Off Season

by Anne Rivers Siddons

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.

Genres: Fiction, Romance, Chick Lit, Audiobook, Book Club, Contemporary, Adult Fiction

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Born Sybil Anne Rivers in Atlanta, Georgia, she was raised in Fairburn, Georgia, and attended Auburn University, where she was a member of the Delta Delta Delta Sorority.

While at Auburn she wrote a column for the student newspaper, The Auburn Plainsman, that favored integration. The university administration attempted to suppress the column, and ultimately fired her, and the column garnered national attention. She later became a senior editor for Atlanta magazine.

At the age of thirty she married Heyward Siddons, and she and her husband lived in Charleston, South Carolina, and spent summers in Maine. Siddons died of lung cancer on September 11, 2019

Reviews

[Annie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was breezing along with this book, thinking it was a light, fluffy, slightly overwrought novel until I got to the last thirty pages or so. Huh? What happened?! Why did it end so abruptly and strangely? Why were the loose ends not tied up (who was "D" from New Mexico?)?

I am literally going back today to read the final pages again to see if I missed something---and to see if I get what happened at the end.

[Khutala · Rating 1 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading the book all the way up until the last third when the novel started to go down-hill, then the clincher- the ending was horrible. The entire book is built on the development of various relationships between the main character, Lily, and other people in her life. Most of the relationships are clearly painted and the interactions between the characters helps the reader to bond. Despite the fact that Siddons sets up the relationship between Lily and her husband as being one of the most critical to the book, she hardly deals with their adult relationship at all. Towards the end the reader just starts to get a glimpse of what their life together was like, but it is a foggy picture. Clues start dropping that there might have been trouble in paradise, but it was all very subtle. Then the book ends quite abruptly and mysteriously opening up new questions without answers and not answering the questions that were already developed. It was like the cliff hanger at the end of an episode in a soap opera instead of the satisfying end to a complete novel. Unless there is a sequel I don't know about, I don't recommend this book because of how frustrating it is to leave the reader in the dark after all the effort she spent to get to know these characters.

[Kellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

-I am a huge fan of ARS. I have read almost every one of her books. This one left me scratching my head. Why did she end the book the way she did? The only thing I can think of is, she wanted it to be talked about. If that is the reason, I think she accomplished her goal. If you go out to Amazon or Goodreads, there are already discussion threads on it. The story is about a woman, Lilly, whose husband dies and she is traveling to the family house in Maine with his ashes. Then the story goes back to her childhood when she summered in Maine with her family. With a little background and vivid descriptions of the Maine Coast, the childhood memory focuses on 1962 when Lilly met Jon. Lilly is 11 years old and knows she is in love with Jon. The dark side of Anne Rivers Siddons novels appears in this one in the form of a beautiful blond girl named “Peaches”. She finds Jon and Lilly kissing and makes up some story to make it sound like they were doing much more. This sets the tone for the next series of events that leads to tragedy. Tragedy that pulls Lilly’s family away from their Maine home for several years. The next timeframe is Lilly’s teenage years in Virginia and dealing with the sickness of her mother and her eventual death. This brings Lilly and her Dad into a very tight bond. A bond that is very difficult to break. When Lilly is eighteen she meets Cam. This part was kind of unbelievable to me. The way she just happens to meet him at a restaurant and he spots her thinking she was someone else and they kiss. He ends up having dinner with the family and they are instantly in love? No way. Their courtship is short. They get married in the Maine house and then you fast forward to the present. The last part of this book was very odd. Lilly is trying to figure out what Cam was doing at the Maine house when he died after he told her he was somewhere else. She gets the letters “From D in Sante Fe” and discovers that Cam spent a lot more time in Maine than she knew about. The ending was very abrupt and full of mystery. The young boy comes to the house and Lilly answers the door. She sees Cam in his face and knows immediately he is the son of Cam and Peaches. Then she dies and Jon appears and she says “It was you all the time, wasn’t it?” And Jon says “I’ve been here the whole time.” Then there is an Epilogue involving the cat and the boy. I’m assuming this is telling us that the cat has spent a lot of time with the boy in Maine. Which confirms the fact that Cam was up there a lot and the boy was his? A lot of questions at the end of the book. I don’t particularly like that as a reader. I feel more comfortable when all loose ends are tied up and there is a sure resolution in the ending. This was just too vague for me. Not one of my favorites

