Posted by Laurie | July 1st, 2009

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m doing occasional book reviews for Penguin Canada – no compensation received other than the book itself (no affiliate sales or anything either), honest opinions only. I’m going to tell a little about each book and provide a rating (my opinion only obviously) out of 5 stars.

Dune Road by Jane Green

I recently received my copy of Dune Road (by Jane Green) for review and wow! It was a great read – had some intriguing plot points and kept me guessing what was going to happen until close to the end. I loved Kit, the main character, she seemed to be a fairly strong and independent woman, or at least she was finding her way toward being such a woman. I definitely seem to enjoy books more that involve women who are so real. Women who have flaws, who question who they are and where they want to end up in life. Women who question society’s expectations. Maybe because that is what I aspire to be – strong and independent. Not easy with my family history.  Why do I have to have such messed up women in my family – but that is a topic for another post isn’t it?

I also loved the rest of the circle of women in this book. We women really need to find our circles and take care of each other like the women in this book did. It’s hard enough to do all the things we must do in life – manage our households, keep the kids happy and growing, find time for ourselves – a great group of friends can encourage and push us when we need it and cushion the blow when things go all wrong. And share a pitcher of margaritas to celebrate a big achievement of course!!

I’m definitely recommending that my circle of girlfriends read this book and I think you should too! Then come back here and tell me what you think and maybe we can have a nice little discussion about the importance of having a support network (not that you don’t already know how important it is I’m sure!)

I give Dune Road 4.5 stars out of 5 (holding back just a little cause while I totally understand, sadly from experience, what life can be like for an abused woman, it just didn’t sit quite right how Kit’s friend Tracy, returns to an abusive ex.) Here’s a quick summary of the book from Penguin’s site:

The novel is set in the beach community of a tiny Connecticut town. Our heroine is a single mom who works for a famous—and famously reclusive— novelist.When she stumbles onto a secret that the great man has kept hidden for years, she knows that there are plenty of women in town who would love to get their hands on it—including some who fancy the writer for themselves. Dune Road is the story of life in an exclusive beach town after the tourists have left for the summer and the eccentric (and monied) community sticks around.

Oh and I liked this book so much I have a couple of Jane’s other books on request at my local library (I especially can’t wait to read Babyville!) And can I say how cool it was when I tweeted about this book and almost immediately was followed by Jane herself?!! She has a good Twitter stream going and even better, an awesome blog that I discovered as a result of Twitter and which is now in my Google Reader so I don’t miss a post!

Tags: book, book review, dune road, independent, jane green, strong, twitter, women