You, Me, and the Sea audiobook

Merrow Shawe is born of the sea. She thinks it’s part of her tempestuous temperament. She is raised on a farm named Horseshoe Cliff in Northern California. The atmosphere of where she lives is absolutely stunning. Not unlike that beautiful cover, there are bluffs and cliffs’ edges, an alluring cove, and of course, the sea. Merrow’s childhood is mostly a happy one, but her mother passes away under mysterious circumstances, so of course that lingers and haunts. Her brother, Bear, is outright mean and cruel, so that’s a blemish on her otherwise idyllic childhood as well. Merrow meets Amir, who has been sent from New York, by way of India, to live with her family. Amir is not affected by Bear’s nastiness, and Merrow admires his strength of spirit. Of course there are secrets here, and a tragedy occurs involving Amir. Merrow is unsure if she ever knew him at all. She finds herself in a dangerous and dire situation, and she has to decide if she is going to flee. I adored how atmospheric and original this story is. It’s easy to be swept up into this story and feel right beside Merrow on those blustery cliffs! It almost feels like a different time because the setting is so enchanting. The writing here is beautiful, and the characters are vividly drawn. I read after I finished the book that it was inspired by Wuthering Heights, and I absolutely love that. I think Donohue captured the sense of place, as well as the emotions. Overall, You, Me, and the Sea is stunningly atmospheric story of tumultuous true love and how far one will go to protect family. I received a complimentary copy. All opinions are my own. My reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com

I started reading You, Me, and the Sea on 6/3/2019 and finished it on 6/5/2019. This book is a fantastic read! I read throughout the whole night and through the morning. I feel hurt for Merrow’s childhood with such an uncaring brother. Farm life is hard and I feel heart wrenching to the 5 through 8 years old having little to no parental comfort and not enough to eat. Her story is inspiring because with the meager she grew up with, she still loves school and loves to learn. I like following Merrow’s view and experience her life through her eyes as she grows up. I like her self motivation and how she looks on the bright side of things, especially at the place where she lives.This book is told in the first person point of view following Merrow Shawe as she got woken up from a dream seeing herself swallowing a red bird. She lives by the sea with her new fiance Will. They are having guests over the next day for their housewarming slash engagement slash wedding party. She has secrets that her new husband doesn’t know about and one of them is the anonymous letter indicating that they know what she did and they could take it all away. After the first chapter of the party, the story is then divided into 3 parts. Starting at Horseshoe Cliff, living in a cottage by the sea when Merrow was 5, growing up with a bully brother 10 years her senior and a dad who busied himself with farming. She never knew her mom. When she was 8, her dad became a guardian to an adopted boy named Amir, also 8. They became each other’s support and companion that Merrow lacked. When she was 16, by chance she met a lady who saw her intellectual and offered to help send her to college, at the same time, Amir went missing.You, Me, and the Sea is very well written and a fast paced read! The writing is great because I can feel the voice of Merrow at each age stage. I like learning about her parents’ relationship. Merrow and Amir’s adventure into Osha to glimpse at how other people live is meaningful, though I would prefer that they do it through an open house or estate sale. I like Will’s family and that wealthy people aren’t always so conceited. The friendship in this book is the best with Merrow’s dad Jacob and Rei and with Merrow and Amir. I enjoy the twist in the end about Merrow’s mom, Rei’s death, and the challenge of choosing where Merrow’s heart belongs to. This book do make me cry, but it also reminds me to look on the bright side. I highly recommend everyone to read this book!Pro: fast paced, page turner, friendship, slow build romance, family, life by the sea, a helping hand, diversityCon: noneI rate it 5 stars!***Disclaimer: I won a copy of this book via Goodreads Giveaway. Many thanks to William Morrow Paperbacks for the opportunity to read and review. Please be assured that my opinions are honest.xoxo,Jasmine at www.howusefulitis.wordpress.com for more details