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

The unusual ending - Seems to me there are some snafus there. David is Cam's son, lives in a double-wide trailer down the bay a bit, therefore making him known to the locals. If he looks exactly like Cam, they would have known whose son he was....so why does Laurie not prepare Lilly for that? Lilly could have run into him at any time during her rambles. Snafu 2: Why the letters to Cam from Santa Fe if David lives in Maine? Snafu 3: David obviously has a relationship with Cam, therefore he has to know Cam is his father since they are identical. So how can he not know Lilly is Cam's wife? And that she would therefore be stunned when he appeared at her door? Snafu 4: When David appeared at her door, she went running into the kitchen and (apparently) immediately died from shock, cold, asthma attack, a combination.....but somehow David doesn't find her dead until his second trip into the house at his mother's request. Snafu 5: Peaches is apparently in her cottage next door, but Lilly hasn't seen her all summer? Or been aware that she was there, even?

I like that she is reunited in heart and soul with Jon, her true love, but the snafus sort of ruined it for me.

[Kim Justice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ack! What happened here? Prior to this book, I've loved ARS's work. As a rule, I find them gripping, the setting pulls me in, and the characters force me to believe in them. However, Off Season was a great disappointment to me. It was slow going at first, but did get better. The first half seemed terribly disjointed from the second until about the last 30 or so pages, and then once the parts of Lily's life started getting entangled with each other, the story took an odd, almost paranormal sort of shift. The ending-- well, it was disgraceful at best. I know that ARS can write, and write well and I've never seen a forced ending from her. But this one leaves me with the feeling that she just didn't know how to end it. I feel cheated, and left with way too many questions. Really, really disappointing, from an otherwise great writer.

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

I need to be knocked upside the head to remind myself that neither Anne Rivers Siddons nor Elizabeth Berg is worth reading anymore. I've taken to reading several random pages of a book in the store to get a feel for the writing and whether there's going to be objectionable content in the books - even by authors that I've previously really enjoyed. This book wasn't objectionable as much as it was just depressing. I hung in there 2/3 of the book just hoping that something positive or happy would happen. I ended up feeling like I was just spending more hours in my office to read it. I don't read for that purpose. Quit 2/3 in, very disappointed. Don't bother.

[Laurel-Rain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Off Season is a beautiful rendering of one family, the connections between its members, and the flawed relationships created by secrets and betrayal.

When Lilly Constable McCall loses her husband Cam, to an untimely death, she escapes to the family’s summer home on the coast of Maine. It is here that all of her memories, both beautiful and painful, descend…

It all washes over her, just as the coastal tides sweep the shores---memories of beautiful family vacations, childhood friendships, first love. And pain. Horrible, searing pain that can only be appeased by allowing the memories, good and bad, to sweep over her so that she can finally come to grips with the secrets and betrayals of one long ago summer…the last one she spent with her birth family at the coastal house. When she experienced her first love and her first loss.

She remembers everything now. How, after the first pain and loss, followed so quickly by another, her heart decides that it is too much, so she retreats into a hermit-like existence. Protecting herself from further pain. She turns to a new obsession and becomes an underwater swimmer, escaping each day, wearing her wetsuit and helmet…Until she meets Cameron McCall.

They fall in love, marry, have children…And she thinks she knows everything there is to know about him. They are two peas in a pod…right?

But when he dies and when she escapes again to her summer home, she learns more about him. And about herself.

An enchanting story of love, loss, and renewal, this tale is a beautiful addition to Ms. Siddons’ collection of family sagas.

[Rhonda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I toyed between giving this 2 starts or three stars. MOST of the book was really good, and then there was the ending. My mother-in-law was reading this same book at the same time, and neither one of us has any clue what the ending meant. We are confused.
Like I said, good book, bad ending.

