Bulls Island Reviews

• Secrets and Lies...

  
  By A3BFDEBT5IV4UN on 2008-04-08
  I'm not a 'professional reviewer', I'm just a very avid reader, so please keep this in mind when you read this review.
  
  A very brief summary of this book - The main characters of this book are "Betts" McGee and J D Langley who, when we meet them 19 years ago are very young and very much in love. Through a tragic event on the day they become engaged, they seperate, Betts leaves North Carolina and breaks off from her family and JD. Moving forward 19 years and the true story starts.
  This book is filled with a variety of emotional upheavals - I laughed through many chapters and cried through the same number, but the one thing you can't get around is everyone in this novel carries some kind of secret. Secrets and lies - this is the glue that seems to hold these two families together for bettter or worse. Ms. Franks writes with a vividness and Southern style that makes you want to be sitting on your front porch sippin' at a Mint Julep while you watch the 'gators slowly swim by in the murky river.
  
  JD and Betts are thrown together again after 19 years when Betts, now a high-powered New Yorker, whose job it is to evaluate and restructure distressed properties for her company, finds herself forced to work on a project back home in North Carolina with Langley Developement , AND J D Langley on the Bulls Island project. Secrets and lies, and Betts seems to be hiding the bigggest secret and telling the largest lies.
  
  I was more than half-way through this book, before Ms Frank started to make me worry that the secrets will remain untold and the lies would remain un-apologized for...more chapters went by and I started to gnaw at my finger-nails thinking she could never pull this off. Just when i thought I couldn't stand another moment of suspence it happened...Betts secret is out. I read the last chapters with much skepticism thinking that the ending was just too pat, too easy...too false. But thank God for the epilogue. It sealed the deal in making this a perfect beach -read and for making me go to the bookstore to pick up all Ms.
  Franks books to add to my collection.
  
  On a side note - In the first quarter of the book, Betts does have a bit of a fling with someone so totally out of her comfort zone, that I had to wonder why Ms. Franks bothered. But, the pieces seem to fall together in the last chapters and I see why she had Betts do
  something so out of character!
  
  I also wanted to let you know that I was so impressed and amused and happy with this book, that I immediately went out and bought 3 more by this author.
  
  

• The Case of the Incomplete Heroine

  
  By A3BIWTN2DA0YY2 on 2008-05-03
  Just when you thought you couldn't go another minute without a Dot Frank novel, she gifts her readers with the perfect beach book. The charm of the Carolina low country is facing a crisis, and our native-born heroine, now residing in New York City, returns home to deal with the new venture, estranged family, and the former fiancé she never forgot.
  
  Betts McGee hasn't been home in twenty years. A tragic event and a dark secret sent her away, but when her successful career sets her on the path home, Betts must face a past she not only longs for but also fears to face.
  
  Told in the intimate first-person style by Betts and occasionally by former fiancé J.D. Langley, the story moves toward the expected conclusion with a few tiny twists along the way. The problem is that Betts is not an entirely sympathetic character mainly because we see her as a highly successful career woman dining at New York's finest (Per Se, Grammercy Tavern, etc.) and living in a posh condo with numerous amenities. We don't see but rather hear in retrospect, the way those lost twenty years played out, the struggles she must have had and the torments that must have plagued her guilty conscience. So, Betts is not an easy person to sympathize with, though I'm sure a fuller picture of her would have corrected this if only the author had given us a more intimate look at her immediately after the events that threw her world into chaos. By skipping ahead twenty years, we get a successful woman who once upon a time had a problem. Of course, the "problem" reappears and must be dealt with. Again, Betts gets off rather lightly and the negative feelings towards her are pretty much skipped over until all is calm and she is reassured she is forgiven for her youthful errors in judgement.
  
  That aside, the book is still well worth reading, as are all books by Dot Frank. However, I guess I was expecting a more tear-jerking saga about this particular problem that has been the source of so many heart-wrenching movies from the 40's and 50's. Dot Frank chose to keep it light and not make you cry in your pina colada while chilling on the beach....and maybe she had the right idea.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Lowcountry Flop

  
  By ADTFRBMQT8CN4 on 2008-04-23
  I live in the South Carolina Lowcountry and close to Charleston. Mrs. Frank's last book is totally devoid of "local color". Her characters are weak and underdeveloped and the story line is too. Lowcountry novels are appealing if they are informative to the public and true to the natives. To put it simply, its another "method novel" that we see all too frequently these days.
  Unfortunately, Mrs. Frank appears to be in a downward spiral since her first novel and the boring chic southern chat is drab and redundant.
  
