DNF at 30%. I'm bored, sadly!

There’s not a single time I see this title that I don’t get the 1973 song by The Hues Corporation stuck in my head. While wildly dated, I prefer the song to this book. Read my brief notes here. ( )

Fabulous romance. Like the storyline. Need a book 2. ( )

The story opens with Kate Campbell thinking about the proposal she will receive in the morning from her boyfriend of 12 years, Thomas Mosby, a medical student about to finish his training. She is a rising star at Artemis Public Relations, a concern owned by Thomas' mother, Evelyn Mosby. Unfortunately that does not happen and she is collected by her sister, Bernadette, and taken home to Sea Point, New Jersey, a beach town billing itself as New Jersey's Best Kept Secret. There she moves in with her parents. Her old friend Ziggy, a plumber, lives across the street. There is also Miles, a beautiful rich man, who is a life-long friend of Ziggy's and has decided to return to Sea Point to learn the business of The Wharf, his mother's business. The book follows these characters as they figure out what they really want. ( )

Beck Dorey-Stein’s first book, From the Corner of the Oval (My review here) is a memoir of her days in the Obama White House as a stenographer. We walked in her shoes as she recounted her hectic days taking down every word spoken and her excitement of “being in the room where it happened”.

Her latest book, Rock the Boat is a delightful novel set in the ocean-side town of Sea Point, New Jersey. Kate Campbell is living the good life in Manhattan, in the fancy family apartment of her wealthy boyfriend, and working at his family’s public relations firm.

When that life collapses around her, she is forced to head back to her parents’ home in the tourist town of Sea Point to try to rebuild her life. She gets two jobs- days she works at the town library and at night she tends bar at the local hangout.

Her neighbor and childhood pal Ziggy is trying to get over the sudden death of his father and business partner in their family plumbing company. His best friend Miles is also returning, hoping to prove to his mother that he is the logical choice for CEO of the family resort business. Each character has to face the difference between what they thought their future would be and what it actually may turn out to be.

You really feel like you are taking a vacation at the Jersey Shore reading Rock the Boat. You’ll want to grab a drink at the Jetty bar, visit the library, dress up for a fancy dinner at the Wharf, and hang out at the beach with Kate, Ziggy, and Miles. I loved the characters and the setting, and you’ll be humming the 1970’s song ‘Rock the Boat’ as you read and wait to see if Kate’s plan to get her Manhattan life back works or if she creates a new dream for herself. ( )