[Bxrlover · Rating 1 out of 5]

Having recently finished " Sweetwater Creek", I was anxious to read another ARS novel, but cannot say that I am enjoying this one at all. Her writing style reminds me of Sue Monk Kidd, whom I adore, but this one is irritating me.

Like others have mentioned, I think talking animals are silly and better suited to stories aimed at an audience of 4-8 year olds, not adults.

The characters come off as contrived and although I loved the attention to atmospheric detail in "Sweetwater", it's wearing thin now. There are only so many times I can hear the moon described as " Strawberry" and hear the word " Vermillion" in a given book before it starts sounding pretentious.

As tweens, the dialogue between the children, especially Lily and Cam was unnatural and affected. When one of Lily's male friends " Noticed right away" that she had shaved her legs, I groaned out loud. My own husband doesn't notice when I cut my hair, but I am supposed to believe that a pre teen boy picks up on this kind of detail?

Lily and Cam fall in love in what, 3 days? Lily has never kissed a boy before but within seconds of her first kiss "All her questions about everything are answered"? Way too Harlequin for me......

I may give one more of her books a shot ( ? "Nora, Nora") in the hopes that this was just a one off.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read most of Siddon's novels -- I would put this one somewhere near the top. After the death of her husband, Lilly returns to the scene of her childhood summers on the coast of Maine. Well-developed characters, a story we can relate to, and Siddon's talent for creating a scene so vividly that it truly surrounds you. She brings childhood in the time of Kennedy's Camelot to life.......even tho I would have liked an ending that was less abrupt.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got into this book slowly, then really liked the middle, and then, like most people, was confused by the ending. I'm just not sure what the author wanted us to feel after reading this book. Is it meant to be a story about loss and betrayal--period? I was looking for something redemptive, but was left scratching my head. It was beautifully written and compelling. But there were some things that didn't really make sense. For starters, why was Jeebs in the book at all? He served no purpose that I can think of, other than pissing me off. Second, I'm not sure I buy the "true love" exchanged between an 11 year old and a 12 year old. And I don't buy the way Lilly and Cam met, after Lilly had been such a recluse for so many years. Why did ARS wait until the very end for Lilly to find out about Cam and Peaches? And why make Lilly die in the end? And did she freeze to death? I was very confused by that. It would have been a better story if Lilly had slowly uncovered over the summer what Cam had been up to, and if she had been able to come to terms with it. Dying was kind of a cop-out. But maybe there was no coming to terms with the ultimate betrayal--Cam ending up with Lilly's arch enemy. In the end, if Jon was the one who was there with her all the time, is the point of the book that there is only one true north for each person, and clearly, Cam wasn't it for Lilly, even though she thought he was for over 30 years? I don't know--the whole thing was just incredibly sad, and almost unbelievably so. Tragedy upon tragedy, making it seem almost trite. Overall, however, despite the problems, I'm glad I read it, and it did lead to a lot of questions about the nature of love and loss, and how those things shape our lives and change us.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Ms Siddons, and this one of her stronger works, reminiscent of 'Colony' in setting and characterization but on a smaller scale, and with a bit of a polarizing twist at the end.
Lilly Constable McCall's beloved husband Cam has died unexpectedly, and Lilly journeys from their Tidewater Virginia home to her family's summer home, Edgewater, near Bar Harbor, Maine. As she comes to terms with the loss of Cam, flashbacks tell Lilly's story. The summer she was eleven, the tranquility and innocence of a Maine summer is forever altered with the arrival of Peaches Davenport, a dfficult, spoiled orphan whose jealousy of Lilly, her family and Lilly's first love Jon Lowell lead to tragedy and an unplanned return home to Washington DC. That fall, a second tragedy will affect Lilly's teenage years, isolating her until she meets and marries Cam.
The Maine setting is beautifully rendered, and Ms Siddons, as always, creates vivid and memorable characters (human and animal alike) that are both very real and larger than life. Without spoiling the story, this book has a controversial and ambiguous ending that does feel a bit rushed, but this reader liked it. And yes, some of the dialogue and actions stretch plausibility for the eleven year old Lilly, but this a small quibble for an entertaining read -- very hard to put down.

