This book was hard to get into. I found the characters annoying at times. I ended up not finishing the book because I was forcing myself to read it. I was interested in the husband’s story but could not get into the wife’s.

I could not put this down.. a couple Mornings needs more sleep from status so late reading!! This is a definitely must read!

This book is a complex proof of understanding evil, lying in the human psyche. Several parts I could not even fathom, some I was shocked to read. The ending is worth the second part of the book, which for me was equal to confusion.

As much as I'd love to give this book a 5 star, one thing holds me back. The mysterious holes throughout the book, holes of information that pointed to confusion rather than mystery. But oh my, the last chapters were unexpectedly revealing, with incredible information and brilliant outcome.

Aidan' s character is in itself a flaw, symbol of what could go wrong in society due to taking advantage of gullible people, unlucky and poor. Caroline' s character stands for lies and avarice. These two are opposites and of course they attract each other.

The fact that up to a point the book is written through different POVs, got me confused and intrigued at the same time. I wonder if this was the goal of the author. If not, she managed it pretty well. There were so many elements and pieces of information that did or did not fit together at all. This affected slightly the flow of the novel.

What I recommend is to really go and read this book and convince yourself. Fans of suspense and family dramas will love it for sure.

Many thanks to Netgalley and St Martins Press for the opportunity to read and review this arc.

WOW - this book is PACKED with suspense and kept me up late into the night! I’m so impressed!!! Told from 2 different perspectives: the rich woman with the million dollar beach mansion, wife, mother, socialite....and the younger man: bartender, screwup, trying to rebuild his life. A murder occurs and the whole time you’re getting 2 completely different versions of the same story and trying desperately to figure out who to trust!! Which one is lying? Can either of them really be trusted? Unreliable narration at it’s finest!! Keeps you guessing until the end!

5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the chance to read and review an ARC from one of my favorite authors!! Michele Campbell NEVER disappoints in keeping me glued to the page and knocking my imagination for a loop!!

#Netgalley
#MicheleCampbell
Michele Campbell Books
#StrangerOnTheBeach
#Thrills

Couldn't really decide about this book, did I like it or not? not sure.

Parts of it I really enjoyed and other parts I found a bit slow and it didn't really draw me into the story line nor could I get engaged with the characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Yet another fantastic read by Michele Campbell . I loved her first two and this was eagerly anticipated and lived up to my expectations . Caroline , believing her marriage is over has what she perceives as a one night stand with Jason a bartender .Unfortunately that is not how he sees it and he believes them to be in a relationship . As we read on the story splits and is told from both Carolines and Jasons perspective . It becomes a he said she said and I seriously did wonder who's version of events was the truth . It was a brilliant read and I thoroughly enjoyed it . Another 5 star from me

The book started out very interesting. Caroline finds out her husband is cheating on her. She meets a stranger outside her beach house. The way the book was organized, alternating chapters did not coalesce for me. I kept getting a little confused on what was going on.

I think this book will work for people who like back and forth and wondering what is going on.
This book was not for me, but the writing was good, it may be for you. This is my honest opinion, thank you net galley

I was entertained and liked this one. Good writing and the alternating narrators worked well for me. I thought I saw where this was going right from the beginning (I was wrong). Is it a little far fetched at times? Sure but that’s part of the fun of fiction. At least to me...

There are twists and surprises along the way. There are also some evil, selfish characters. I was happy with the conclusion.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and St. Martin’s Press for a copy in exchange for a review.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for an advanced read in exchange for this review.  

Caroline appears to have it all - money, a husband, a daughter, and a spectacular beach house.  Her life suddenly is turned upside down after a public fight with her husband.  A stranger shows up on the beach, and Caroline is suddenly taken with him.  His obsession with her grows, and her life continues to spiral into a nightmare.

Okay, there was some potential with this book.  However, some of the explanations for certain plot lines seem quite short.  Also, I did not like it when the book changed perspectives to another character.  It was confusing, and the story felt fake from there on out.  Disappointing read overall.

Love, love, love this book. Author Michele Campbell is a wonderful writer.
A "Stranger on the Beach" is a clever suspenseful mystery thriller. The story is full of unpredictable plots and fun twist. Soon to be a big summer bestseller.

This is the kind of book that will keep you up late at night reading. The author hooks you from the start, intense page turner.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and give an honest review.

I found this book frustrating. In the beginning I really liked it, then the second perspective showed up and things went down the drain. Once I was about 70% finished I started to like it again, but the ending was disappointing.

I wanted to like it, but I cannot say I enjoyed this book. The characters weren't likeable and the story was convoluted. The only reason I finished it was because it was an advanced copy that I had committed to reviewing.

Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an advanced reader's copy.

Thanks to netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this book was great. The story was told from 2 viewpoints, Caroline, the wealthy woman whose husband was cheating and the guy she had a brief affair with, Aidan. You can tell early on that the stories don’t line up and someone is lying. Even though I sort of figured out the ending a little early, it didn’t detract from my enjoyment. I also liked the cameo appearance by Melanie Vargas since I had read the series featuring her some years ago. This story had a lot of twists and turns and kept me entertained. It had sex, obsession, deceit, all the necessary elements for a good thriller. Once I got to 60% I couldn’t put it down because I wanted to see how it would end. I am excited to read more from this author.

