Very twisty thriller!!
If you like edge-of-your-seat suspense that keeps you up all night reading, put this on your list! Michele Cambell's upcoming release is page turningly addicting. Bouncing back and forth between two narrators, you never know which one is the reliable one. I think this is what makes the story so good....

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for an ARC for review.

Can’t say I really liked it! The story is told from two POV Caroline and Aidan both are unreliable characters. Who's telling the truth and who’s lying? I found the story predictable and the characters unlikable. Caroline and her daughter annoyed me and Aidan was in love and obsessed after just one night with Caroline which to me wasn’t believable! This one was not a hit with me!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC for my honest and free review.

I had been hearing about this book for quite awhile and couldn't wait to read it. I love unreliable narrators, and this one does deliver. This book is also full of unlikable people. The story is very good but unfortunately I figured out the plot twist pretty early. I would recommend this if you want an enjoyable quick read .

This is a thriller murder mystery told from two points of view. Caroline Stark and her one-time fling, Aiden, are the voices in this story.

Caroline is getting back into interior design. She has created a lavish show piece of a beach home. She is just getting ready to have the home officially opened and has a party set for the movers and shakers and magazines to come to.

Her husband isn’t quite as thrilled with what is going on. They have a very public disagreement and he starts pulling away from her and towards another woman. Caroline’s distraught and when she finds the money in their accounts is missing, she comes apart.

She turns to Aiden, a young bartender in the seaside town where she has built her new home. She has a revenge fling with Aiden and that’s where the strange twists of this story appear.

At that point, the points of view of the two individuals become so different that you become extremely concerned about Caroline.

The story grows from that point. Investigations, murder and more. Where will it end and whodunnit are part of the interesting plot of this story. I was twisted like a pretzel but did figure out the whodunnit about three quarters of the way through the book. While it was a bit earlier than the story revealed its unusual end, it didn’t bother me as reading the story was very interesting.

I was provided a digital advance reader copy of this book by the publisher via Netgalley.

I will post this review on my blog and Instagram on July 14th, closer to the release date. If I add/remove anything from my review, I will post the new version. The version on here, my blog, Good Reads, and Instagram will always be the same.

Goodreads Synopsis: 

There is a stranger outside Caroline's house.

Her spectacular new beach house, built for hosting expensive parties and vacationing with the family she thought she'd have. But her husband is lying to her and everything in her life is upside down, so when the stranger, Aiden, shows up as a bartender at the same party where Caroline and her husband have a very public fight, it doesn't seem like anything out of the ordinary.

As her marriage collapses around her and the lavish lifestyle she's built for herself starts to crumble, Caroline turns to Aiden for comfort...and revenge. After a brief and desperate fling that means nothing to Caroline and everything to him, Aiden's obsession with Caroline, her family, and her house grows more and more disturbing. And when Caroline's husband goes missing, her life descends into a nightmare that leaves her accused of her own husband's murder.

My Thoughts:

I have never heard of Michele Campbell before, and now I need to read ALL of her books!

This book had everything I love about a suspenseful thriller! Plus you get both Aidan and Caroline's point of view. Let's dive in.

The chapters alternate between Caroline and Aidan's point of views.  Caroline believes Aidan is stalking her after their one night stand and Aidan believes he and Caroline are in love.  It's pretty intense to read the back and forth so much that you know one of them is lying, but which one?!

I couldn't decide which character I was rooting for.  There were points in the book where I didn't like Caroline and there were other points where I didn't like Aidan.  I wrote him off as a pscyho stalker preying on a married woman.  Poor Caroline was trying to fix her marriage and Aidan was ruining everything.  On the other end Caroline knew how obsessed Aidan was with her, but she kept promising him a real relationship after she got rid of Jason.

There was a point in the book where the light bulb inside my head went off and I figured out which one was lying.  However, there were still twists and turns that I didn't see coming. I enjoyed this book and stayed up way past my bedtime to finish it! I had to know how it ended and I was not disappointed.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the digital ARC of this book.

Grab your copy on July 23, 2019!

Book Rating: 🍷🍷🍷🍷

If The Affair were a book, it would be this one, told from alternating perspectives and where things are not as they seem. A quick read filled with twists and genuine surprises.