[Rachelle Ayala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anne Rivers Siddons does it again. She spins a captivating tale of a young girl whose honeyed childhood ends in the tragic death of her first love, then cocoons her through years of protective denial, a fantasy like marriage to a Jamie Fraser lookalike, only to throw a shocker at the end with an ugly twist guaranteed to puncture the reader's sense of fairness.

I loved the descriptions of the Maine seashore, the breathing of the ocean, the wildlife, the ospreys, and the scents and taste of the summer season. I imagine myself in that cozy house by the seashore, hear the flapping of the sails as they catch the wide, and feel the ooze of mud under the seagrass. A sensory treat.

But most of all, the pervasive sadness, the imagery of the diving helmet, and living life underwater, served to remind us that you can live an entire life of lies and never realize it. Or you simply don't want to face it. You hide from it because looking too closely is painful or scary. I never really understood the weird part about Lilly's mother and that gross old man, and why Lilly's father looked the other way. Perhaps it's much better to live in your own fantasy of how love is, rather than to face the harsh reality that all is not what it seems. This is the theme of Off Season, which could very well have been called "Under Water" or "Beneath The Surface."

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

OFF SEASON is a story about a woman's life from a young girl to adulthood, particularly relating to her time at the family's summer lake home throughout the years. There were moments of greatness in this book, but overall there were many holes and inconsistencies. The first segment relates the early life of Lilly and was, in my opinion, the least authentic in the book. In this section, the author had to lay out a lot of the background elements of the family, the community, and the cultural dynamics for the book. This was largely done through the first person voice of the adult Lilly or through her 10-11 year old voice dialogues. The alternation of adult narration and real-time conversation between the children was so elevated and entirely unbelievable that it got the story off to a bad start. "I was nine or ten when I realized that it must be hard for him, too, newly returned to the most urban fortress of George Washington University, where he taught Chaucer, Shakespeare, and the Lake Poets to juniors and seniors who had not had the grades or the wherewithal to attend on of the Ivies." Really?

The woman's childhood was riddled with death incidents that resulted with a creepily sheltered life with her father. The author began to hit her stride during the middle section relating Lilly's marriage and child-raising years. In the ending section, however, it seemed everything went awry - the author's whole writing style changed. A "mystical" element crept in that seemed out of place. The last page was so bizarre and so abrupt that I had to read it three times to understand what happened. It was a major disappointment - not just the choice of plot which had shown its hand already, but the uncharacteristic abruptness. It felt like the author just gave up steam on detailing a well laid out conclusion. In fact, our book club meeting started out with a big confusion about what actually happened at the end. I don't think that's a compliment in this case.

A particularly low point was a repeated suggestion that allowing an old man to have sexual contact with a young married woman is an act of kindness - an act that the mother deliberately enabled her daughter to see because she wanted to help the girl "learn something about being kind." ?! At first, it was dealt with by showing the real trauma it took on the observing daughter, but later, when the mother is dying, the author seems to try to redeem the incident as good parenting.

Some high points were a few lines I thought were great:
1. Given time, a child can fit almost any horror into his or her world.
2. I know few people who have truly surrendered to the blackness, even at the beginning, when a leftover life seems to hold nothing to give you light. Many of us have other lives, other beings, that wait for us to minister to them, and on their shoulders we toil, finally far enough up to begin to stumble forward...The sucking needs of others will pull you out eventually.

I could tell that this author is a genuinely good writer, but it seemed that she wrote these three sections at completely different time periods and changed style in each one. The whole just didn't connect. And, again, the ending was like smacking into a wall with no explanation. The End.

[Barbara Nutting · Rating 4 out of 5]

A coming of age story that follow the spectrum to the end - old age. As usual, it is so well written with great descriptive passages - a lawn mower sang it’s summer song!

I liked the mention of Paul Rudolph, a well know Sarasota architect. I Googled him and found one of his designs is still standing and has been recently renovated. So a trip to his Cocoon House on Siesta Key is on my list of things to do!

Silas, the cat, was my favorite character!!

Now, I’m going back to reread the ending because I’m not sure what really happened.

