There are two stories being told throughout this book, that of Geneva, whose point of view the reader follows, down on her luck inn owner who is struggling to stay afloat in St. Medard’s Bay.
On the other hand, there is the mystery and intrigue of Lo and past events that took place leaving her under suspicion of murdering a politician’s son whom she was having an affair with, though she was never convicted of the crime in the end. When Lo comes along with a writer to stay at Geneva’s struggling inn, the past is brought back into the present as they work to tell Lo’s story and details of the past start to come to light.
Lo is such an enthralling character, full of life and personality that makes it easy to see why she caused such strong emotions in people. She truly came to live off the pages as an incredibly vivacious and big personality and I loved her depiction because of this. Geneva herself is a force to be reckoned with as she tries to claw the inn back into financial comfort while also battling with personal problems beyond the inn’s lack of success, with a long-term boyfriend who left when things got hard with the inn, and a mother with Alzheimer’s. Her story becomes super interesting as she learns more about a mother she wasn’t really close with and the ties she had to Lo, which really hooked me into her story. The quick bond that Geneva and Lo seem to form is so bright and I loved Lo’s easy camaraderie with her from the get-go.
Scattered throughout the main story there are also snippets of story told either from the point of view of people who were present during the big hurricane that resulted in the death of Landon, the politician’s son, whether murder or accident, or from the book being written about Lo and her perspective. These added needed context about the past and really helped to fill in blanks that weren’t necessarily possible to naturally bring up in the present and I liked that it helped to show the horror and devastation of the hurricane, as well as the unfolding romance and drama between Lo and Landon. There is also this uncertainty of whether one can truly believe everything Lo’s narration has to say, as you have to assume she could be an unreliable narrator with the question of whether she truly murdered Landon or not being unanswered.
The Storm was a fantastic read and I quickly became immersed in the story being told. I definitely recommend this one and once again find myself eagerly anticipating the authors next book despite having just finished this latest.
