Review: Silver Bay by Jojo Moyes

Title: Silver Bay    

Author: Jojo Moyes     

Published: April 2014, Penguin Books  

Format: ARC e-book, 352 pages    

Source: Netgalley via Publisher 

From the New York Times bestselling author of Me Before You and One Plus One, a surprising and moving romance set in an old-fashioned seaside town on the verge of unwelcome change

Liza McCullen will never fully escape her past. But the unspoiled
beaches and tight-knit community of Silver Bay offer the freedom and
safety she craves—if not for herself, then for her young daughter,
Hannah. That is, until Mike Dormer arrives as a guest in her aunt’s
hotel.

The mild-mannered Englishman with his too-smart clothes
and distracting eyes could destroy everything Liza has worked so hard to
protect: not only the family business and the bay that harbors her
beloved whales, but also her conviction that she will never love—never
deserve to love—again.

For his part, Mike Dormer is expecting
just another business deal—an easy job kick-starting a resort in a small
seaside town ripe for development. But he finds that he doesn’t quite
know what to make of the eccentric inhabitants of the ramshackle Silver
Bay Hotel, especially not enigmatic Liza McCullen, and their claim to
the surrounding waters.

As the development begins to take on a
momentum of its own, Mike’s and Liza’s worlds collide in this hugely
affecting and irresistible tale full of Jojo Moyes’s signature humor and
generosity.

My thoughts: It’s no secret that I am a big fan of Jojo Moyes. I have read
quite a few of her books and even had the opportunity to meet her last
year. So, of course, when I saw that one of her older books, Silver Bay, was being re-released and that it was on Netgalley, I just had to request it!

I just love the characters that Jojo Moyes creates. In Silver Bay, she gives us three likeable women (one really a young girl) all with their own stories to tell and a young man that thought he had life all figured out. Told from alternating perspectives of these four characters, we learn what has brought Liza and her daughter, Hannah and Mike to the little seaside town of Silver Bay. It’s quite clear there are secrets that need to be divulged and ever so slowly we get the whole picture. 

I like when authors choose to use a young narrator in their books. Hannah, Liza’s young daughter, provides an innocent view of what is happening in the story. Because she’s experienced upheaval and loss in her short life, she has that sense of being an old soul, but in the next scene she might be acting young and carefree.

This is not an action-packed story, but rather a slow, charming tale about the town, it’s people and the sea animals that inhabit Silver Bay. There are mysteries that beg to be solved as the story progresses and a few plot twists that provide an added dimension to the book.

I really enjoyed this book and have loved reading through Jojo Moyes’ backlist. All the stories are so different that you just never know what you will get when picking up one of her books. What will be my next Jojo Moyes book? Perhaps the next one that gets re-released or maybe her brand new one coming out soon…

Do you have an author that once you discovered him or her, you had to read everything they’ve written? I have a few and Jojo Moyes is definitely on that list!