Just read the other reviews, glad I’m not the only one who thought the ending was strange. Not one reader liked it👎. That’s why a knocked off a star.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a book I would have never normally pick up and read but I thought, what the hey...it's summer, it's a summer book...why not. All in all, it's not my type of book. But it's not horrible and I did finish it.

Recently widowed, Lilly is going back (with her husband Cam's ashes) to their summer house on the coast of Maine. She needs some time alone, away from her daughters and grandchildren, to reminisce and remember.

Flashback to Lilly as an eleven year-old and all the events that happened in that summer of 1962, including a first love with a boy named John. What proceeds is young Lilly going through loves and losses and how that defines who she is. Then it flashes forward a bit to when she met Cam.

Honestly, the book was a bit rambling and I wasn't sure of the point of the whole thing. I did like the story of eleven-year old Lilly. But then everything after that, including the ending (which was the worst ending I've ever read) just put me off of the whole thing. I wish she had stuck to the young Lilly part and then stopped. On a side note: she is a good writer. I really loved her description of the ocean and how connected young Lilly was to the whole summer place.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, what a story!

There was a time very early in my marriage that I couldn't even fathom a world without Brad. He's my true North, and I would feel lost and anxious whenever separated too long. It has taken a lifetime of marriage to understand these deep, precious feelings. Some might call it love, but I think it is something so much deeper, a sentient far more complicated.

These feelings, the lifetime of Lilly Constable, that are explored by Siddons in this tender, passionate tale about growing up, experiencing loss, finding love and then losing everything once again.

Trying to make sense of her future, Lilly returns "home" to sort out the past and her memories. Off Season is a story about simple truths that often elude us, even when they are right before our eyes - often our hearts know the truth and within these hidden places, we are most surprised.

HOWEVER, why such a cheap ending to such a beautiful story? **SPOILER**Why can't man be faithful, loving and a true North for the woman who really loves him? Why can't fidelity sell a book?

[Amy Brown (amylikestoreadalot) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm...I really really like her writing style...love her descriptions of life on the Maine coast (makes me want to vacation there), but the problem I have is that all of her books are so similar. This one is like Colony (one of my all time favs)...I knew about 1/3 through the book what was going to happen with some of the characters. I guess that is not a bad thing, but it really bothered me. It's the story of a woman, Lilly, whose husband Cam has just died. She drives up to their family home in Maine to spend the summer recovering after her loss. While she is there, she relives her youth, up through the time she meets and marries Cam. Along the way, she discovers some things about herself and her relationship with Cam. However, the ending....very odd! I couldn't figure out what really happened! She left some mysteries for the reader...though I would have preferred knowing the answers. If you have read this, I'd love to talk to you about the ending! But all in all, a good beach read, especially if you have not read Colony!

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best of this book was the consistent need the protagonist has to be one with nature, whether it was air or water, she was bound to it inextricably. The love story was profound, the family story wry and moving, the drama a little slow at times, but the ending was a surprise, almost too much of one...I like the anticipation or at least the sense that there is a "mystery", this conclusion just appeared and left me unsettled.
But the settings in D.C. and Maine were very engaging and the cabin in Maine became almost a character itself. It was set in the 60's to which I could relate and the use of mythology lent itself to the undercurrent theme of death and how the characters handled it...the quote at the beginning "After the first death, there is no other.", became much more meaningful.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anne River Siddons never disappoints with her books. though this one is set in Maine instead of the South you get a sense of how much she loves nature and how good her descriptions are. Her Characters are well developed also. it begins with Lily as a young girl and that first love. Remember that feeling? she goes on to marry and have a loving family but when her husband dies you get the feeling all was not as it appeared. she goes back to the childhood cabin to spread his ashes and come to grips with her life. I
would read this book again. the ending is special.

[Elizabeth Cottrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one wrung me out emotionally, but I couldn't put it down. Beautifully engaging with larger than life, yet flawed, characters who are, in many ways like parts of ourselves or people we've known. A love story in the tradition of The Titanic -- unrealistic, perhaps, but haunting nonetheless. Anne Rivers Siddons captures the imagery of place as beautifully as the best writers. In this case, it is coastal Maine, and her readers can feel the sting of the ocean spray, smell the ocean air, and experience the power of a beloved and oft-visited place along with the characters.

