A great gripping read full of lies and family secrets, plenty of complex characters and emotional topics that meant that I couldn't put it down until I had finished it in one sitting. Definitely recommended

If you haven't read any books by Julia Roberts where have you been........I can Highly recommend all her books and they have all been a 5 star read! So when her latest book came out called The Woman on the Beach
I had to put everything on hold for the day, find my comfy spot, turn social media and my iphone off and open my kindle........Wow.......I was gripped from the very few pages till the end.
This latest book had some cracking twists and turns throughout and its about a long friendship between 3 girls. Grace, Liv and Sophie.
Liv is on a trial separation from her husband Jamie and is still grieving the sudden death of her dear friend Sophie and has headed off on holiday alone to Mexico for some me time. Plus, this was their favourite place to go as friends.
Whilst sitting on the beach listening to the sea Liv spots a couple in the distance coming out of the water. They're all loved up, the woman raises her arm, and from a distance Liv recognises the tattoo which is on her arm - it's the tattoo only Sophie had designed to cover up an injury she had a few years previously.
Liv could not help her self and shouts out "Sophie!" But, I must be going mad! Sophie is Dead! and I must of been mistaken! ?

WOW.....Who was she?

Was she Sophie?

This book is a gripping read and will have you on the edge of your seat wondering is Sophie alive and she did not die?

Big Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and the author Julia Roberts for my ARC of The Woman On The Beach in exchange for an honest review.

I was hooked on this book very early on. The scene on the beach in Mexico is dramatic, unusual and intriguing as we really don’t know what is going on – can it really be Sophie?

I loved the way the story and characters developed. There were unexpected twists, cliff-hangers and you are led down quite a few paths of assumption before you uncover the truth. Liv is a wonderful and sympathetic character. She is suffering through her own struggles but still comes across as a wise, caring, compassionate and loyal person.

There is a whole cast of complex, believable characters in this book and it meant I became so completely immersed in these character’s dilemmas and psychological tensions, that I almost forgot it was fiction I was reading. The author touches on very real and raw issues, such as relationship breakdown, addiction, suicide, identity, miscarriage and grief. This ensures that this is an emotionally charged book, but these issues are sensitively dealt with and the book is beautifully written and effectively structured to ensure the reader is completely gripped and engrossed.

Overall, I feel it is completely fair to compare this author and book to the likes of Amanda Prowse and Susan Lewis, who are two of my favourite authors. I am looking forward to reading more by this author!

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle by Bookouture and #NetGalley for my honest opinion.

I had a difficult time putting this tear-jerker down. It was beautifully woven, captivating and endearing.

The Woman on the Beach by Julia Roberts

📓Genre: General Fiction | Women's Fiction
Star: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 (3.7 stars rounded to 4 stars)

🔖 The core element of this story is based on the lives of three women and their friendship spanning years.
🔖When Sophie (one of the three friends) dies, her death leaves a gaping and irreversible void in the lives of the remaining two – Liv and Grace.
🔖While both women try to deal with the loss in their own ways, the author has beautifully penned the emotional ups and downs that storm their minds and influence their decisions.
🔖The first significant twist in the tale occurs when a grieving Liv, while on a Mexican beach, briefly notices a woman who she swears is none other than Sophie. And that is where the actual mystery starts.
🔖Told through multiple and alternating POVs, the story starts off slow, as scenes are set and characters are introduced, but the secrets, shifting timelines and the multi-layered characters soon intrigued me to keep reading.
🔖I admit, there were some parts which weren't to my liking, specially some of the things the characters did and said, but the story as a whole was engaging.
🔖Overall, this book is a good emotional mystery.

🔸Final Verdict: Good
🔸Book Cover: Goes perfectly with the story.
🔸Writing Style: Emotional
🔸Character Development: Good

✨Many thanks to Bookouture (Publisher) and Netgalley for sending me the ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

#TheWomanontheBeach #NetGalley #arc #bookreview

Sophie, Liv and Grace have all been friends since school, their friendship remaining as strong as ever even as their lives took them in different directions. When Grace moves to Spain they decide to visit her, and it is on this trip that Grace and Sophie are involved in a terrible train accident where Sophie sadly loses her life.

Grace is unable to cope with the fact she survived the accident yet Sophie died, and she soon begins to withdraw into herself and removed herself from everyone’s lives. This is especially difficult for Liv, as she tries to come to terms with the loss of Sophie and the disappearance of Grace.

