The Shark Club
A Novel
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4.4 • 29 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
“A quintessential summer read.” —Marie Claire
A warm and wonderfully vivid novel about taking second chances—in life and in the sea
One summer day on the beach in Florida, two extraordinary things happen to Maeve Donnelly. First, she is kissed by Daniel, the boy of her dreams. Then, she is bitten by a blacktip shark.
Eighteen years later, Maeve has thrown herself into her work as a world-traveling marine biologist discovering more about the minds of misunderstood sharks. But when Maeve returns home to the legendarily charming and eccentric Hotel of the Muses where she was raised by her grandmother, she finds more than just the blood orange sunsets and key lime pies she’s missed waiting for her.
While Maeve has always been fearless in the water, on land she is indecisive. A chance meeting on the beach with a plucky, irresistible little girl who is just as fascinated by the ocean as Maeve was growing up leaves her at a crossroads: Should she re-kindle her romance with Daniel, the first love she left behind when she dove into her work? Or indulge in a new romance with her colleague, Nicholas, who turns up in her hometown to investigate an illegal shark-finning operation?
Set against the intoxicating backdrop of palm trees, calypso bands, and perfect ocean views, The Shark Club is a story of the mysterious passions of one woman’s life: her first love and new love; the sea and sharks that inhabit it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
How is it possible that a shark-whispering marine scientist who was "literally bitten by the object of her obsession" isn't the most interesting person in her own story? Daniel Wakefield gave Maeve Donnelly her first kiss on the very day he saved her from that shark attack. He also broke her heart a decade later when, before they wed, he impregnated a now-deceased woman who gave birth to Hazel, the six-year-old budding paleontologist and the book's best-written character. As Maeve, in between assignments, hits 30, she returns to her grandmother's hotel in Florida, convinced she has finally gotten over Daniel and fallen in love with a fellow marine biologist who is separated from his wife. But then Hazel creates the Shark Club for her and invites Daniel now the hotel's chef to join. Will Maeve learn how to be "a little less Cathy and Heathcliff," or realize Hazel is the tie that binds? A subplot involving the book that Maeve's twin brother, Robin, has written about her doomed love story cannot compete with that level of romantic indecisiveness. With her wishy-washy lead, Taylor's novel just narrowly misses the mark.
Customer Reviews
Hooked!
This book was great on so many levels. You really sympathize with Meave and learn to love the characters in the book as she does. The ending was a little disappointing but I'm glad it wasn't what I expected! I for sure recommend!
Fun read!
Loved an early release of this novel. Great story and great characters. Should be one of the top books in 2017.
Not worth it
A sappy and formulaic story, this book is just like a million other romances. There were many opportunities for originality, but the author chose to do nothing except write the same old stuff.
Don't bother.