Review: Cocoa Beach by: Beatriz Williams

Title: Cocoa Beach
Author: Beatriz Williams
Publisher: William Morrow
Pages: 400
Format: Hardcover
Source: Library

Description:

The New York Times bestselling author of A Certain Age transports readers to sunny Florida in this lush and enthralling historical novel—an enchanting blend of love, suspense, betrayal, and redemption set among the rum runners and scoundrels of Prohibition-era Cocoa Beach.

Burdened by a dark family secret, Virginia Fortescue flees her oppressive home in New York City for the battlefields of World War I France. While an ambulance driver for the Red Cross, she meets a charismatic British army surgeon whose persistent charm opens her heart to the possibility of love. As the war rages, Virginia falls into a passionate affair with the dashing Captain Simon Fitzwilliam, only to discover that his past has its own dark secrets—secrets that will damage their eventual marriage and propel her back across the Atlantic to the sister and father she left behind.

Five years later, in the early days of Prohibition, the newly widowed Virginia Fitzwilliam arrives in the tropical boom town of Cocoa Beach, Florida, to settle her husband’s estate. Despite the evidence, Virginia does not believe Simon perished in the fire that destroyed the seaside home he built for her and their young daughter. Separated from her husband since the early days of their marriage, the headstrong Virginia plans to uncover the truth, for the sake of the daughter Simon never met.

Simon’s brother and sister welcome her with open arms and introduce her to a dazzling new world of citrus groves, white beaches, bootleggers, and Prohibition agents. But Virginia senses a predatory presence lurking beneath the irresistible, hedonistic surface of this coastal oasis. The more she learns about Simon and his mysterious business interests, the more she fears that the dangers that surrounded Simon now threaten her and their daughter’s life as well. 

My Thoughts: 

This book follows the love story of Virginia and Simon as they both were working during the war and fell in love with one another.  As the story continues it makes you question everything you know about Simon and Virginia's father in the death of her mother.  Samuel Simon's twin brother has done quite a bit of damage to Simon's reputation and Virginia's view of her husband.

This book took you all over Florida It really pulled you in wanting to see how the story ends and whether they get reunited or will Simon really be deceased in it?  I love Beatriz Williams her books are so captivating and you find you don't want to put it down and this was definitely the same way!