A great read that pulls you in from the first chapter. You'll find yourself drawn into the twisted world of lies and deceit and it will make you wonder who you're truly supposed to be rooting for.

Caroline has just had her life turned upside down when her husband leaves her with no explanation.

Jason, the husband that left her abruptly and destroyed her comfortable life, has secrets to hide.

Aiden, the mysterious stranger who enters her life as it’s being upended, quickly becomes obsessed with her after a torrid affair.

Told from the point of views of Caroline and Aiden Michele Campbell keeps you intrigued and you never know who to believe. There are so many twists and turns. This is a quick paced roller coaster ride that has you second guessing everything and everyone.

This book started well but I found it confusing when the story began being told in alternating chapters by different characters. I didn't finish the book. Not for me

When Caroline’s husband arrives late to their housewarming party in the Hamptons with another woman in tow and abruptly asks for a divorce the next day, she ends up having a one night stand with the younger townie bartender. Told by Caroline and Aiden the bartender in alternating perspectives, as the story unfolds, their versions of events get farther and farther from each other until something terrible happens.

Caroline’s decisions as the book wore on made less and less sense, as did the two conflicting points of view. It wasn’t hard to figure out why it was written that way, but frankly I found it a bit annoying that this wasn’t explicit rather than simply hinted at. Had it been made clear that these were their accounts of events to the police after the fact, I think it would’ve read a lot less crazy and a lot more sinister and mysterious. After the storm, things got much more cohesive and interesting, but it’s unfortunate that you have to slog through half the book with two unreliable narrators before you get there. The plot had promise but the execution was lacking for me. 2.5 stars for the first 60% of the book, 3.5 stars for the last 40%.

“A Stranger on the Beach” is an stunningly powerful novel about infidelity, betrayal and greed. The author tells the story from different points of view and had me wondering who was telling the truth. It’s a impressive psychological thriller that definitely kept me guessing. This novel captured my attention from the first page. It held my interest throughout the book and I found myself wanting to finish it all in one day. Overall it was a superb read. I would love to read other books written by Michele Campbell. I highly recommend this book and this author. I was fortunate to receive this novel from Netgalley as an Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

Aidan can't stop looking at the spectacular house that was built on the beach property that had belonged to his grandfather. It's everything that he's ever dreamed off. The woman that lives there is beautiful beyond compare. What a life that would be, a gorgeous woman, an amazing house, on the very property he lives so much.
The woman's name is Caroline, she has seen the man standing outside her house. All she can think is that he's casing her home. Maybe getting ready to break in and rob her.
Than one day running on the beach she sees him again, his name is Aidan.
Following a humiliating house warming party where her husband showed up with his Russian mistress, Caroline is looking for a place to try and forget her problems. She goes to the Red Anchor a local bar. There she discovers Aidan is the bartender. He's really not that bad. And, he's very attractive.
This is a book that keeps you on the edge of your seat. You get two views of the story Caroline's, and Aidan's. The characters are interesting as is the plot. It was a great read with a surprising ending.

First, I would like to thank St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A Stranger on the Beach caused so many vivid emotions for me. Having experienced an abusive relationship in the past, I was sickened reading Caroline’s chapters. This book forces you to weigh the honesty of Caroline and Aidan’s accounts of what has happened, and I immediately sided with Caroline, perhaps out of some sort of pseudo survivor’s bond. However, the more I read, the more I questioned if I was siding with the right person. The retellings given by Caroline and Aidan became so different factually that I started to side with Aidan (even if his supposed love for Caroline was nauseatingly codependent and frankly quite ridiculous and unbelievable). I began to feel as though I were an investigator, trying to work out from Caroline and Aidan’s sworn statements which of them was innocent. I read this book in two short sittings because it was completely engulfing (once I got past the initial aversion to reading Caroline’s chapters detailing her abuse). I do not want to describe more than this for fear of giving away spoilers, but I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves suspense and thrillers. Honestly, I would recommend this book to anyone because it was thrilling to read. I was sad to see that a lot of people who rated this book 1/5 had simply stopped reading after the first few chapters because they had given up on the book. If you only read the first few chapters, of course it is going to seem unbelievable! That’s the point! Your job is to seek out the contradictions and inconsistencies in the “statements” presented to you and figure out what is really going on. Why has Jason’s mistress followed him to his wife Caroline’s party to cause a scene? Why does Hannah, their daughter, side with Jason in all things? Why does Aidan, a supposedly gorgeous bartender, fall in love with Caroline after just one night together? What really happened all those years ago when Caroline and her sister Lynn screwed the rest of the family out of their inheritance? This book causes you to look deeper and piece together the facts until you’re sweating and your heart is racing as you read into the wee hours of the night because you want so badly to just be able to tell the investigators what has really happened. I finished this book late last night and I have been thinking about it ALL DAY. I wish I was part of a book club so I would have someone to gush over it with! A Stranger on the Beach was fantastic overall and I would love to read other books written by Michele Campbell.

#netgalley #astrangeronthebeach

Wow what a twisted convoluted story A Stranger on the Beach by Michele Campbell is. Where is the truth in this book? Subplots and more subplots and it definitely keeps you turning the pages. Great psychological thriller and definitely keeps you guessing. Very suspenseful. Would definitely recommend.