THE POINT WHERE THE OCEAN ENDS.

 Today its my pleasure to be one of the bloggers participating in the Blog Tour of ...

THE POINT WHERE THE OCEAN ENDS by SIOBHAN MURPHY.

Genre ... Women’s Fiction / Bookclub

Publication Date ... January 2023

Standalone Novel

Estimated Page Count ... 330

Author Content Warning ... Pregnancy loss

Purchase Link ... https://amzn.eu/d/9Mxs1OM

A lifetime of searching

A restless, nomadic journey

And a secret kept buried for years.

As winter turns to spring on the North Cornish coast, Kerensa O’Connell receives an unexpected message relating to a passionate relationship deep in her past. A message that stirs up memories threatening to derail her comfortable life and her marriage.

While the world is forced to press the pause button, Kerensa has no choice but to slow down and confront the demons that have plagued her throughout her life. Battling both mental and physical health issues, she must decide once and for all what she is looking for and whom she wants by her side.

Simultaneously unfolding over a few months and several decades, the story moves from the windswept plains of East Africa to the stunning islands of the Great Barrier Reef, the tranquil mountains of the Himalayas, and the bustling cities of Europe. Kerensa confronts happiness and heartbreak through the lens of her camera and her connection to the people she loves. Piecing together her memories of love, loss, and adventure, she starts to make sense of the choices she has made and question the internal chaos that has always defined her.

A tale of colliding life paths, fate and chance.

A journey of discovery and coming to terms with the truth of the past.

An unforgettable love story with the mystery of an ambiguous figure at its heart and a reminder that letting go of the past can take a lifetime.

Not a fan of the star rating system to begin with, I'm at a total loss at to how many stars to rate this as, on the one hand, a book I enjoyed and, on the other, hmm! not so much

A lyrical read; the plot twisting and turning but always with the central theme of a love lost at the heart of it. The people, the sights, the smells, the events, the music of that place/time all beautifully depicted, I could clearly see/hear them in my mind.

As I pick up the last bags and head for the door, images flash across my memory. Tears. Shouting. Hangovers. Getting stoned. Sitting on the kitchen floor, helpless with giggles, surrounded by empty crisp packets and the occasional slug. Stressful weeks of exams and thrilling encounters with men that would never last. But mostly, the endless nights of laughter. Memories that are embedded in every inch of this grubby, run-down terrace house. 

- Pg 81

Written in diary format {not my favourite format it has to be said}, the entries range from December 2020 to January 2022. However the contents in most cases  have nothing to do with the diary dates but cover a much wider time frame that delved into Karensa's past; jumping around erratically between not just places but also decades as she reminisced about past adventures, friendships and, of course, love. 

Character wise, whilst I felt a certain empathy with Karensa who suffered with mental health issues and fertility problems, for some inexplicable reason I found myself unable to connect with her on any really deep level. That her husband was not referred to by his name right up until the final chapters but was instead referred to as 'he' something that when combined with the rambling timeline made for an enjoyable but, what to my mind, was a somewhat chaotic read.

Siobhan Murphy is a contemporary women's fiction author based in the UK. She spent many years drifting around the world in search of adventure and trying to figure out what to do with her life. She still isn’t sure if she's found the answer, but having rattled on about writing books for years, she finally did something about it. At present, writing feels like the perfect job, and is providing her with an enormous amount of pleasure. Along the way she has worked in places as diverse as the High Commission in Nairobi; a market stall selling cheese in the UK and an 80-foot racing yacht in Australia. She's been a secondary school English teacher and a Barista with no discernible talent for making coffee. She's been a bossy PA and an uninspired private equity fund administrator. Probably her favourite job ever was as a bookseller for Waterstones, where she loved recommending books to customers and applying those 3 for 2 stickers that are hard to remove. For the last 17 years she's worked as a professional photographer, taking portraits of human beings, often the really, really small ones. She suffers from a condition called Pareidolia, which causes her to see faces in everyday objects. Her hobbies are eating sweets, talking nonsense and walking into rooms wondering why she is there. She constantly overthinks everything and will no doubt keep deleting and re-writing this bio for the foreseeable future. Her first novel was sponsored by Earl Grey Tea and many, many, many glasses of wine.

Follow Siobhan Murphy on Instagram

With thanks to Rachel of Rachel's Random Resources for another well organised Blog Tour. 

Agree or disagree with me, all opinions are my own. No financial compensation was asked for nor given. Threats of violence towards my favourite teddy bear went unheeded as did promises of chocolate. 

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