A Stranger On The Beach is a heart-racing, menacing tale of obsession, betrayal, and deceit. Told through dual conflicting points of view, readers are charged with deciding who, if anyone, is telling the truth in this twisted he said/she said fatal attraction suspense story. A story of what happens after forty-three year old Carolyn Stark makes a potentially fatal decision to indulge in a torrid one night stand with a twenty-seven year old stranger after learning her twenty year marriage and luxurious lifestyle are crashing down around her. In a regrettable, split-second decision, she seeks revenge against her husband by sleeping with Aidan even though she's seen him stalking her beach house a few times. A fiery night of passion quickly turns into her worse nightmare by dawn's early light. In her point of view, Carolyn's ready to be rid of Aidan and move on as though the previous night never happened. No one but Aidan knows about her infidelity, and he won't tell . . . will he? She'll send him back where he came from and attempt to salvage her marriage. In Aidan's point of view, he's found the woman of his dreams and the love of his life. This is his chance for the life he's only dreamed of, and he has no intention of giving it up. He vows to do anything to keep Carolyn. Anything. Two unreliable narrators - two opposing stories of every scene - who's the crazy one?

An intense, chilling, fast-paced thriller, A Stranger On The Beach kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. I burned through the pages, reading the dual points of view while trying to figure out whose version of the truth was fact and whose was a convoluted, insane web of lies. I knew there was a piece of the puzzle missing - something just out of my grasp - as I read and reread some scenes trying to catch one of them in a lie. The author does a great job of setting a dark, treacherous tone throughout with the tension escalating until things take a deadly turn. The whole ominous fatal attraction/stalker vibe plays out realistically through several twists and turns, leading readers to the shocking finale. There did come a point before the reveal when the light came on for me, and my suspicions proved to be true. And yet the author still managed to surprise me with a well executed turn of events on the final page . A well-written, cunning psychological thriller, A Stranger On The Beach is A Must Read!

As we follow, or try to follow, Carolines life in A Stranger On The Beach by Michele Campbell, we have no idea it would come to this - chills and spills, or is it spells. It's twisted as it weaves in and out of characters, is this just a crazy setup as life and lives unfold between the beach and the city, along with fun and crazy antics. Beware of local bars! This is a laugh out loud, with a few "oh my's in the mix book! Thank you! #AStrangerOnTheBeach #NetGalley #StMartinsPress

Whoa! What a ride! OMG. Do not start this book if you only have 30minutes to read. I was hooked from the first page and could not turn pages fast enough, Fantastic read. Highly recommend. Thank you netgalley and publisher for this arc in exchange of an honest review.

Wow. This is the second book I’ve read by this author and I’m definitely looking forward to more. This is the story of Caroline and Aidan, told from both view points. There were times I believed each of them and times I couldn’t tell who was lying! I have to say that I didn’t see the biggest WTF moment coming. Very good storytelling.

Who to believe Caroline or Aiden. I really liked both characters. I found myself changing my mind about who was the evil one, I really enjoyed reading this book. The last few chapters are a whirlwind of a ride. Looking forward to more.

This is a great suspense summer read! Although the book was a little slow to get started, the twist and turns in the end made it all worth it! It makes you question characters, motives, and the true story.

A Stranger On The Beach – Michele Campbell

I was fortunate to receive this book as an Advance Reader Copy from Netgalley, in exchange for an objective review.

All I can say about this one is WHOA…I was sucked in with in the first page or two, and stayed up well into the night because I just could not put it down!

Caroline Stark and her husband Jason are a high society couple, and Caroline is putting the finishing touches on the sleek new home they just built on some beachfront property. Alone for the time being, Carolina is working on plans for their upcoming housewarming party, when she notices a young man standing on the beach, staring at the house, like he was casing it for a robbery. Later, after a run down the beach, she again finds him on the beach, admiring the house. She walks up to him, he complements the home, they exchange names, and he waves and walks off.

Aiden Callahan is a local bartender, and an out-of-town couple have purchased his grandfather’s old beachfront property and have erected what looks like a mansion to him. Reminiscing often of his childhood days on that beach, he visits often, and there he meets Caroline. He also is fortunate to be hired to tend the outdoor bar at her housewarming party, where he finds her fascinating.

