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A review by thefriscobay
Sandcastle Beach by Jenny Holiday
4.0
About the book:
Maya Mehta loves the stage - always has. So after college when she's able to come back home to run the community theater in town, she gladly takes on the challenge. Years on, though, she needs money (and fast!) to keep the space alive. All she has to do is win the town's new business grant. But obviously nothing is that simple. She's got competition, in the form of her long time nemesis Ben Lawson, who wants to win the grant to help expand his family's generations-run bar. As the stakes raise for Ben and Maya with their respective businesses, growing interest also threatens to come to the surface. Is their collective pride greater than their burgeoning romance? And can they come up with solutions for their businesses that let them both win?
TL;DR:
- Content warnings: ongoing sexual badgering by side character
- 4 stars
- Adorable small-town, enemies to lovers story. Worth reading if you're into low/no conflict, meddling but loving townsfolk, SLOWWWW burn romance.
Loved:
- Maya was so strong and wonderful and I really appreciated her. There wasn't much depth to her character from a cultural perspective (it's mentioned that her parents immigrated from India but this isn't integral to her story at all) which was a bit of a bummer as an Indian American but not a dealbreaker.
- I really loved how despite the fact that despite the fact that these two were "enemies" it was clear there were lines they wouldn't cross and that they actually did care for each other even through the arguing. I love this trope when executed more like this. I have read many an enemies to lovers and that is not always the case. Like the ones where the leads are straight up mean to one another, or their enemy background comes from something legit evil. Not here. Ben (more than Maya) was so absolutely SWEET to Maya no matter what. There was snark for sure, but what a sweetie.
- This book is the first romance I think I have EVER read in my whole life with no conflict. I didn't know you could just? Skip the conflict? You could just... make the romance so slow burn that you don't need there to be an issue? SIGN ME UP!! More of this forever.
Less into:
- I really hated that idiot celebrity whose name I cannot even remember. He continually I think the story could have done without him.
Overall I did really enjoy this one. It was like a warm hug, which I really really needed this year. Didn't we all? Highly recommend you pick this one up next year.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Maya Mehta loves the stage - always has. So after college when she's able to come back home to run the community theater in town, she gladly takes on the challenge. Years on, though, she needs money (and fast!) to keep the space alive. All she has to do is win the town's new business grant. But obviously nothing is that simple. She's got competition, in the form of her long time nemesis Ben Lawson, who wants to win the grant to help expand his family's generations-run bar. As the stakes raise for Ben and Maya with their respective businesses, growing interest also threatens to come to the surface. Is their collective pride greater than their burgeoning romance? And can they come up with solutions for their businesses that let them both win?
TL;DR:
- Content warnings: ongoing sexual badgering by side character
- 4 stars
- Adorable small-town, enemies to lovers story. Worth reading if you're into low/no conflict, meddling but loving townsfolk, SLOWWWW burn romance.
Loved:
- Maya was so strong and wonderful and I really appreciated her. There wasn't much depth to her character from a cultural perspective (it's mentioned that her parents immigrated from India but this isn't integral to her story at all) which was a bit of a bummer as an Indian American but not a dealbreaker.
- I really loved how despite the fact that despite the fact that these two were "enemies" it was clear there were lines they wouldn't cross and that they actually did care for each other even through the arguing. I love this trope when executed more like this. I have read many an enemies to lovers and that is not always the case. Like the ones where the leads are straight up mean to one another, or their enemy background comes from something legit evil. Not here. Ben (more than Maya) was so absolutely SWEET to Maya no matter what. There was snark for sure, but what a sweetie.
- This book is the first romance I think I have EVER read in my whole life with no conflict. I didn't know you could just? Skip the conflict? You could just... make the romance so slow burn that you don't need there to be an issue? SIGN ME UP!! More of this forever.
Less into:
- I really hated that idiot celebrity whose name I cannot even remember. He continually
Spoiler
badgers Maya to date him and when rebuffed acts like a big freaking baby? And it's just kind of glossed over? He also almost ruins her show because of his desire to be in a Hollywood movie with a known predator - which is treated like a bigger deal. What a gross person.Overall I did really enjoy this one. It was like a warm hug, which I really really needed this year. Didn't we all? Highly recommend you pick this one up next year.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.