Review: Last Summer on Chelsea Beach by Pam Jenoff

I devoted a significant portion of my day to reading this book - when I really needed to be doing other things - and in the end, I didn't even like it very much.

It did hold my attention, but the main character and her frequent running away got to be a bit much, and she sounds so meek and plain and yet these wonderful men are crazy in love with her. (To the author's credit, at one point a character does very bluntly say to her that she can't quite figure out why it is two great guys are falling all over themselves for her.)

I would have liked the book much better if it had ended before part three. I could have handled the book ending with the conclusion of part 2, it was sad, but it made sense to me and made Addie seem like a stronger character. But part 3 is what sort of ruined the rest of the story for me. It just made me angry.

What I did enjoy about this book was the London setting during WWII and the characters' involvement in the war. That's what kept me reading. The writing really brought this era to life. Overall the story is okay. Other people may not feel the same sort of disappointment I felt at the way the story ended.

**** possible spoiler ****


In the acknowledgments, the author mentions this story being somewhat influenced by Little Women and it figures because even though I love Little Women, it's one of my favorite books, I get so angry about Jo not ending up with Laurie and him marrying Amy and Jo settling for some boring old man. The romance twist in this story created very similar feelings of anger within me. I dislike the ending so much. Parts of this book were leading up to being a great love story. I would have been okay with the love story not ending well and Addie going off on her own, but instead she ends up in a relationship that to me, seemed very much like settling for damaged leftovers. It was like she'd learned nothing from all of her experiences. So disappointing.

I received a review copy of this via NetGalley.