In a sudden and unexpected twist, Caroline’s marriage comes unglued at the seams, and she finds solace in vodka at The Red Anchor. Aiden is tending bar that night, and in her drunken, angry state, she takes him home for a one-night stand – and Aiden decides he loves her. Meanwhile, Caroline decides to fight for her marriage, and she and her husband attempt to reconcile. She explains this to Aiden, but desperate to become a part of her life, he begins to exhibit possessive, angry and stalking behavior. And that’s just the beginning…

Told from the perspectives of both Caroline & Aiden, this novel grabs hold of you and won’t let go. As the stories begin to diverge in each character’s telling, you can’t help but wonder… just who is telling the truth?
Filled with edge of your seat suspense, I could not turn the pages fast enough to see where this was going to go! A great read, but once you pick it up, be sure you have time to read it from cover to cover, because you won’t be able to put it down…. Awesome read!!

This is very well written. It kept me guessing and I literally could not put it down.

Caroline seems to have it all until her husband goes missing...

When you think you have things figured out you get twisted right around and BAM! Guess again. This kept me reading straight through the night.

This is a perfect beach read that you really can't afford to miss.

Thanks to NetGalley for an early copy.

Two VERY unreliable narrators tell this crazy story. I honestly didn't know who to believe. I actually had one person pegged as the one telling the truth, but I was so wrong! This book gave me an actual headache at the two very different perceptions, but I couldn't stop.....I had to see what was real and what was not. I give this 3 1/2 stars.

This book started out strong and I really enjoyed the different points of view and how confused everyone was about what actually happened. However, halfway through I started losing interest and realized I really wasn't liking Caroline all that much and so then my sympathy towards her waned. I did manage to finish this but skimmed most of the the book until the ending, which tied everything up.

This book was amazing! From the first page the reader is sucked into a wild ride of an addictive story that doesn’t end until the last word. In the acknowledgments at the beginning of the book, the author states that the book was so much fun to write. Well, however much fun it was for her to write, it was twice as much fun to read. From unreliable narrators to cheating spouses and fatal attraction scenarios to a hurricane and everything in between, this story is a fast-paced page-turner that will have you reading long past your bedtime.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Caroline Stark’s dream beach house has just been finished and she’s organizing a big catered housewarming party. All of her friends are there and she is thrilled to show off her beautiful house. But her husband, Jason, shows up with an unknown woman that Caroline suspects is someone with whom he is having an affair. They have a fight, Caroline is humiliated and Jason leaves saying he doesn’t know when he’ll be back
Caroline is sad and lonely and decides to go to the local bar for a drink where she meets the young and handsome Aidan. She returns the following night which leads to a night of passion with the gorgeous Aidan. However, to Caroline this was a one night stand, to Aidan - well he was falling in love....and he’s not about to let her go easily.
Now having told you all of this doesn’t tell you much about the story at all. At this point, I found the whole thing sort of went off to LaLa land and was a little unbelievable. But by gosh I stuck with it and it all ties up at the end.
Thanks to NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review

Let me first say that I really enjoyed this book. It did take me a little while to get into it because I felt like the beginning was a little slow. I stopped reading it and then picked it up the next week and after a few more chapters I really got into this story. I enjoyed all the twist and turns. It kept me on edge to see what else would unfold between Caroline and Aiden. It turned out to be a great suspense book that I would recommend to my friends.

Aidan Callahan watched the construction on the opulent beach house, in part because he was fascinated by the style of the building, and also because the land had originally belonged to his grandfather. After completion, the owner noticed him outside, and went out and introduced herself. Caroline Stark fascinated Aidan, and he was startled when Brittany asked him to bartend at Caroline’s huge housewarming party. He hoped he’d have a chance to talk to her and to see the inside of the house. Several days later, when Caroline came into the bar, despondent because her husband was having an affair, Aidan had his chance, and they went back to Caroline’s place. Aidan’s interest in Caroline was now bordering on obsession.

This book is full of drama, intrigue, bad decisions, and Russian mobsters! There’s a lot going on, and Caroline is right in the middle. Aidan does his best to protect her, even after he’s arrested, but his loyalty is tested when the truth comes out. This is a fascinating read that held my attention throughout.