Review

“Sometimes, just when we think we can see our lives on course and we can settle back and get comfortable, a new path opens. Some people just keep going, too scared to veer off the familiar path. But others, well, they step off into the unknown, and find that maybe that was where they were supposed to be all along”

After her husband’s death Emmy’s mother Paige tried to convince Emmy to start over again. That’s when the idea came about for Emmy to buy a store in Folly Beach, South Carolina called Folly’s Finds. It wasn’t her mother that convinced her to buy the store and move to Folly, it was the love notes she found in a box of old books her mother bought from Folly’s Finds.

A great man once wrote, “Absence diminishes small loves and increases great ones, as the wind blows out the candle and blows up the bonfire.”

If only I were as eloquent as Mr. de la Rochefoucauld… I miss you, I miss you, I miss you. And i want you. And i need your kiss. And your touch on my skin like a man needs water. Always

After buying Folly’s Finds and moving to Folly Beach, Emmy starts looking for more books to go through. She is rewarded when she meets a man named Heath who tells her about a collection of old books stored in the house she is renting from him. She then starts sifting through the books one by one looking for more notes from the two mysterious lovers. The more she finds the more confused she becomes and starts to ask around, That’s where a woman in her seventies named Lulu comes in.

Lulu is Heath’s aunt, she’s lived right on Folly her entire life and knows all about the love notes because she was there, but she is reluctant to tell anything about them. Her past is full of secrets she would rather not reveal and she doesn’t want Emmy bringing the past to the present. She’d rather just build her famous bottle trees, which are meant to keep bad spirits away. But what bad spirits is she trying to keep away? Both women are stuck in the past, refusing to let it go. All of that can change though…

Emmy: “How do you know when it’s been long enough?”
Paige: “When you realize that love doesn’t have a time span. Only pain does. I think sometimes it’s hard to distinguish between the two, so we just hold on to both of them like they’re inseparable.”

On Folly Beach is a novel about the past,the secrets people hold onto, and letting go. It goes back and forth between the past and the present, giving you the chance to understand both points of view. You get an understanding of the events that unfolded in the past, and the events of the present that are unfolding the past. You would have to read the novel to understand what I’m talking about, which i recommend you do because it’s a great novel! Karen White holds a lot back, but she also gives you a lot to think about. You’ll be stuck wondering and thinking, but dying to keep reading to find out the truth. It’s definitely a page turner with a heart beat that beats a little faster with each page you turn. The characters were all interesting and chosen wisely. Karen White is a brilliant writer, I’m looking forward to reading more by her. Get the book, you won’t regret it!! Oh, and you can thank me later