When Liv’s marriage begins to struggle under the weight of grief they both carry with them, Liv decides to travel to Spain in the hope of reflecting on her life, and this is of course the last place that she visited with her two closest friends. When she arrives and takes a walk on the beach the wind is knocked out of her when she see’s a woman that looks just like Sophie – but of course, Sophie is dead, so surely it is a trick of the mind?.

Liv is still overwhelmed by the uncanny resemblance the woman on the beach has to her friend, and this forces her decision to leave and return home. The book is then told from various perspectives, alternating between the past and present tense as we explore the fallout of the day that changed their lives forever. We learn more about this group of friends as individuals as each chapter passes, allowing us to form a better picture of who they truly are.

With wonderfully developed characters and a storyline that has you invested to the very end, this is a truly marvellous read.

This book most definitely deserves everyone of my five stars. Julia Roberts is a new author for me and I’m so glad I chose this book as a first.
Liv, Sophie and Grace have been friends since high school and swear to be there for each other always! Unfortunately life has very different ideas when Sophie suddenly dies!
Liv is devastated by this and can’t believe when she thinks she sees Sophie on a beach in Mexico. What is the mystery surrounding Sophie’s death and why has Grace suddenly disappeared from liv’s life too.
There are twists and turns that I didn’t see coming, I read this book almost in one sitting. It was a truly wonderful book that made me want to cry at the unfairness of the 3 friends life’s.
Massive thank to Bookouture and NetGalley for the chance to read an early copy of this great book.

This was an interesting book about friendship, family, loss and questioning who to trust, who to believe. I can not say much about it without giving away to much of the story. It kept me reading, wanting to understand what happened in the past and what happened next. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

If there is something I love as much as a morally grey character, it's an unreliable narrator. This book is the story of three girls whose friendship is so strong that they can tell each other everything---IS IT REALLY???? The girls thought so at least but then each one of them has to deal with a different kind of devastating and painful experience and they have to decide how much to tell the others. Julia Roberts tells the story from three different POVs and you, the reader, are the only one who (presumably) knows the whole story---at least that is what YOU think when you read the book. But everything is not what it seems. The author takes you on a rollercoaster ride through emotional struggles, doubt, grief, etc. She keeps you guessing what really happened until the very end. You think you have it all figured out and root for the girls and then, bam!, you get another piece in this puzzle and start doubting your own theories.
While the last Julia Roberts book I read made me ball my eyes out (read my review of My Mother's Secret here: https://www.healthybodymindandsoul.net/healthy-mind-blog/warning-warning-this-one-is-a-tearjerker-do-not-open-if-you-dont-like-crying-your-way-through-a-book-blog-tour), this book kept me at the edge of my seat, not only because I could relate to two of the girls' stories on a very personal level but also because one of the girls is such an unreliable narrator that you keep wondering throughout the book if you can believe what she is saying or if the events did not really happen the way she believes they did. Thank you, Julia Roberts, for giving me hours of thrill, heartbreak, and entertainment!

Liv, Grace and Sophie have been friends for years. Sophia and Grace are on a train in Spain and Sophia is killed. Liv is in Mexico and she sees a woman on the beach with the tattoo that Sophia had on her arm. Liv cannot get the idea out of her head that it is Sophia that was on the beach.
A very suspenseful book with some twists too. I could not put this down I had to finish this book.

Three best friends have gone through a lot of life together until two of them are visiting each other and in a tragic accident one is killed. The other two have never recovered from the loss and it has affected all of the decisions they made since, until one is on a vacation and swears she sees the one that was presumed dead and then things spiral.

For me this book was good, but there was one small part that took it down a notch for me. I liked that the author had the main plot point in the synopsis come early and there was so much more book to be had after the discovery. The part for me that I really didn't love was the resolution and while I will try to talk about it without spoiling, be warned! When some of the secrets are revealed towards the end, it was the other character's reactions that felt too nice and forgiving - they went from "holy shit" to oh ok its fine too fast for me. I would have preferred more pages and more conflict, reminded me of a Brady Bunch tv show!

Because my quibble happened near the end, it made me rethink how I felt about the whole story. BUT Liv as a main character was great to follow. She reacted more along the way I would and I was along for the ride with her and it was her that made me keep reading even when I wasn't so sure about the Sophie of the story.

This was my first Julia Roberts read and while I had a small thing that I didn't love, I would absolutely read more both of the backlist and upcoming to decide my thoughts on the author as a whole - never make a decision on an author based on only one book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of The Woman on the Beach by Julia Roberts.

