The Bay by Allie Reynolds BLOG TOUR #TheBay @AuthorAllieR @headlinepg @RandomTTours #BookReview

 

Kenna arrives in Sydney to surprise her best friend, shocked to hear she's going to marry a guy she's only just met. But Mikki and her fiancé Jack are about to head away on a trip, so Kenna finds herself tagging along for the ride.

Sorrow Bay is beautiful, wild and dangerous. A remote surfing spot with waves to die for, cut off from the rest of the world. Here Kenna meets the mysterious group of people who will do anything to keep their paradise a secret. Sky, Ryan, Clemente and Victor have come to ride the waves and disappear from life. How will they feel about Kenna turning up unannounced?

As Kenna gets drawn into their world, she sees the extremes they are prepared to go to for the next thrill. And everyone seems to be hiding something. What has her best friend got involved in and how can she get her away? But one thing is rapidly becoming clear about The Bay: nobody ever leaves.

The Bay by Allie Reynolds was published on 23 June 2022 by Headline. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review, as part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour.

I don't think I've ever read a book set in the surfing scene before, so was really eager to see what this was all about. I'm not a surfer, I don't even enjoy swimming, but I do have every admiration for those who take their lives in their hands and ride the waves. 

Kenna and Mikki have been best friends since school. Both a little isolated from their peers, they instantly became soul mates, sharing a love for surfing on the beaches where they lived in Cornwall. A few years ago, tragedy struck, and Kenna left Cornwall to live in London. Leaving behind the waves and the surf, and her board. Mikki made her way to Australia, where she still is and when Kenna is told that Mikki is about to marry a guy she's only known for a short time, she travels across the world to find out just what is happening. 

Mikki is shocked to see her, yet her fiance Jack just seems to accept this visitor and even invites her along on a trip that they've planned. Despite having her doubts, Kenna knows that this is probably the only way that she can get Mikki to see sense, and joins them on the trip to Sorrow Bay. 

Sorrow Bay is isolated, hidden and a well kept secrets. The waves are huge, it is a surfer's paradise and only Mikki, Jack and the few other people who are at the camp know anything about it, it is their aim to ensure that it stays that way. There's a lot of hostility shown by the other members when Kenna arrives. This is an eclectic bunch of people who are bonded by surfing but clearly have a lot to hide from the outside world. 

Told in short, snappy characters, mainly from Kenna, but interspersed with points of view from the other camp mates, the story hurtles along speedily. Reynolds has created a mystery here that centres on the characters, each and every one of them are complex and damaged. These flaws begin to show as the story progresses and when Kenna realises that nobody ever leaves Sorrow Bay she becomes more concerned about what is in stores. 

A high octane thriller, in an extraordinary setting that is described really well. Packed with a bunch of characters who never really show how they are and ending with a smack in the face that took me completely by surprise. A definite summer read pick. 

British-born Allie Reynolds is a former freestyle snowboarder. 

Twenty years ago she swapped her snowboard for a surfboard - water doesn’t hurt as much when you fall on it - and moved to Gold Coast, Australia. 

Her short fiction has been published in women’s magazines in the UK and worldwide. 

Her debut SHIVER has been translated into 23 languages, with TV rights snapped up by the commissioners of Bodyguard, Luther and The Cry . 

THE BAY is her second novel. 

For book updates, follow Allie on Twitter @AuthorAllieR and Instagram @authorallier