3 out of 4 stars
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Breaking Sandcastles is a delightful book that was impossible to put down. It has drama and mystery and humor along with all the necessary elements of a great love story. It emphasizes the gift of finding true love in your life; a gift which is a special treasure and which should never be taken for granted. This book teaches many important life lessons such as how a soul mate is eternal, existing on this side and the other. It was indeed a great pleasure to read.
We meet Jonathan who is a gifted natural artist and a handsome and popular member of the senior class of his high school. Jonathan’s current girlfriend is the beautiful Bella who is an exchange student from France.
Both are taking a senior level art class in order to graduate taught by a replacement art teacher who is the petite and gorgeous Marion. Marion has been promised a prestigious position as head of the art department at a local college if she completes her stint as a substitute high school art teacher.
Jonathan immediately falls madly in love with Marion who is eleven years his senior. She is also deeply affected by him but any possibility of a romance is cut off by their eleven year age difference and her position as his teacher. After graduation Jonathan is off to college eventually ending up in Paris where as fate has it he meets up with Marion again and the rest is an almost fifty year love story.
Breaking Sandcastles is written in a very flowing, conversational style at a very appropriate pace. The descriptions of everything from scenery to food are very clear and graphic. There are action scenes and even a murder which keeps the reader in suspense. There is never a dull moment as Jonathan and Marion are continually coming together and separating throughout the entire book.
I did find the continual shuttling from past to present a bit confusing and even unsettling. Just when I was deeply involved in what was happening in the past, the present would come tumbling in suddenly and the flow of the story was interrupted. This problem in continuity was especially acute when Jonathan becomes critically ill and faces death. There were also some typos and minor editing issues but these did not significantly detract from the story. Another slight problem was the believability of certain scenes like Jonathan just happening to run into Princess Grace of Monaco in Monaco and painting her portrait.
All in all this was an excellent read and great entertainment. There were several slightly explicit sexual scenes and so this book would be more for adult readers. Because of the issues mentioned above I would rate this book 3 out of 4 stars.
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Breaking Sandcastles
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