Sophie, Liv, and Grace were friends from childhood, experiencing school, university, and the beginnings of their lives as young women together until a tragic event occurs, and things are never the same again. Who is the woman that Liv spots on the beach in Mexico, and why are they both there at the same time?

The Woman on the Beach is an emotional rollercoaster of a story, and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough, desperate to discover just what was going to happen next. The author leads us down so many different paths, with twists and turns along the way, each time with an unexpected outcome.

Roberts has created each and every one of her characters with great thought, love, and joy, delving deep into each one to enable us to know them intimately. I felt their pain and heartache, love and understanding, with each tear-jerking revelation. This book makes you realise that no one knows what goes on behind closed doors and makes you question whether we really know the people closest to us.

Beach read, thriller and psychological drama, The Woman on the Beach has it all. Definitely worthy of 5 stars and I defy anyone not to read it in just a couple of days! Once you’ve started, you won’t stop!

Liv is taking some time alone. She heads to a vacation in Mexico to deal with more than one thing. For starters, she is on a trial separation from her husband Jamie. What is more is that she is still grieving the death of her friend Sophie and the fact that her other friend Grace took off after Sophie's untimely death.

However, one day on the beach Liv spots a couple coming out of the water after a swim. The woman raises her arm, and even from a distance, Liv recognizes a one-of-a-kind tattoo - a tattoo that Sophie had. She couldn't stop herself. She calls out Sophie's name, but then thinks she must have been mistaken. The story shifts perseptives from here on in ... Liv, Grace, Sophie. How does Sophie have a voice when she is deceased?

Now back at home, Liv and Jamie have reconciled. Liv receives a letter, one that drains all the color from her face. What is going on? Who is the letter from and why does it cause Liv so much shock? Reading this letter drives Liv back to Mexico to search for answers. The answers are shocking, to say the very least. In fact, credulity and doubt are soon at war.

What an impactful story! There is so much more that I simply cannot add in this review, other than to say go pick up this book and read it. Now! It is impossible to put down. It is a fast-paced read that doesn't slow down, even for the change of perspectives. In fact, it is these very changes that created an incredible puzzle in my mind, one I was more than desperate to solve. This is a stunning book that definitely deserves 5 stars.

Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinon.

BLOG TOUR REVIEW

Review for 'The Woman On The Beach' by Julia Roberts.

Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Julia Roberts, Bookouture publishers and Bookouture anonymous

Publication date 19th August 2021.

This is the first book I have read by this author.

I was originally drawn to this book by its beautiful cover and intriguing sounding synopsis and title. The synopsis stated that 'Fans of Amanda Prowse, Liane Moriarty and Susan Lewis will absolutely love The Woman on the Beach'. I am a huge fan of Susan Lewis so am looking forward to seeing if this lives up to this statement. I must admit I was also biased due to the publisher being Bookouture. I have yet to read a book published by Bookouture that I haven't enjoyed. Hopefully this won't be the first... Watch this space! (Written before I started reading the book).

This novel consists of a prologue and 41 chapters. The chapters are short to medium in length so possible to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!

This book is based in England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, UK 🇬🇧, Spain 🇪🇸 and Mexico 🇲🇽 ,North America 🇺🇸. The bonus for me of books that are partly or fully based in the UK is that I live in the UK and have sometimes visited places mentioned in the book which makes it easier to picture.

This book is written in a mix of third and first person perspective and the protagonists are Liv, Grace and Sophie. The benefits of books written in first person perspective are as long as they are well written it makes you feel that you are being spoken to by the protagonist and it can create more of a bond between yourselves and them. If there are several protagonists you also get to see more of what is going on. The benefits of third person perspective with multiple protagonists are that it let's you see the bigger picture of what's going on and you get to know more characters more, what they are thinking and what they are doing. It feels like you get to see the whole picture and not miss out in anything. To have the benefit of bith first and third person perspective ensures you don't miss out on anything.

This book is beautifully written with vivid descriptions that take you from Spain to Mexico to England all while sitting in the comfort of your own home. The cover and synopsis suit the storyline perfectly.

It is set over/includes multiple time lines. When books show what has happened in the past and what is happening in the present I find it really helps the reader (if it is well done) understand why things are happening and what has lead to the present activities and decisions. It also shows the bigger picture.

