Sunset Beach Blog Tour

I seem to have a fascination lately with books about family secrets. I like the ones that wrap up with nice, neat happy endings (I know they aren't particularly realistic, but that's okay :)), and I like the ones (most of the time, anyway...;-)) with more real-life endings where things aren't necessarily resolved in a package with a pretty little bow on the top. I won't tell you which category Trish Perry's latest novel falls into...that would be giving things away. :) But Sunset Beach keeps you engrossed until the very end *hoping* for a happy ending for Sonny Miller, recent college graduate who decides her graduation present from her mother is going to be the answers about her past for which she has waited all her life.

When I received Sunset Beach from The Blog Tour Spot to review for this week's blog tour, I discovered that it is actually the fourth book in the "Beach House Series", by Sally Johns and Trish Perry. I was a little concerned that I hadn't read the previous three books, but was glad to find that while the books are connected by the quirky little cottage and its neighbor, Julian, and his friend Zeke, they are each written as stand-alone volumes. There is enough of a hint of the other books to pique one's interest, without feeling that one has *missed* something.

From the media release about the book:

"Sonny Miller is tired of not knowing who she is. Soon she’ll begin graduate school to earn her masters in Psychology. But how can she counsel future clients about their identities when she isn’t even sure about her own? To that end she has cooked up a little meeting at a certain beach house in San Diego.

"Sonny’s mother, classical soprano Teresa Miller, isn’t aware she’s about to be reunited at the beach house with her sister, Melanie Hines, after 25 years of estrangement. And Sonny isn’t aware her mother has invited a surprise guest of her own. Russian adoptee, Irina Petrova, finds herself dragged along on a trip so tumultuous she summons her handsome concert violinist brother for moral support.

"The four women converge on the funky little beach house in San Diego, each with her own disappointments and hopes about family, identity, and love. For Sonny, the trip reveals all she expected and more than she ever dreamed."

Trish Perry says "I love good stories," and that is evident in the story she weaves in Sunset Beach. It's a "curl up on a rainy day and read all afternoon" book with deeper underlying themes: the importance of seeking God's guidance in everything, and the determination of our personal identities...how do they, and how should they, develop?

Sunset Beach, published by Harvest House, is available at Amazon. Check out the other reviews on this week's blog tour at The Blog Tour Spot. And be sure to visit Trish Perry's site for more information, as well as additional book reviews, interviews, and give-aways!