[Holli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this novel about a woman and her life and how intertwined that was with the wonderful setting of coastal Maine. The author puts you right there with her in her summer home with the bay and the cliffs and the ospreys... you feel her joys and her pains and the loves she had in her lifetime. VERY good novel... fully enjoyed it.

[M.K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read a number of Anne Rivers Siddons novels and thought this one - borrowed from my mother - might be (1) a good story to relax with and (2) instructive as to writing style. On the first point, I found the story disjointed and at times was impatient with digressions into back story and switching time periods. In the process, the story lost tension and drive. On the second point, I found much to admire in Siddons' style. She has an excellent way with metaphors that suit the narrative and setting; her descriptions of people and place are superb; some of her characters are so well developed, you think of them as friends.

As others point out, I was disappointed with the central relationship of the novel-that of Lilly and her husband Cam. It seems ridiculous to me to have a person walk into a bar, see a man, exchange a few sentences and fall irrevocably in love. Perhaps I'm not enough of a romantic? Beyond that, I wonder whether the novel would have been more powerful if Siddons spent less time on 12-year-old Lilly and more time on adult-married-to-Cam Lilly. These concerns are why I can't give it a 4 star rating.

[Readingmom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written, as I think all her books are. Thought provoking and time specific. The author's ability to really delve into the emotions and feelings of certain of the main characters is what I find facinating. I could really feel Lily's emotions as she traveled through childhood to adulthood. Can you imagine her shock at finding out her beloved husband was not in fact what she thought? I believe that was her demise! No, the book isn't confusing at all - of course David is Cam and Peaches son. He began the affair with her after he & Lily had that argument. I think at first he found out about Lily and Jon and when HIS view of perfection (his view of Lily) changed - he probably "moved on" to Peaches in some fashion. He was then tied to her and to the son from that point forward. The book made it clear he had always been a lady's man and a player till meeting up with Lily. It made it clear too that he moved on from women after a time. What I found odd and confusing was the connection between David and Cam (the letter at the post office). There were no clues how they forged a relationship (left to the reader's imagination). I'd like to think Cam realized what a bitch Peaches truly was, but was now tied in to her through the birth of the son, David. He probably forged a relationship with David (who from the Epilogue said he'd never step foot in his mother's house) but yet that his mother called him to go check on Lily???? That part threw me. Anyhow, sometimes its fun to try to come up with what it is that could have happened rather than having it all neat and tidy! Sure makes you think! As always though, I love her books.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a masterpiece of writing, right up until the last 30 or so pages. We were treated to a memoir of Lilly, the opening chapter a glimpse of the grief she's experiencing over the loss of her husband, Cam. The book then segues into Lilly's childhood and her time at her family's summer home. It's a nostalgic wonderland, wrought with beautiful descriptions and reminiscent of a childhood idyll. At 11, she meets and experiences the first wonder of love with Jon, a boy whose family is just a few houses away from hers. Into the picture steps Peaches, who with one sentence, tears apart the fabric of this summer resulting in a tragedy that would haunt Lilly for the rest of her life. We then journey with Lilly through her picture perfect marriage with Cam, a young laird-ish man she instantly falls in love with after a happenstance meeting at a restaurant. Over the following pages, their love grows, children are introduced, and the natural progression of life occurs, albeit with beautiful prose. Then, BAM. Cam dies, Lilly goes to the summer home and apparently everything was not as it seems in their marriage. The book goes from one a true to life fiction, dabbles into the supernatural, throws a spattering of adultery and talking animals, and apparently Cam *SPOILER* has a son with Peaches, who ruined one of Lilly's favorite islands by building a house on it. WTF. None of this was even hinted at during the first 4/5 of the book. The last 30 pages or so seem like they were taken from a completely different novel, they don't fit at all. A billion unanswered questions, a terribly written ending, and genre jumping ruined this novel for me. So promising too.

[Kelly Ohl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about Lilly and going through her life journey with her from 11 until death. It is a hard read to get into at first, and until page 80 or so it's a struggle, at least for me, to really feel out the characters.

Some you really never do.