The storyline is about the friendship of three friends and the changes losing one can make to the dynamics of the friends left and their families. It is filled with friendship, love, tragedy, tears, secrets, loss and more, everything you could want in an unputdownable family drama. It was quite fast paced and it kept me constantly turning the page until I finished with it in one sitting. There were a few surprises among the way which completely shocked me and I was definitely not expecting so congratulations Julia as it is getting harder to surprise me. This is a book that you can read curled up in front of a fire or laying on a sunny beach. I felt completely absorbed in the storyline and really enjoyed it. The booking ended perfectly and the storyline also touches on some subjects that need to be discussed more which is great. I wasn't sure whether to mention those subjects both as a trigger warning as well as when I was reviewing the book. I decided not to in the end as I feel if I mention them it will give to much away. I hope I make the right decision in doing this but for those who have read it they will know what subjects I'm referring to and another congratulations to Julia on discussing these subjects as it may help future readers who may be going through this themselves.

The characters were realistic and strong and I loved meeting them. The friendship between Sophie, Grace and Liv is beautiful and I loved reading the dynamic between them before the accident and it was intriguing to watch how relationships grew and changed after the accident. Again, the problem I'm having is saying too much without spoiling it for future readers so I won't go into their characters any more than that. I absolutely adored Jamie and thought he was such a lovely guy and Liv was definitely lucky to have him. The fact that he is an animal lover makes him even better. Again (sorry) I have to be careful with what I say but I do want to say that I think 2 other couples were lovely and I'm really glad of the choices made at the end and think they were perfect. This wasn't how I felt half way through with two people in particular being slated by me in their choices and attitudes but everything was a lovely ending. I know that may not make sense if you haven't read it but if you do, and I definitely recommend you do, then you'll understand me.

Congratulations Julia in an absolutely beautiful but heartbreaking unputdownable page turner. I'm looking forward to seeing more from you!!

Overall a heartbreaking but gorgeous unputdownable page turner that will lift your spirits by the end.


Genres covered in this book include Fiction, Psychological Thriller, Mystery and Psychological Fiction amongst others.


I would recommend this book to the fans of the above as well as fans of Susan Lewis and anyone else looking for a beautiful family drama.


255 pages.

This book is just £1.99 to purchase on kindle via Amazon which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!

Rated 5/5 (I LOVED it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.

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I absolutely loved this book – but have to say that I’ve really found it incredibly difficult to write a review that won’t entirely ruin the story for others. When I picked it up, all I knew about it was the book’s description – it’s really all about the afterwards, what follows after that encounter on the Mexican beach. I really must allow every reader to discover it for themselves, but I’ll happily admit that it was nothing like the book I was expecting. And lest you worry, I mean that in the best of ways – I couldn’t put the book down after its intriguing prologue and opening chapter, enjoyed every moment of its wonderful twists and turns, and when I finally reached the final page (and it might have been accompanied by a “phew!”), I could only think how very much I’d enjoyed it. Well, until I started to worry about how on earth I was going to write a review…

In 2006, Sophie, Grace and Olivia are firm friends – looking forward to a gap year of travel and adventure once they’ve received their A level results. Sophie’s certain to have done well, and does – she’s very much the golden girl, excelling at everything she turns her hand to, very much the most self-confident of the three. Olivia’s less cocky, but does well too – but then comes Grace’s turn, and her results are a disappointment. Grace’s family are less supportive – their focus is always on her brother – and she hasn’t knuckled down as she should have, finding some happiness in the company of her boyfriend, largely as an escape from her unhappy home life. She resits her exams, and joins the other two part way into their trip, when they’ve made it to Mexico – where something particularly unsettling happens, and the partying is drawn to an end.

We rejoin them over ten years later. Olivia has had a particularly rough time with the death of her father and a miscarriage, it’s fairly obvious there are significant problems with her marriage, and she decides to take a beach holiday in Mexico – it’s the one place where no-one would think to look for her, after that unfortunate experience on the earlier trip. Grace is living in Spain, where Sophie joins her to escape from a few problems of her own – but when Sophie is killed in a rail accident, Grace chooses to disappear entirely. Enough though – we’re now at the point of that encounter on the beach, and that’s when the story takes off in an entirely unexpected way…

This book really does have a bit of everything – primarily perhaps family-based drama, but a touch of psych thriller in there too, and a few serious issues handled and explored exceptionally well. If you’ve read the author’s books before, you’ll already know how superbly she handles and builds a character driven story – there are people in this book who you dislike and mistrust, only to find yourself entirely in their corner and wiping away a tear a few chapters later. Her emotional touch is quite perfect, and this book is full of heart-piercing moments – and then the story twists again and carries you away in an entirely different direction. There’s a lot about identity, trust, fresh starts, not judging from first impressions… and my goodness, I thought it was wonderful.