gorgeous. Lyrical. Magical. Meg Donohue’s beautifully descriptive writing swept me away to the Northern Californian coast and Horseshoe Cliff. The characters and setting of this book jumped off the pages and into my heart. I was completely captivated by the magic of this mesmerizing tale, that is until about the final 30 pages. The ending just did not sit well with me... at all! This book was inspired by ”wuthering Heights”?, now admittedly I’ve never read this book so I’m just going to chalk the ending up to this and live with it. Despite the ending I truly loved this exquisite tale. Merrow thinks she is living a magical life. Living on the picturesque Horseshoe Cliff with a loving father who spins enchanting stories. When she starts school she realizes her life isn’t quite as magical as she thought, and then her older brother becomes more and more aggressive and abusive. When Amir shows up Merrow thinks she has found a kindred spirit. Merrow was such a fantastic character, I really adored her heart and her strength. There was such a vulnerability to her character and I completely understood why she had so many fairy godmothers in her life. Her brother Bear on the other hand was a terrible human being. If you believe in karma he never lived one day of happiness his entire life! Also I was a little frustrated that the father didn’t pick up on how terrible the brother was. When a sequence of events happen Merrow is given the opportunity to live a better life and attend college. But this means leaving behind her beloved home and perhaps even Amir. I love that she was given this opportunity and I really loved how much this other family took her into their hearts. Ugh that ending really put a big black cloud over some of this for me. I hate to fixate on that, and I really did love this book, but... just know going into this book that Merrow’s happy ending might not be the same as yours. Simply put this was a beautifully told story, with some pretty amazing characters, and a storyline that will sweep you away.🎧🎧🎧 I was fortunate enough to get an audio copy of this book to review and I absolutely loved this one on audio! Sarah Naughton is fast becoming one of my favorite narrators. She really brings that perfect something special to her narration.*** thank you to William Morrow and Harper Audio for my gifted copy ***

Favorite Quotes:His stories made it seem as though the past was something I could step into, like a room in the house that was always there, its door unlocked by a combination of words.This fear did not feel like the sort of thing that came and went; it felt like something that was meant to last, like a rope with a double knot.His accent made his words sound even and pure. It reminded me of rain falling into a half-full barrel.He tried very hard not to reveal the details of your file to me, but I’ve cracked tougher nuts on Christmas Eve.No one had ever spoken to me as Rosalie had— and yet, what exactly had she been trying to tell me? Her words were a gift that I could hold but not yet unwrap.I wish I were as proud of my finest moments as I am ashamed of my mistakes.My Review:Meg Donohue has turned out a beautifully written, lushly and evocatively detailed and heart-rending book that was swirling with atmosphere and sea mist. I was captivated, devastated, and engrossed from beginning to end. Written in the first person POV of Merrow, an adult woman at a significant crossroads and recalling her childhood, which was peppered with a love of the land and ocean yet heartbreaking and cringe-worthy with unpredictable violence, humiliation, intentional neglect, and vicious cruelty perpetrated by her older brother upon her and her best friend, an orphaned boy of the same age who had come to live with her family as her father’s ward. The family was rather isolated and lived like hillbillies in a small rustic cabin in a small rural yet coastal area of California. Ms. Donohue’s emotive writing was insightfully observant, deviously paced, and conjured vivid visuals that rolled smoothly through my gray matter while squeezing my coronary muscle, stealing my breath, and stinging my eyes. A Five-Star rating feels paltry and nowhere near enough to rate the superlative quality of this compelling tale.

I'm very excited to share this story with readers! Ever since I first read Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, a question has haunted me ... What if Catherine had lived? Would she have chosen her patient, generous husband or the forbidden love of her childhood? Well, readers, I wrote my own answer. I hope you all enjoy You, Me, and the Sea as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you for reading, reviewing, and sharing your love of books!

I just met Meg Donohue at an author event and she is such a warm and gracious person. So it comes as no surprise that her books are the same way. I've been craving a dose of California during the COVID time at home and Meg's book You, Me and the Sea has given me that in spades. I read a lot of historical fiction and love it, but it was nice in this book to be taken to contemporary California and feel the sun on my face. Love this passage: "We kicked off our shoes at the bottom of the path and made our way out to where the warm sand became wet and cold below our feet. Our knives cut easily through the gleaming tongues of seaweed. It was the sort of glorious, sun-soaked day that demanded I still my knife every few minutes and simply look around. From the top of the bluff you could see the curve of cliffs for miles in either direction, but down at the water's edge the only cliffs visible were the arms of the cove that stretched out on either side of us, carved by the pounding of the ocean so that they rose in a tenuous golden arc toward the sky. My father used to tell me that each touch from the sea, even one as soft as an exhaled breath, forever changed not only the land, but the shape of the sea itself. True love's embrace, my father called it."Wonderful!

