A review by sophiarose1816
Secrets in the Sand by Carolyn Brown

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

 
Ten years ago, a boy shattered a girl’s heart and she left town determined to move on.  Now, a class reunion, maturity and mileage down life’s road, some interfering friends, and some hearts in the sand, bring second chances.  Carolyn Brown has been a go-to author for quite some time so I trusted her to write a story that allowed me to get past what the guy said in his young and dumb years.  

 

I’ve been slowly making my way through Carolyn Brown’s backlist and came upon Secrets in the Sand tucked away on one my Kindle shelves.  It’s gotten some very mixed reviews so I was leery and hesitated over it.  Coincidentally, a day later, it popped up in a library recommendations feed so I took the hint and borrowed the audio.  Savannah Peachwood’s voice and Carolyn Brown’s words pulled me right into Angel’s bittersweet story and carried me right to the finish. 

 

Secrets in the Sand hit on some profoundly deep topics from teen pregnancy, grief, class differences, and more.  For some, Clancy’s actions were and are unforgiveable and that will determine how this story hits them.  And, depending on how the story went after the ten years passed, I might have fallen in that camp. 

But, I didn’t. 

In this story, the awful events happened in a way that I could allow compassion and forgiveness in.  Upfront, here’s a teenager, eighteen years old, who has been sneaking around with a girl because he’s immature enough to care about his social status as much as a relationship and he thinks because his dad is a stickler for social status, that he’d disappoint his parents for being with the girl.  He knows he can’t keep up sneaking around with her especially when he heads off to college so his mindset is to break it off.  Then, right when he’s worked himself up to do so, she hits him with the news that she’s pregnant and she knows they’ll be a happy family.  Panic!  Then, his mouth spews so much stupid my heart broke for her.  He wasn’t being deliberately cruel, but rather he was thoughtless and selfish with not a care to her at all.  

This is not an excuse, just an explanation. 

Then, the story moves forward ten years.  They meet.  Angel is hurt and angry still and rightfully so.  He says and does what he should in regret and apology.  She shows him one more burden that situation laid on her and, because he wasn’t a genuine brute- just stupid and immature- his heart is broken right along with hers after she shares what went down after she left. 

Most of the story is Clancy working hard to show he’s not that boy and his life in the military, a marriage and divorce from a cheating spouse, and following years spent teaching and living quietly has made him a whole different person. 

There was also the discussion that even if he had done the right thing back then, there was a good chance they wouldn’t have made it with both being young and untried toward life’s struggles.  The years have matured them, made them stronger, and they both get to know the new versions of themselves. 

I felt her gradual road to forgiveness and trust was shown (though much faster than real life since it is a fiction romance) and he had to work to earn that.  Now, the love was never the issue.  Angel tried to deny it, but her heart was Clancy’s all along and he figured out the same thing after life banged him around a bit, too. 

 

So, Secrets in the Sand was one I enjoyed like I do most of Carolyn Brown’s books and I liked the new to me narrator, too, but I’ll just say that this will not be for everyone because of how Clancy handled that early breakup.  

 

 

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