This is my second foray into author Robyn Carr’s books. The View From Alameda Island is about second chances, crazy exes, and family with some romance thrown in.
This one is set in Northern California and Lauren Delaney has been unhappily married for most of the past 24 years to a surgeon named Brad. She has finally decided to leave Brad for good. She has a date set for moving into a rented house on Alameda Island.

One day while admiring a church garden, Lauren meets Beau who is a landscape designer. The two make nice small talk and Lauren learns that Beau is also unhappily married and his divorce is about be final in a few months. The story takes off from there as these two try to make it work despite their crazy soon to be exes. ( )

This was classic Robyn Carr, I absolutely loved this book. It stayed unread on my shelf for way too long. I'm happy I picked it up last week, it's a quick read. Thoroughly engaging with a little flair of mystery. ( )

Skip this book. Predictable, slow paced, and poor character development. I just didn’t care, and thought the bit about Father Tim particularly stupid. ( )

I was sent this book from the publisher/publicity team. My ratings and reviews will be my own personal opinions and are in no way influenced by publishers or authors who may have sent me books to review.

This may have been my favorite Robyn Carr read yet.

This does have triggers for abuse and family violence. This really hits on emotional, psychological, and physical abuse. You get a lot more manipulation and emotional abuse which I really enjoyed seeing as most stories will only focus on the physical abuse. I think it is great to bring awareness to other types of domestic violence as so many only think it means physical.

I could have done without the extra romance with the other couple (I will not spoil who it involved). I just did not care about this one and almost wanted to skim through these sections. They really had nothing to do with anything going on.

This also went a little far-fetched when bombs and such came into play.

Overall, this was a really fast read though and I enjoyed it. ( )

The View from Alameda Island by Robyn Carr is an enjoyable novel of new beginnings, healing and love.

For the past twenty-four years, Lauren Delaney has put up with abuse from her surgeon husband Brad. He is verbally, emotionally and physically abusive and she has finally mustered the courage to take back her life. Having carefully planned her escape, Lauren sets out to rebuild her life but will her daughters, Lacey and Cassie, understand why she is divorcing their father? And what will Brad do to Lauren once he learns she is divorcing him?

Lauren has tried to leave Brad before but he always managed to browbeat her into returning. She has many regrets about her choices and looking back, she clearly sees all of the warning signs she ignored. Now having left Brad, Lauren is rightfully concerned that staying with him might have sent the wrong message to her daughters. She is surprised by Lacey and Cassie's reactions to her news and she works hard to maintain her relationship with both young women. Having believed she is safely out Brad's reach, Lauren is stunned by his reaction once she is out of his clutches.

Beau Magellan is also in the midst of a messy divorce from his soon to be ex, Pamela. Having dealt with her mercurial moods and manipulative behavior throughout their relationship, he has been separated from her for quite some time. Although she is hopeful for a reconciliation, Beau is done with his marriage. But Pamela is not making it easy for their divorce to progress.

After a chance meeting, Beau and Lauren form a fast friendship in which they support each other through their divorces. Neither of them are ready for a relationship so both are surprised when they realize their feelings for one another are deepening. But their path to happily ever after is littered with obstacles. Their soon to be exes are making their respective divorces difficult. And both Beau and Lauren are concerned about how their adult children will react to a romance between them.

Despite a little predictability, The View from Alameda Island is a engrossing novel about starting over and finding love when it is least expected. Lauren is lovely woman who stayed in an abusive marriage for far too long. Beau is a laidback, easygoing man who has finally had enough of being taken advantage of by his soon to be ex-wife. The romance between Beau and Lauren grows organically from friendship and it is incredibly uplifting watching them fall in love. Robyn Carr deftly tackles difficult subject with a great deal of sensitivity. Despite the somewhat dark storyline, the novel is ultimately uplifting as Lauren, Beau and their families find well-deserved happiness. A must read for fans of the genre. ( )