made it difficult to understand how she and John could be soul mates. About the only redeeming quality of this novel was the vivid and lyrical manner with which Rice describes the sunsets, meadows, and craggy beaches of both Ireland and Connecticut. And the obvious ambiguous ending leaves the door open for a sequel - a shameless device that many authors, particularly Rice continues to practice in her novels. If the story cannot be summed up in one novel, perhaps the story is not worth telling...