Do try and stay away from the reviews, dive in, and you’ll thoroughly enjoy this one – I most certainly did. You might just feel a teeny bit confused at the start while you’re trying to work out who’s who and the timelines remain entangled, but when it hits its stride the pages turn ever faster and you’ll speed through it, relishing every clever twist and turn. I so enjoy Julia Roberts’ writing – I’m already really looking forward to seeing what she comes up with next!

Liv, Sophie and Grace met when they were young and were best friends, until Sophie and Grace were killed in a terrible accident and Sophie died. Liv returns to the beach that she had visited with Sophie and Grace where life once again changes, she’s sure she saw Sophie!
This book starts slow and builds to have many twists and turns and suspense. Memories, family and friendships are superbly written into this amazing page turner, a thought provoking read.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Wow, what a tearjerking, thrill that was! Told from different perspectives, The Woman in the Beach tells the story of 3 women and their friendship which caused huge devastation when one of them died. Life wouldn't be the same again. I loved this thrilling page turner

Book Review: The Woman on the Beach by Julia Roberts

Book Title: The Woman on the Beach

Author: Julia Roberts

Length: 255 pages

Publisher: Bookoutre

Publication Date: August 19, 2021

Genre: Woman’s Fiction, Relationships, Fiction

My Rating: *****/5

Summary:

The story is about 3 friends, Sophie, Grace and Olivia (Liv). One of them dies and the confusion is who actually perishes. The story is the journey of one of the friend perishing, while the other distancing herself totally from all the relationships in her life. The book deals with the topics of Amnesia, Controlling Relationships, Post Partum Depression and Bond of Friendship.

My Take:

I Thank Netgalley and the Publisher for providing me with the ARC of this marvellous book. I hereby state that all the views on the book pertain to my own and is not a paid review.

I can definitely state that Bookoutre has become my favorite publisher on Netgalley and till date all the books provided to me by the publisher have been absolutely marvellous. I commend the publisher for bringing gems of books for reading which can hook the reader and make the reading experience worthwhile. I again thank Bookoutre for approving all my book review requests and secretly hoping to be in their auto-approval list.

Talking about this book, what do i say! This book covers so many vast topics and some which are not being openly discussed viz, Controlling Relationships and Post Partum Depression (PPD). While covering the topics the book also focusses on the friendship of 3 main protagonists thereby weaving a beautiful story around it. I simply was hooked to this book and must admit that i completed this book in very little time as compared to other reads by keeping myself up full night.

Characters are beautiful and believable at the same time. The portrayal of characters are such that you actually start believing in the evilness of them. The traits of the characters do change with the difference in views. The story is narrated from 2 people’s perspective and their perspective defines the traits of the other characters in the story which is totally justified.

Pace of the book is fast and constant. The twists and turns are marvellous. Never in the book was there a dull moment. Rather with every new twist, you are keen to read on to know whats coming next. I won’t term this book as a thriller though since for me the thrill factor was a bit less and i was more intrigued by the storyline.

Overall, I adored this book and would definitely be one of my favorite reads for the year 2021.

Thanks NetGalley, Bookouture and Julia Roberts for an ARC to review.
An interesting page turner about friendship, loss, new beginnings and hope
When Liv loses her best friends, one to death in a terrible accident and the other by estrangement life was hard to tolerate with all the other losses and hardships she was facing.
One sunny day on the beach she thinks she saw Sophie, her dead best friend, or was her mind playing games on her?

Sophie, Liv and Grace have been friends since school. Sophie is killed in a train crash in Spain while visiting Grace, who has moved there. In the aftermath, Grace disappears. After a traumatic miscarriage, Liv visits Mexico, a place where she, Grace and Sophie had a great holiday as young singles.
While she is there she spots a familiar face on the beach….
A wonderful read full of heart tugging moments. I find in some books I can guess what’s up ahead, but in this case, there were so many red herrings. I found myself continually revising my opinion of certain characters and as the book reached its conclusion, the final twist was quite unexpected.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Julia Roberts and Bookouture for an ARC of The Woman on the Beach in exchange for an honest review.