Lilly lost her first love, Jon, when she was 11 due to his drastic suicide when he found out through a girl jealous of Lilly and Jon's relationship what Jon's father had hid from him all these years, he was part Jewish decent, which back in those times just a few years after WWII was I guess, reason for suicide.

You move with Lilly into the death of her mother from breast cancer, and through her marriage with Cam, which you come to find out something wretched about him, though not directly stated, was fairly obvious that he was guilty of the ultimate crime a spouse could commit against the other.

The character I fell in love with the most was Kitty, someone Cam had grown up with and grew to be Lilly's best friend after her and Cam were married. She's independent, wild, and plays by her own rules which this book severely lacked in other places, save for Lilly's mother.

If you enjoy a read blue-blooded society around the era of JFK, and a little before you'll get into this book, however, I just found it sort of an offbeat VC Andrews type read without the your husband is really your first cousin or brother type of feel to it.

[Judy · Rating 2 out of 5]

SPOILER ALERT I thought the ending a bit of a reach. I have so man rambling thoughts. Are we to assume that Jon's "ghost" saved Lily twice from breathlessness? And she "gave back the breath" because she did not want to live any more? Or are we to believe she would be with her first love Jon? Or do I chalk her death up to shock? Most people have a soft spot for their first love ...but really Lily was just 11 and only knew Jon for a few weeks. Also 11 and 12 year old kids do not talk the way the author wrote their dialog. Did she not love her children and grandchildren? Am I supposed to believe this what part of a life of grieving? And what adult children would leave their mother after attending their father's memorial service without saying goodbye. And if Jon did give Lily breath then why do we assume that Cam died of natural causes? Also Kitty said Lily was wasting away to nothing. Did her daughters not notice this weight loss? And after Kitty heard Cam and decided the house was haunted why would she not stay the 1 more day Lily wanted to stay. And if a nor"easter was coming the whole Edgewater colony would have known it and Lily would have been better prepared. Chapter 18 was just a bad ending!! And PEACHES ....couldn't win over Jon so decided to win over CAm? Ugly charachter!

[Lynne Spreen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was vacationing at Jekyll Island, Georgia. At the bookstore on the island, I asked for some Anne Rivers Siddons, knowing her books would be an awesome choice for my visit. I bought Off Season and my traveling buddy bought Burnt Mountain by the same author. We read them and at the end of our trip, switched. A fun way to immerse oneself in the Georgia low country.

I had read a bunch of ARS' books years ago and loved them, but after the first heady half-dozen, I felt disappointed. Her stories were becoming formulaic and uninteresting.

But I loved Off Season. The entire story held me entranced, and the dramatic tension pulled me in and held me prisoner. The ending was not what I expected, but it was a very good ending and a wonderful ride throughout. I do recommend it, and I look forward to Burnt Mountain. Siddons is a great storyteller. After reading Off Season I want to go back and read some of her earlier works, like Fault Lines.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. In the beginning of the book I was a little put off that Lilly and her dead husbands cat communicated but most of the story is in the past and it turns out to be such a nostalgic coming of age story in the kennedy era and the civil rights movement. Anne Rivers Siddons love of nature is evident through out the story. From Maine to Washington Lilly's earlier years are spent in coastal maine with her loving mother and father in the summer lilly explores the seaside with a gang of friends explores the cliffs and seaside in an ancient summer house. In Washington in the winter months she is living a comfortable life with her parents who are connected to respectable Washington insiders. When tragedy strikes In Maine and again closer to home lilly's life is changed. I thought this was a good book and I always enjoy this author.

[Diane Chamberlain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I get the ending. At least, I get what it means to me, and it tied everything together for me. To me, this was a woman's journey through a deep, deep grief. The loss of her husband brought back her grief over losing her mother and her first young love, John. Grief can sometimes make you crazy, and I believe that's what we were seeing in Lily. The talking cat bugged me to pieces until I could attribute it to Lily's grief. Whether this is how Rivers Siddons intended her story to be interpreted, I don't know, but that's how it worked for me. I AM, however, totally perplexed by who "D" was. Anyone fill me in?? I listened to the book on audio, and wonder if I missed something.