Body Surfing: Perfect beach read, by design

While I didn't read Anita Shreve's novel "Body Surfing" sunglasses on, toes in the sand, I wished I that was. It's the quintessential beach read, but then, most of Shreve's works are.

Shreve's page-turning, light novel (Back Bay Books, 2007, 291 pp.) takes place for the most part at a beachside cottage in New Hampshire. It centers on Sydney Sklar, a once-divorced and once-widowed 27-year-old who, crushed by lack of direction, ends up as a summer tutor to a teenager for a well-to-do family.

Enter the family's two good-looking 30-ish sons, and a competition to win Sydney's heart - or at least her body - ensues.

It seemed to me the story could've taken place in any era, but it was set in the early 2000s.

In any case, easy, intriguing reading. I don't read quickly and it took me four days (of nights). My mom, who's kind of a reluctant reader, consumed it in two.