I did enjoy this book but there just wasn’t enough depth to make me love it. ~ Slick – Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews
Synopsis:
For ActivGirl CEO Catherine Camilleri, it is a crossroads that has her wondering where she went off course. Divorced without children, life isn’t what she had pictured for herself twenty years ago. Not up to admitting any of this in front of friends and family, she bails on the surprise party being thrown for her and books a last-minute trip to Barbados for a stay at the luxurious hotel where she’d spent her honeymoon ten years before. Is she going back to mourn the marriage she’d thought would last forever? Or in an attempt to chase out of her heart for good a betrayal that forever changed her?
Anders Walker might be just the ticket for that. After a brief career on Wall Street and a life experience that turned his world upside down, Anders took off the golden handcuffs and walked away for good. When he spots Catherine checking in on arrival at the hotel, he challenges her to try his spin class. He sees a woman who no longer considers herself someone a guy like him would be attracted to. Except that she’s wrong. In Catherine, he recognizes a woman who defines herself by rejection. He sees, too, that she has made work her life. But he’s learned that there is so much more to living. Simple things like swimming with sea turtles. And watching the sun sink on a Caribbean horizon. He’s got two weeks to prove it to her, to make sure she will always remember that birthday in Barbados.
Review copy provided by Kindle Unlimited
After loving That Month in Tuscany, I decided to give another one of Inglath Copper’s books a try. I enjoyed That Birthday in Barbados but not near as much as the Tuscany book. This older woman/younger man story has many parts and honestly I felt like none of them were significantly flushed out. I wanted, no needed, more depth of the characters, more about their backgrounds, and more about how they ended up together instead of a very short epilogue with no clue how they got from point A to point B. It wasn’t a bad book, but it left me unsatisfied and with so many questions.
On the day that Catherine Camilleri professional life is at an all time high, she finds out that her husband is having an affair with her sister sending her world into a tailspin, three years later she’s busier than ever with work, facing 40, and still trying to figure out her life. Returning to the place she honeymooned 10 years prior to pass her 40th birthday seemed like a good idea at the time, but once she’s there she’s not so sure until he walks up to her inviting her to join his spin class in the morning. He is Anders Walker and for the first time in three years, Catherine feels like she’s waking up.
Anders was immediately drawn to the woman checking into the hotel where he is employed and for the last four years that’s not something that has happened regularly. When he introduces himself he realizes who she is and what she has accomplished; he also knows she is someone he wants to get to know better even though he knows their lives are worlds apart and it’s not a good idea, he can’t seem to stay away. Watching her smile, getting her to laugh, seeing her come alive is something he finds great satisfaction in.
I’m not going to get into specifics but despite their very different lifestyles both Catherine and Anders have been living a half life even though Anders thinks he’s living his to the fullest. I liked them both although at times Catherine drove me a bit nuts. Anders on the other hand was full of life and surprised me at almost every turn in a good way. There’s no doubt he loves living in Barbados and the life he’s built there, but it also becomes evident that there’s a lot missing from that life.
My problem with this book is that I felt neither character was completely developed, we are given bits and pieces of each one but never fully get to know both of them. Their attraction is undeniable from the start and I enjoyed watching them flirt while getting to know one another. I wasn’t too thrilled with the cat and mouse game they seemed to be playing, they aren’t young and there was no shame in them being together and while they both thought they had reasons they should stay away, they eventually gave in. I also wasn’t too thrilled that we didn’t get to actually SEE them in an actual relationship; they went from being apart to boom an epilogue that tells us they are together and happy.
Like I said, I did enjoy this book but there just wasn’t enough depth to make me love it. I’m going to give the next one in the series a try and see how it goes.
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