Julia Roberts is a new author for me. I so enjoyed this book. What would you do if on a beach in Mexico you see your best friend who is your brother’s wife who died in a train crash there and alive? I was hooked and read the book in one setting. I look forward to reading more by tJulia Roberts.

Thank you #NetGalley, #Bookouture, #JuliaRoberts and #TheWomanontheBeach for the novel for my honest opinion.

Loved this thriller. It was well written with a cast of characters that you will soon not forget. Easy to read and enjoy.

A grippy, nail biting mystery that you have been looking for. The book is so intriguing and keeps you glued till the very end

I found this book hard going. From the description I really thought I was going to enjoy it, maybe it was the wrong book wrong time. I have been meaning to pick it up again but have so many new books to read.I will give this one three stars and would like to thank Netgalley for allowing me to review it.

I loved it!! Omg I really did!!

Liv saw someone familiar on the beach and called out her name. SOPHIE!! But Sophie had died in an accident. How could it be her best friend? Could it?

The author Julia Roberts should write more of this genre – women’s fiction with tons of mystery. I enjoyed the familiarity of the initial half and the comfort it gave me as I settled into its pages.

Then the truths arrived, loud and banging, leaving both Sophie and me flabbergasted. Oh wow. The author was a cool, wicked woman. I was all piped up for a big confrontation when Ms. Roberts twisted the story upon itself. I love it when authors do that. That made me complete the book much faster.

Final impression – Fun and fast read with mystery and deception, emotions and friendship. Quite a niche for the author to have as she carved the story brilliantly.

As emotional and perceptive as the most compulsive family dramas and as captivating and engrossing as a tense psychological crime thriller, Julia Roberts’ latest novel, The Woman on the Beach is an absorbing, astute and spellbinding read that will keep readers guessing until the very last page.

Sophie and Liv had been the best of friends since school. Together through thick and thin, they vowed to always be there for one another. Nothing and nobody was going to come between them and the girls were sure they were going to be best friends for life. Sophie had always been there for Liv. Through the good times and the bad, Sophie was always there with a shoulder to cry on and a supportive ear. The girls shared absolutely everything and were closer than sisters, so when Sophie had died, Liv had been absolutely devastated. Torn apart by grief and heartbroken by the loss of her friend, Liv doesn’t know how she was ever going to get through Sophie’s death. When Liv visits a beach she had visited as a child, she sees a woman who is the exact mirror image of her friend. Liv thinks she’s hallucinating – until she realises that the woman she saw on the beach was the best friend she had been grieving all this time!

Liv is determined to get to the bottom of this mystery. As memories of the past come rushing back, Liv begins to wonder what really happened during the weeks leading up to Sophie’s ‘death’. Sophie had seemed so quiet and withdrawn back then, but surely she wouldn’t go as far as faking her own death…or would she? Determined to track down the woman she had seen on the beach, Liv vows to leave no stone unturned. But is she ready for what she is about to uncover? Just how well did she know her best friend? Will solving this mystery provide Liv with the answers she desperately seeks? Or is it only going to make things much worse and end up destroying everything?

The Woman on the Beach is a beautifully layered page-turner that explores friendship, grief, secrets, lies and deception and which unravels in such a nuanced and compelling way that readers will find themselves completely floored by the shocking revelations Liv uncovers. Julia Roberts know how to capture her readers’ attention and keep them eagerly anticipating the next juicy twist and turn and in The Woman on the Beach, she has written a gripping yarn perfect for fans of Susan Lewis and Liane Moriarty.

I started reading this book, but I couldn't finish it. I can't quite put my finger on it, but the writing was just too much for me. I didn't care about the characters and I couldn't make myself continue to read. Unfortunately, I DNFed before making it to the 20% mark.

I loved this book From the moment I started to read I was hooked. Which was probably not a good thing because the house chores were put on hold! It is a complex plot that leaves you guessing till the end. It is a great book for a book club discussion. I look forward to reading her other books.

Liv is on a beach in Mexico and recognises a woman who was one of her best friends; however, she believed Sophie had died in a train crash years before when visiting another friend, Grace, in Spain. Sophie's husband Tom (also Liv's brother) has since remarried.

The truth is that Sophie suffered a form of amnesia after the fatal train crash and assumed Grace's identity. She has built a new life for herself and has a boyfriend, Luis, and a job teaching Pilates.

Sophie is thrown into turmoil by Liv's reappearance but, learning she has a young daughter, decides to return to England and try for custody. Liv agrees to help Sophie whilst uncertain of the truth, loyalties torn between her friend and brother as she tries to piece events together.

Through a combination of present day and flashbacks, the story of what really happened to Sophie begins to emerge. But what is the truth that Sophie's mind has been repressing all these years, and what will happen when that truth finally comes to light?

This book deals with the difficult subject of postpartum depression and how traumatic events can affect memory. The other main subject is how relationships change based on what we know, or think we know, about the people closest to us. Perhaps the truth isn't always what we imagined it would be, or because it was too frightening to admit even to ourselves.

The book touches on several sensitive subjects, such as grief and miscarriage, as well as the central trauma suffered by Sophie and its repercussions, but remains realistic in how the characters act and behave. Nobody is perfect and some individuals are more flawed than others, but accepting the truth of the past allows Sophie to move forward in the present.

I read this book in a single day, not able to put it down until knowing how things resolved.

Julia Roberts is a new author to me and I will look out for more of her books.

I was sent an advance review copy of this book by Bookouture, in return for an honest appraisal.

