Customer Reviews
This one didn't measure up 
2008-09-06
Anne Rivers Siddons is my all time favorite author by far. I have absolutely devoured every book that she has written, and loved them all. She's an incredible writer. Her descriptions are so real that you step right into her stories. So it is with dismay that I have to say that this book didn't even compare to her others. It felt like it was written in a hurry and left me feeling like there's no way she could have even written this book.
But...will I read her next book? Absolutely.
Off Season 
2008-09-06
I've read ALL of Anne River Siddon's books. I attended a book reading years ago in my home town and found her charming and entertaining. I was so excited to see she had a new book coming out and pre-ordered. Of course, some are better than others but this was a complete waste of time. As usual her writing style is engaging and very readable. The second half of this book, however, was very disappointing. The ending was a complete letdown. I usually put her books on the shelf to enjoy again another day. Off Season went straight to a used book store.
Anne Rivers Siddons doesn't disappoint! 
2008-09-05
I am a fan. Anne Rivers Siddons always creates a world to escape to, not always pleasant, but usually addicting. If I am going to read one of her books, I have to do it when I don't have a lot on my docket because I often want to read it straight through.
There is usually a sense of menace hovering over even the most pleasant and pastoral scenes in her books, and this one is no exception. Meet Peaches, one of the most purely evil characters I have recently come across - all the more so because her character is not very well fleshed out.
The protagonist, Lilly, is somewhat flawed but lives in a universe where most of the people around her are more flawed. I agree somewhat with the poster who pointed out that the romance with Jon would have been more believable if they had been older. On the other hand, it was probably hero-worship as much as romance so I didn't object too much.
Anne Rivers Siddons is nothing if not consistent. This book is haunting me a week after I read it. The ending was painful but definitely consistent with the plot and tone of the book. Recommended.
Off Season 
2008-09-04
This is Ann Rivers siddons' best book yet! I finished it a week ago and it is still on my mind. I continue to think about Lilly and grieve for her, yet rejoice in the fact that she was in Jon's arms, at least metaphysically, in the end. It is a wonderful, riveting story.
Another great read from Siddons 2008-09-03
Off Season by Anne Rivers Siddons, was published by Hatchette Book Group, and begins with Libby McCall returning to her summer home in Maine to spread the ashes of her beloved husband, Cam. While she's there, she's flooded with memories. Memories starting at the age of 11 when her first love dies in a tragic accident, through her mother's death and ending with her marriage. After a summer in the Maine cottage, Lilly holds a memorial service for her husband and discovers a secret she'd rather not know.
Anne Rivers Siddons is a masterful storyteller. This book has strong narrative and great character development. It's a story that will keep you enthralled until the end.
Unbelievably boring 
2008-09-01
Acclaimed novelist Anne Rivers Siddons's new novel is a stunning tale of love and loss.
For as long as she can remember, they were Cam and Lilly--happily married, totally in love with each other, parents of a beautiful family, and partners in life. Then, after decades of marriage, it ended as every great love story does...in loss. After Cam's death, Lilly takes a lone road trip to her and Cam's favorite spot on the remote coast of Maine, the place where they fell in love over and over again, where their ghosts still dance. There, she looks hard to her past--to a first love that ended in tragedy; to falling in love with Cam; to a marriage filled with exuberance, sheer life, and safety-- to try to figure out her future.
It is a journey begun with tender memories and culminating in a revelation that will make Lilly re-evaluate everything she thought was true about her husband and her marriage.
What's the mystery? 2008-08-31
SPOILER ALERT -- come on, folks! It's pretty plain what happened at the end of this book. Hubby had an ongoing affair with Wifey's spiteful girlhood Nemesis, whom he had met while alone -- off season -- at the couple's summer place in Maine. The sight of the lookalike son his mistress bore him so shocks Wifey when she meets him years later -- also off-season -- that she drops dead on the spot. She then wakes on the other side in the arms of her true love -- who is NOT her cheating dog of a husband but a boy who drowned when she eleven years old and has been her guardian spirit ever since. The end.
It's a nicely written book overall. But I agree with some reviewers that the kitty was a bit much.
Also, writerly tics are setting in -- why does every ARS book seem to have a white-blond dreamboat and scads of redheads? An irrepressibly, pointlessly evil woman? A supposedly loving but unfaithful husband? Blacks who talk like Mammy in "Gone With The Wind"? Down-Easters who sound as though they just crawled out of some Stephen King trailer park but nonetheless say "you-all" like Southerners? Endless references to BO and other malodorous emissions? And why does the present lead character have a name straight out of "Colony" but seems unrelated to those particular Potters and Constables?
These are the things that mystify me. Too bad because otherwise, the lady can certainly write!
A character I can relate to... 2008-08-31
Anne Rivers Siddons
ISBN: 9780446527873
Grand Central Publishing, 2008
4 Stars
A character I can relate to...
Lilly Constable McCall was only fifty-three-years-old when she lost her precious husband, Cam. Lost in her grief and depression, Lilly returns to the family cottage in Edgewater. She spends time reminiscing and dealing with her grief in her own way.
Off Season has a shocking twist at the end of the book that seemed out of place. Anne Rivers Siddons has her own pleasant style of writing. I always enjoy books with a lead character that I can relate to; Lily is that type of character. Fans of Siddons will enjoy Off Season.
Bummed Out 2008-08-29
I love Anne Rivers Siddons. I loved this book until the end. Then I got mad. I haven't been this mad at a book since "Once is Not Enough," which I threw across the room when I finished it. The deplorable ending of this fascinating novel leaves too many loose strings and undercuts one of the main characters to too great a degree. And the cat? It has to go. Where are editors anyway? Sad to say, this book does not measure up to previous wild and wonderful rides with Ms. Siddons.
Her best book ever!! 2008-08-28
I've read all of Siddons' books and this is her best!! A very moving story of a woman who loses the two loves in her life and how one affects the other. This is a must read for those who read Anne Rivers Siddons.
