Coast Road: Summary and book reviews of Coast Road by Barbara Delinsky, plus links to an excerpt from Coast Road and a biography of Barbara Delinsky.

Coast Road. Where life's greatest gifts come to us by accident. Barbara Delinsky has always had a gift for creating tales of extraordinary emotional power and depth. Now this New York Times bestselling author of Three Wishes surpasses herself once again in a novel that takes readers on a journey as richly textured, colorful, and poignant as the northern California landscape in which the book is set. Rachel Keats and Jack McGill were artists, deeply in love when they married, until the rush of life took its toll. After ten years of marriage, they divorced and went their separate ways. Jack stayed in San Francisco. Rachel moved with their two young daughters to Big Sur. Six years later, an alarming middle-of-the-night phone call demands that Jack put aside his own busy life and career as a leading architect to rush to his ex-wife's hospital bed. While she lies lifeless, Jack maintains a bedside vigil and finds himself getting to know Rachel better than he ever did -- through their daughters, her friends, and, even more revealingly, through her art. Meanwhile, the beauty and grace of the redwood canyon where she has made their home also work their own special alchemy upon Jack. He begins to see Rachel, his daughters, and the story of his marriage with new eyes. Coast Road celebrates those things in life that matter most -- the kinship of neighbors, the companionship of friends, and the irreplaceable time spent with children and family. In this masterful new novel, Barbara Delinsky depicts with exquisite accuracy the ties that bind each of us to those people and places we hold most dear.

Media Reviews

Publishers Weekly Sexual stereotypes fuel this predictable saga, and the wait for Rachel's recovery can't sustain tension in the plot. Samantha's wild teenaged antics and the early, prickly stages of a romance between Katherine and Rachel's neurologist lend the only doses of excitement to a story that's stretched far too thin.   School Library Journal YAs will relate to the daughters as they reveal their own emotions about divorced parents, a life-threatening accident, and a prom date that gets out of hand. A realistic portrayal of difficult emotional situations.   Kirkus Reviews Hard-core Delinsky fans will be satisfied here. But newcomers won't beg for more: Samantha and Hope provide much-needed angst and humor, but Jack and Rachel's relationship, pre- and post-coma, is so predictable that its hard to care.   Library Journal Delinsky's latest love story is filled with heartache, self-discovery, and renewal. Recommended for public libraries.   Booklist Delinsky delivers an emotion-packed journey of truth and redemption, firmly cementing her status as a best-selling writer of top-notch books. Although the end of the story is never in doubt, the sheer impact of the whole makes this a winner, sure to appeal to readers of Nora Roberts, Sandra Brown, and Jayne Ann Krentz.

Recent Reader Reviews

Rated of 5 by Anonymous
I enjoyed this book very much. Sometimes in a marriage you take the other person for granted and get caught up in the "big picture". This book makes you realize that and makes you want to remember why you fell in love in the first...   Read More

Review (not rated) by Anonymous
Robert T. Hall
"Coast Road" is a deep human story of family life that you can't put down. The author must have lived parts of the tense phases of this delightful story. Thank you, Barbara Delinsky !

Review (not rated) by Anonymous
Linda McKeown
I could not put this book down. It is so filled with emotion. It was a pleasure seeing Jack making a stronger connection with his daughters. I felt this story showed a great sense of what family, friends and neighbors are...   Read More

Review (not rated) by Anonymous
Carol Driscoll
I have read and enjoyed many Barbara Delinsky books, but Coast Road is by far my favorite. I became so involved in the story and so attached to the characters that I am miserable to have finished it. I want more of these...   Read More

Review (not rated) by Anonymous
Chris M.
I love it when the book I'm reading lets me picture the entire setting, story, etc. Coast Road was wonderful--I passed it along to a friend who also couldn't put it down. When's the movie??

Review (not rated) by Anonymous
Ann
This book was touching, humorous and thoughtful, bringing up many issues on many levels, bypassing the clichés of how men and women act and relate. The characters and the dialogue are so real they almost jump off the page in...   Read More

...3 More Reader Reviews

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