Review: "The House At Mermaid Point" by Wendy Wax

The women from Ten Beach Road and Ocean Beach are back! Maddie, Avery, Nikki, Kyra, and Deirdre have been sent to renovate yet another run down house for their fledgling reality TV series, only this time their host is less than welcoming! William "The Wild" Hightower, former rock star and heartthrob, is fresh out of rehab and he can think of nothing less appealing than having his island home in the Florida Keys overrun by strangers. William's son and the TV network have decided that his home needs to be turned into a bed and breakfast in order for William to continue to be able to pay the bills.

As the women continue working on the home despite their reluctant host's objections, they encounter difficulties in both their personal lives and their love lives but somehow they will manage to stick together no matter what obstacles they face!

After reading two books and one short story about the women from Ocean Beach, reading an additional story in the series feels like I'm reading about old friends! The emphasis this time was on Maddie and her personal growth and I was glad that she was the focus. Maddie is one of my favourite characters in the series, quite possibly because I relate to her the most. She has always been the glue that has held their unusual group together but she has also been portrayed as being the weakest member of the group. In The House At Mermaid Point she really comes into her own strength and she develops a fabulous backbone! I enjoyed watching her come out of her shell. There is some emphasis on Avery and Deirdre in the book but Nikki faded into the background a little in this one and I hope that there will be some additional focus on her in future stories.

I also appreciated the romance in this novel! I won't tell you who is romantic with whom but the romance was really fun and I was pleased with how things ultimately turned out.

I'll be honest, though, the concluding chapters of The House At Mermaid Point disappointed me. As I was running out of pages to read I realized that the book had yet to reach its climax and I couldn't figure out what the conflict would be. As the conflict was revealed I found myself feeling that it was too abrupt. It came on without warning and was resolved too quickly. It almost felt like it was thrown in there for the sake of creating drama and that didn't work for me.

Despite my disappointment with some of the concluding scenes I enjoyed reading The House on Mermaid Point and I already can't wait for the next book in the series! I wonder where this unique group of women can go from here, and reading about them feels like reading about people that I actually know. This book would make an excellent addition to your beach bag this summer and I thank the publisher for providing me with a copy for review!