A Stranger On The Beach by Michele Campbell Review

A Stranger On The Beach is the perfect beach read! It's full of twists and turns that keeps the reader engaged from start to finish. Grab yourself a copy on July 23rd and get ready for one heck of a ride as you will not be able to put this one down!

I loved how it alternates from Caroline and Aiden's POV. There are times where the same events are told from both POV and the reader can clearly see how the same events can be lived and seen very differently. The reader is kept guessing the whole time about who is telling the truth and who is not.

The two main characters could not be more different. Caroline appears to have it all while Aiden comes from the other side of town and barely has anything. One has everything to lose from the events and the other has nothing to lose. Who is responsible? Caroline, the rich and older woman who is going through a rough divorce, or Aiden who is viewed as trash and has a bad reputation?

I loved the dark mystery in this book. I couldn't put it down and it is one of my favorites this year!
Thank you to St. Martin's Press for my gifted copy.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


There is a stranger outside Caroline's house.

Her spectacular new beach house, built for hosting expensive parties and vacationing with the family she thought she'd have. But her husband is lying to her and everything in her life is upside down, so when the stranger, Aiden, shows up as a bartender at the same party where Caroline and her husband have a very public fight, it doesn't seem like anything out of the ordinary.

As her marriage collapses around her and the lavish lifestyle she's built for herself starts to crumble, Caroline turns to Aiden for comfort...and revenge. After a brief and desperate fling that means nothing to Caroline and everything to him, Aiden's obsession with Caroline, her family, and her house grows more and more disturbing. And when Caroline's husband goes missing, her life descends into a nightmare that leaves her accused of her own husband's murder.

Happy reading,
I was sucked-in in the very beginning! Caroline’s life changes when she meets Aidan, the stranger on the beach…

The story is told from both Caroline’s perspective and Aidan’s perspective, because of this, the story does not pan out the same way depending on who tells the story; therefore, you soon discover that he narration is very unreliable. My sympathy kept switching as the chapters changed, as the different POVs changed. Additionally, I really loved how the narration was told in the first person, it made me feel like a friend was telling me this juicy story!

As the story progressed though, I must admit I was getting a bit annoyed at the unreliability of both sides of the stories. I couldn’t figure out what was true and wasn’t but that’s the whole point of the story. This made me want to keep reading and to find out what would happen next.

One thing I did not enjoy quite as much, was that at some point the story was heavy in legal talk, and courtroom drama, which I personally don’t enjoy that much. However, as I passed those chapters the story kept getting better and better.

Overall, this was an action-packed psychological thriller, with really atmospheric scenes! I especially loved the ending! It was a great ending where all my questions were answered. Highly recommend!

Thank you to St. Martins Press for providing me with an ARC of this book. As usual, my reviews are my honest and unbiased opinions.

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