At the Water's Edge

Amazing book. I couldn't put it down. I loved “Like Water for Elephants,” so I couldn't wait to read “[b:At the Water's Edge 23209927 At the Water's Edge Sara Gruen https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1412194706l/23209927.SY75.jpg 42753039].” It was set during WWII, starting in the US and moving to Scotland. The main characters, Hank, Ellis, and Maddie are well off and well isolated from the war, but slowly get exposed in their own ways to the realities of it. As much as I liked this book, I kept getting side-tracked by Maddie's unending fainting. Not sure what that added to the story. Overall, though, the plot zipped along and the exposure to WWII-era Scotland's culture came through well. The author captured the lyrical speech patterns of the Scottish characters. I didn't guess the ending or even the middle for that matter. I stayed up until 4 am to finish this book. I loved it. But what's with all the fainting?

First of all, I'm mad no one told me this story was based around the Loch Ness monster, Nessie, and I'm personally offended. If you know me, you know I'm obsessed with Nessie and I would have read this a long time ago. When my husband got down on one knee and proposed to me, I was talking about Nessie, in case you need proof of my obsession. ANYWAY, that's why I picked this up. I was strolling through the bookstore and got to the Sara Gruen section. I've not read any of her books but I've obviously heard of her. So I just decided to read the synopsis on the book jacket. You guys don't know how fast I bought this as soon as my eyes saw the words “Loch Ness monster.” I didn't even read the rest of the synopsis.

That said, it turns out our protagonist, a spoiled rich brat from the United States named Maddie, her husband, Ellis, and their always attached to them friend, Hank, set off to find Nessie and prove to Ellis's dad that he's of some sort of worth after he gets cut off from family money. Spoiler alert: he's not. They're all spoiled, rich, brats with zero personality. I almost didn't even want to read it because of how awful they were. This is also all happening during WWII, so that brings in another set of circumstances.

I'm glad I powered through my first impressions. I legit could not put this down, but at the same time, I read it slowly because I didn't want to leave their world. The character development is great. The secrets revealed throughout are just enough to keep you interested, even though they're nothing groundbreaking. The female friendships are thriving. And although it turned out the book wasn't actually about baby Nessie, she does have some cameos, which I was super into. And the romance involved was SO good. I'm SO picky about the romance bits of books because most of it is unrealistic or cheesy, but I was INTO IT, y'all. Give me this book all day every day. It doesn't have great reviews, and I'm really not sure why. I thought it was captivating and I'm giving it five stars because I can't think of a single reason not to. Which is a big deal. If you keep up with my reviews at all, you know I rarely give anything five stars, even if I really like it.

Would I recommend?
Do you like historical fiction? Yes, friend, yes.

I would give this 3.5 stars probably. Second half is great, first half is dead boring. I almost didn't keep reading, but I'm glad I did.

Beautiful story. Maddie is used to living the high life but when her husband Ellis and his friend Hank decides to go look for the Loch Ness, her world is horribly turned upside down.

She has to get used to another country in a small village, left alone on most days, she starts a friendship with the help and at the same time discovers that her life is not what it all seems. The Loch Ness is not the only monster in this story.

An enjoyable historical fiction.