Savannah by the Sea, Savannah Series #3

* The only constants in reporter Savannah Phillips's life are her best friend Paige, her workplace tormenter Joshua, her steady father---and her crazed mother. In spite of that, she agrees to take a Florida vacation with her parents and enjoy some seaside "rest and relaxation" for a week. What could possibly go wrong? 320 pages, softcover from WestBow.

First, I had to lie to my boss. (Sort of.) Then my parents had a fight. (They never fight.) The pint-sized lapdog that is treated better than I am has thrown up. (Twice.) This vacation hasn’t even started...and I’m ready to go home.

No one in her right mind would actually choose to spend a week at the beach with a steel-Magnolia drama queen, a tragically disappointed diva-in-training, and a yapping, hurling, supremely annoying little canine princess. But I love Seaside, so I came. Then I ran into the gorgeous, exasperating Joshua North...and watched my good sense slide rapidly south. Which goes to show that even with a tan and (maybe) a new man in my life--I’m still the same old Savannah...from Savannah.

If you are looking for quality chick-lit book and you happen to pick up a copy of Denise Hildreth's Savannah by the Sea, keep looking. The story of Savannah Phillips, a southern almost-debutante newspaper reporter, and her trip from Savannah, Georgia to the Florida panhandle with her eccentric parents doesn't really hit the mark.

Through a string of minor setbacks and victories, Hildreth's readers are meant to care about Savannah's irrelevant and selfish plights. Hildreth's protagonist never seems ultimately to realize that everything isn't about her, no matter how many over-exaggerated traumas she lives through. She’s spoiled, opinionated, and we just never really like her. Even worse, we start wondering how we can distance ourselves from her. Are there really pampered young women like this in America? Sure. Do you want to pay good money to spend time with them? No way.

Readers are subjected to a look at Savannah's close relationships, which all seem to be of the love/hate variety. This makes for dialogue which could have been witty banter, but it just tries too hard, and is even nonsensical a good bit of the time. Nothing in Savannah by the Sea is particularly unforgettable, because it is so difficult to get into the book in the first place. I honestly wanted to enjoy this book, but the characters were obnoxious, the relationships were shallow and even grating, and the plot was very thin. I’m afraid that even as a parody of chick-lit, this just doesn’t provide pleasant reading. – Meg D. R. Tepfer, Christian Book Previews.com

Average Rating:

4 of 4 Reviews Showing:

Reviewed by Abby Richardson (Chalotte, NC), February 26, 2008

Ok, first of all, this book was the absolute BEST of the Savannah series (though the others were pretty dang good!) and also is the absolute BEST series of the entire chick lit genre. I bought this book for my sister's BD, and decided to read it first, out of pure selfishness :) It was pure torture, reading the most hilarious book ever, and not being able to tell my sister about it. But, I read it and laughed out loud. I re-read the romantic parts (sigh!) and then nearly had a meltdown when I turned the last page and realized that there was no more... For heaven's sake - get this book, somehow, and read it!!!!

Reviewed by Maria (Annandale, VA), December 01, 2006

And I thought it couldn't get any better! I LOVED this book so much, once I started reading, I couldn't put it down. Readers, if you haven't read any of the books in this series, I strongly encourage you to start. You won't be disappointed.

Reviewed by Kristen (Rockville, Maryland), July 24, 2006

Savannah by the Sea is one of the best books in the series. How she goes through so much on just vacation is fun to read. It was very funny and a good book.

Reviewed by Jim Toner (Niagara Falls, NY), June 23, 2006

Savannah is a very real character. I could identify with people egging her on about getting married even though she and Josh weren't at that stage yet.

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