Voices on the Waves / Jessica Chambers

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Approximate word count: 70-75,000 words

Availability
Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: NO Smashwords: NO Paper: NO
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Born with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a degenerative eye condition, Jessica Chambers attended a school for the visually impaired from the age of nine. Despite this, books have always been her passion. After the normal series of rejections and rewrites, she finally got the go ahead from Red Rose Publishing for this, her debut novel. For more, visit Chambers’ website.

Description:

Faye Wakefield runs a competition offering a free two-week retreat at her small, seaside inn, located in a refurbished farmhouse. The nine winners are a diverse mix of age and economic background, with varying reasons as to why they needed this holiday.

Appraisal:

Although you sense from the prologue and occasional hints that there is some reason why Faye Wakefield picked each of the other nine characters in Voices on the Waves as winners of a two week holiday at her inn, it isn’t apparent until the conclusion. While this ties the story up in a neat little bow, much of the story is what happens when you throw a bunch of people together who are so diverse. Each has a reason they wanted to be there, whether a chance to contemplate a serious decision or just a break from their harried, unsatisfying existence.

I enjoy people watching. Sitting in an airport or anywhere where you have a wide range of people and observing. Reading Voices on Waves was people watching on steroids because I wasn’t only an observer, but was also able to get into the characters’ heads. This is one of the things I get from reading, the chance to vicariously experience something, often from a point of view much different from my own. Many times those experiences are pure fantasy what-ifs, such as anything paranormal or science fiction. Even situations in other genres which are possible are very unlikely. Each of the characters in Voices on the Waves was realistic, with lives that closely mirror actual people I know. That makes for people watching bliss.

FYI:

Contains some relatively mild sexual content.

The author is from the UK and uses the appropriate spelling conventions and slang for her native country.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five stars