#FirstLine ~ On the morning of the party, rain hit the bedroom windows in blustery waves.I love Donohue. She writes books that touch the reader deep down, books that resonate, books that stay with the reader long after they finish...You, Me and the Sea is a book that is all of those things and more. I loved it cover to cover. It was original, refreshing and so engrossing. The dialogue is spot on, the pacing is perfection and the characters are those you may never forget. A must read for ALL. Another hit by a master storyteller!

Merrow lives in a remote coastal area of Northern California along with her father and her brother. They live on a dilapidated farm and it barely yields enough crops for them to get by. Her older brother, Bear, doesn't look out for her in the very least as he is a disturbed individual and treats her very cruelly. One day her father brings home an orphan, Amir. Amir is the son of his deceased wife's best friend, so he can't just let him go into foster care again. This thrills Merrow completely as she has wanted a friend and a playmate practically her whole life. Merrow and Amir spend blissful days exploring Horseshoe Bluff, the farm, swimming in the ocean, and avoiding Bear at all costs. As they get older, Amir slowly changes from being her best friend to something more while they both weather the many storms of that come into their lives. Meg Donohue's You, Me, and the Sea is a heartfelt story about family, friendship, the call of the ocean, and star-crossed love. Read the rest of my review here: http://www.confessionsofabookaddict.c...

Like Wuthering Heights, but less toxic and less passionate. The author has a curious proclivity for using "sunk" and never, ever "sank."

I loved every page of this book. Gorgeously written and beautifully crafted, this bittersweet love story completely captivated me. Meg Donohue once again proves she is a masterful storyteller, finding the perfect sweet spot of romance, mystery, and magic realism. The back pages reveal that the author was inspired by Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. Just as the English moors came alive in Brontë's novel, Horseshoe Cliff becomes almost another character in this novel, providing a romantic, blissful yet precarious backdrop to Merrow and Amir's tumultuous life. With two very compelling male characters, Merrow is forced to choose between a man who can provide the life she's dreamed of, and the man who knows her heart. This enchanting story will stay with me for a very long time.

I received an advance copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway. All opinions are my own. I absolutely loved this book, the writing is beautiful. The characters really came alive for me, and I felt all of their emotions through the whole book. So many things happen, and I'm torn about the ending. Without spoiling it, I think I might have wanted it the other way. All in all, a fantastic book, I will definitely read more from this author.

Merrow Shaws believes she was born of the sea: strong, joyous, and wild. Her beloved home is Horseshoe Cliff, a small farm on the coast of Northern California, where she spends her days exploring fog-cloaked bluffs and swimming in a secluded cove.Every part of this book jacket description speaks to me. I too feel drawn to the sea yet I live on a farm. And....the cover!! I was lost in Meg Donahue's lyrical writing. I found it magical and it swept me away to Horseshoe Cliff. I could see the fog and feel the sea air. I will definitely read more of Meg Donahue in the future.

"She stood fearlessly on the edge of the soaring cliffs, she killed chickens with her bare hands when duty called, and she scaled very, very high walls around strangers' private property because she was curious about how other people lived" "She also loved reading novels. And she was a writer. She spoke of the sea, of her home, in a way that a poet writes about love. She had a bright light within her, and she was unafraid to let it shine" This is what sums up the book for me.

A fictional story of a daughter of hippies who lives by the sea and finds beauty where others would see poverty. I picked this up at The Willow bookstore because it was compared to Educated. There are definite similarities. The descriptions of the farm definitely made me want to go to the ocean. A great story of how strong children can be and how our childhood shapes our entire life.

I loved how the sea was such a key character in this book. It was an enjoyable story, putting a new twist on the "Wuthering Heights" tale so many are familiar with.

** spoiler alert ** 4.5 Cause I really didn't like part of the ending. Bear Ugh....Driving off into the sunset...Um No!

An excellent book. Very complex, two-sided characters. You knew while you were reading that the end could not go well for everyone so you feel happy and sad at the same time. Not really a spoiler, because it would depend on your outlook. It was my first read by Meg Donohue, but, based on her story in this book, I have already bought one of her older books.

This book was AMAZING!! I read in one sitting!! Merrow's story of Love and Loss just pulled me into her world.