I have made my thoughts on “family drama” novels pretty clear over time. There is so much going on in the world that it is sometimes difficult to get involved with anything too emotional, because then reading doesn’t feel like an escape.
Fortunately, this book had a bit of psych thriller to it (at least, that’s how I took it) which made it an intriguing, yet somewhat frustrating, read.
I had a feeling about the “twist” early on so that wasn’t exactly an “Oh my goodness!” moment for me, but I don’t think it needed to be. The incident on the beach that sets everything in motion was well-done. I liked how even though it involved two people, it actually impacted many more lives.
I don’t want to give anything away by talking about the plot, but the author does a masterful job of keeping the reader as off-balance as the characters. I often felt a lot like Liv, unsure of what the truth was and whose story I could trust.
I also felt that the author gave enough background and family connections to make even the simplest decision become complicated. It was easy to imagine how each relationship was formed and how that impacted the decisions made by the characters.
It’s pretty safe to say that I loved this book for about three-quarters of it. But there was a point where I thought that it seemed as if the author either got tired of writing or figured that it had gone too long and needed to end it.
I say that because the last quarter of the book didn’t feel like it belonged with the rest. The author had done a great job with questioning motivations and stories of the characters and then all of a sudden, things were just…solved.
In my mind, I visualize most of the story as a mish-mashed bunch of squiggles and crossed lines and then the end is just a straight line coming out of the chaos.
I kept thinking that the writer was going to drop another twist and say that something the characters believed to be true was not true, but then find out that someone was lying. But that didn’t happen.
I think I felt this way because the author had done such a great job of laying out all of the hints throughout that it felt like there should have been more return on them. It all wrapped up a little too neatly.
However, in hindsight, the characters’ motivations did make sense. And it ended up being a lesson for the characters (and the reader) that what you think was happening could in fact be something completely different, even if all signs point to the former.
And that nobody ever really knows what is going on in other people’s lives, no matter how close you are to someone.
Even though I was a bit disappointed in the wrap-up, that may very well be personal taste. I certainly enjoyed the book and would definitely recommend it to others. 3.5 stars

Liv, Grace and Sophie were inseparable as teens. But a tragic train crash killed one and the other two rejected each other in their grief. Now Liv is on holiday in Mexico when she spots a familiar tattoo...
The Woman on the Beach has drama, mystery and a whole heap of emotional upheaval.
The pace of the book moves quite quickly and developments occur thick and fast. There is plenty of mystery as we unpick the plot strands. The book is written in a non linear way at first to show the past interspersed with present events. There are some big emotional issues involved in the plot including miscarriage and grief. Mental health and domestic abuse also form part of the narrative.
I don't want to give away too much of the plot but the book is written from the first person narrative perspective of two of the friends in the present day and in the past. This allows us to see both viewpoints and understand their emotions and actions. We are misdirected by the characters due to their own skewed opinions.
The Woman on the Beach is an entertaining and emotional book about friendship, love and grief.

An interesting page turner about friendship, loss, new beginnings and hope. I enjoyed the initial mystery but quickly became confused with the frequent jumping back and forth in time, and just a little disappointed in the ending, I’d have liked another twist at the end! But overall a good read.
Thanks NetGalley, Bookouture and Julia Roberts for an ARC to review.

I really enjoyed the story but the writing less so, I just found the style a little annoying, having said that, I did want to find out what happened so it kept me engaged!

Liv, Grace and Sophie have been best friends since they were at school. Live thought see saw her dead friend on a beach in Mexico. Liv is taking a break from her marriage to Jamie and decides to visit Grace. There's been a lot of tragic events in Liv's life recently. Could the stress be making her mind play tricks on her?

This book had me so confused to start with and I had to make notes for who was who, but once I figured the characters out it turned into a very emotional read. Box of tissues on standby. Highly recommended

Each page had me desperately turning the pages trying to discover what was going to happen next. The Woman on the Beach is an emotional, captivating read with twists and red herrings that keep you engrossed throughout.

After a tragic accident, the lives of three friends, Sophie, Liv and Grace are devastating changed. When Liv spots a woman on the beach that might be Sophie, who is supposed to be dead, a chain of events are set in place that makes for an entralling, heart-rending read.

With a gripping plot filled with emotion and depth, as well as characters that are written so well that you feel you know them intimately. This novel will have you mesmerised from beginning to end.

I am so glad I chose this book. It is a beautifully thought out story that will tug on your heart strings and want you to keep on reading to see what happens next.

This story is a must read one. After reading it I can totally see it made into a tv series because it has everything I want from a gripping and addictive show.

Long time friendship filled with love, companionship and trust and heartbreak and mystery.

The story is told in multiple pov and timelines, but once you got over 25% mark, it’s very easy to understand what’s going on and who is who.

Liv is going through a lot in the background and while taking some time off from her life, on a beach in Mexico, she spotted a very familiar face. It’s unbelievable that it could be the same woman she once had but lost her in a tragic event years ago.

There are so many twists and turns with each chapter that I was actually holding my breath for what’s to happen next. I had my theories made up pretty much early in the story and most of them were right by the end of the last chapters, but I must admit that there are so many unpredictable things that I haven’t seen coming my way.

If you love a good psychological story with family and friendship bonds and secrets, this is definitely the book for you.

Very grateful to the publisher for my review copy.

Brilliant book
Loved this from the start
Your friend is killed in a train crash but a woman standing on the beach in Mexico before you has a tattoo just like her friend .
But it can’t be Sophie can it ?
This book will pull you in and have you hooked from the start
Loved this book can’t wait for her next
Thanks NetGalley

A good read, but one I did skim over at times. There were complex characters, and enough twists, but none of them felt particularly daring. Still, I read it quickly, this would make a good beach/holiday read.