Product Description

Kira Drake lives in the closet to protect her skyrocketing movie career. Controlled by her mother and her domineering agent, Kira's love life consists of hidden affairs and short liaisons. She is miserable until a location shoot takes her to Ocean Beach, California, an idyllic seaside town. Away from her mother and agent, Kira savors her freedom and is charmed by the liberal locals who seem to embrace everyone.

Flynn McFadden, a veterinary student and surfing instructor, quickly catches Kira's eye, and the women fall for each other almost immediately. But when Kira's mother and agent discover their relationship, a plot is hatched to break them apart. Kira soon realizes she must choose between her love for Flynn and the realization of her dream.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #624509 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 228 pages

Customer Reviews

The story had potential; I guess it was the execution that was lacking
This book really ended up annoying me. Mostly because I felt obligated to finish it. It didn't make me angry enough to stop reading (which would have relegated it to one star), but was just good enough to string me along, without ever getting better. And I had hopes for that. The first half or so of the book we breeze through. I thought that the set-up of having each chapter be from a different character's point of view, as titled, was interesting. I was able to forgive the dreadful lack of thought in any character's head, their thoughtless changes of mind and personality, the random moments thrown in clumsily because I thought it likely based on the description Flynn and Kira would fall in love initially, have a period of estrangement, then reconnect at a later time. So the beginning of the book would be just set up, and forgivably rushed in order to get to the good stuff later on.

Sadly, the book gained no additional depth. If they'd been more richly constructed, the characters could have been likable, but as it was, I didn't even sympathize with them, and often found them outright ridiculous. They were like a collection of outlines or stick figures, each with a bit of a quirk added to give them individuality, but still with no depth. I had no idea what was going to happen from one second to the next, and that wasn't because the author was being tricky, but because she created no structure on which to base any follow-on moments. The end result was an extremely frustrating and random book to read. I find it really hard to understand how this was written after "Brilliant." That book wasn't perfect, but the characters were much better constructed that those here.

I guess if you want a book you can breeze through in an afternoon without putting any thought into it then this book is for you. Like I said, the story had its moments. The cover was beautiful. But I think we need to demand better from this genre. I can't account for this author's slide back from servicable to unreadable, but would regretfully not recommend this book.

A pleasant romance
Beach Town spans fifteen years in the lives of two women. Kira Drake is a rising star in Hollywood. She knows that an actress only has a certain number of years while she can enjoy real box office success and she's determined to stay there as long as she can. Her dedication to her career puts her at the mercy of her ruthless mother and manager, either of whom is willing to do whatever it takes to keep Kira at the top so that they can benefit from her popularity. Things threaten to derail when Kira goes to Ocean Beach to film a movie and meets Flynn McFadden. Flynn is the local surfing phenomena and a veterinary student. The McFadden family is at the heart of the community and she has never known anything but total acceptance for her "out" lifestyle. There is an instant attraction between Kira and Flynn that makes Kira daring and reckless. When her career is threatened by tabloid stories, her manager shows up to wrench the women apart and Kira lets him do it. The story then leaps forward to when both women have moved on with their very different lives. When a surprising turn of events brings Kira back to Ocean Beach, she has to face Flynn and deal with what she did to both of them. An attraction is still there, but the obstacles are huge. Kira still has a successful career that she may lose and Flynn isn't sure if she wants to expose herself to the kind of pain that Kira inflicted before. The people of Ocean Beach rally to protect Flynn while they watch to see if the women can resolve the situation in a way that will make both of them happy.

Beach Town takes an interesting approach to a standard story. The women meet, fall madly in love and, if it were the usual romance, overcome all the odds, but they don't. The separation allows each one to develop as she thought she wanted to and, when they come back together, the reader knows that it isn't a given that the situation will end happily. The characters stay true to who they are. Kira may be in love, but she wants her career more than anything and that makes it possible for her to be selfish and cruel when she is younger. Flynn grows the most of the two characters, but she maintains that wild spirit encased in responsibility that draws people to her. The interesting part of the book is the second half when it's obvious that the attraction is still there, but life has taught both women that love isn't everything. More important at that point is being able to trust and rely on the other person and the women may not have enough of either trait to be able to let their love reassert itself.

Roberts has created a pleasant romance. The reader can easily feel Kira's desperation and Flynn's pain. There is also humor in the story and a good cast of supporting characters. The book can easily be read in a few hours and should provide good entertainment.

Light and Easy Reading for the Romantic Lesbian
It was actually the cover of Beach Town that enticed me to buy it! So, Kudos to the cover artist as well! It just made me feel nostalgic for my younger days going "down the shore", that's a term commonly used in South Jersey and Philly, and also made me extra excited about the upcoming season. The story, thankfully was even better and made me feel even better. It had plenty of angst but quite enough positive and fun goings on to make up for it! The characters were so individual...even minor characters, you felt as though you knew them by the end of the book. Finally, I'll just say I couldn't put the book down and I LOVED the two main characters, Kira and Flynn! Lisa