The Shell Collector was a light read about relationships between a variety of characters. The book was classified as a romance but it was also light on the romance that did not start until halfway through the book. Most of the story was focused on the relationship between Amanda, a young widowed mom, and Maeve, a widowed senior lady that never had kids. An amazing connection grew between the two women while each learned how to see the world with a new point of view.
The story felt slow to me. There was never any confrontation between any of the characters. It appeared that nothing negative happened in this beach town. Even the children were unrealistic. The 6 year old sister and 4 year old brother never fought with each other, self-corrected when they weren't quite perfect, and the mom, Amanda, never got frustrated or angry with them.
Even with the negatives the Shell Collector was an easy, cleanly written read with some emotional, even tear creating, along with happy scenes.
One note I would like to add that should have been included in the book's synopsis is that there is a fairly big religious reference throughout the story. Not a favourite of mine and probably would not have read it if I had known this. I later learned that the publisher focuses on this genre.

Thanks to Waterbrook and Multnomah and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.