Anita Shreve has once again not disappointed with her latest novel. Body Surfing takes place by the water, which is a common location for many of her books. It kept me up at night, as it lured me to want to read more.

Sydney is a tutor to a young teenage girl (Julie) and her relationship with the young girls family has many dimensions to it. First with her parents, the father who is compassionate and kind to her, the mother who is indifferent to her, the brothers who compete for her affection and the daughter, which she has developed a strong bond and relationship with. The one thing that caught me off guard was the lesbian relationship between Julie, her friend, which came out of left field for me. I also felt the way that Jeff (one of the brothers) ended his relationship with Sydney was cold and completely undeserving. It was just too bad that Sydney misunderstood the water scene from the beginning; if she had things may have turned out much different for her in the end.

Reviewed by Nikki Holton