  

• Where is the local color?

  
  By A1XMX3IDXZ289T on 2008-04-15
  This book is about an island that is truly a national as well as a state treasure. It seems a travesty to even write a fictional account about destroying it. This author does know first hand the Charleston area but fails to demonstrate that in this book. This bok is not worthy of the author of Plantation which was wonderful and I hope it is made into a beautiful full lenghth movie.
  
  

• A Big Disappointment!

  
  By ARRNNABPRVCC2 on 2008-04-20
  Evidently Dorothea Frank has decided that any book she writes is most likely going to sell well anyway so why bother with character development or any of the bothersome things that are necessary to make a good read. She mentions in all of her books that she is friends with Pat Conroy (one of the most wonderful writers that has ever lived), but unfortunately name dropping does not a writer make. The most glaring fault in this book is having an intelligent, successful, devoted mother participate in a series of one night stands with a thick-as-a-plank gigolo that she suspects is connected with the Mafia. Mrs. Frank evidently wants everyone to know that even though she was born and raised in the south, she is now a sophisticated New Yorker. Maybe if I had gotten this book from the library I would not be so upset, but I actually paid money for this book!
  
  
• Characters don't ring true
  By A2LXRVKTH5IT4I on 2008-04-20
  With a great plot one would expect the author to conjure up characters the reader might care about. Sadly, this "lowcountry" novel falls way short of the Pat Conroy tradition.
  
  Perhaps it is the protagonist's voice that doesn't ring true or maybe it is the bizarre phonetic southern drawl pasted on some of the characters, but this really isn't a very good book.
  
  
• Dreadful
  By A2PLMZ93ZLFMFA on 2008-06-20
  I'm so glad I didn't buy this book. I have really enjoyed DFB's books in the past. Betts is the snarky main character and throughly dislikable. Maybe every author only has X number of books to write. This was a huge disappointment.
  
  
• Mindless read
  By A2F4KAV3SVQ9AR on 2008-06-19
  Kinda mindless. Just something to read on a beach or if you don't have anything else to read or do......
  
  
• Disappointed in this book!
  By A1LE9TML9W99PN on 2008-05-19
  I must say that DBF is one of my all time favorite authors but this book lacks the luster she usually writes about. A story about another woman, but this was dull, boring, predictable. I was very disappointed and felt like I had to finish the book as I had just bought it.
  
  DBF......give us a better one next time. Take the time to develop the characters.
  
  
• Completely disappointing from this Author
  By AJZ2JLXTA5YFQ on 2008-06-07
  I've read and enjoyed several other books by DBF. So I was looking forward to reading this and was so disappointed. it's totally poorly written and just a total phone in on the part of this author. thumbs down.
  
  
• Quick Beach Read
  By A1BI8PUEHA5CHW on 2008-06-16
  Like a lot of the reviewers in here, I just love DBF's earlier books, Sullivan's Island and Plantation. I love reading about the Deep South, probably because I've only visited that area a few times in my life and it is different from the northwest corner of Ohio, where I live. I have read others of her books and it was with great eagerness that I requested this book from the library.
  
  Somehow, it's not the same as her others. It feels shallower and has less character development and depth. It is a very fast-paced book but I didn't feel drawn to the love story of JD Langley and Betts McGee. The really annoying sister? Not all that annoying (believe me, the Southerners do not have the only grip on weird family tales). The mother-in-law from heck? Well, she really isn't all that fierce. I think what really annoys me is the lack of spine that every single one of the characters in this book has. The only real characters that I really enjoyed are Adrian, Betts' son and Sandi, Betts' assistant.
  
  This story focuses on Betts who ran away from Charleston, SC, to NYC after her mother's death, leaving behind JD with a broken heart. After twenty years, Betts is called back to the south because of her company who is investing in real estate on Bulls Island, with JD's family company. Dreading the return to the south, Betts cover up her broken heart with a sarcastic sense of humor. Betts also returned home with a deep secret that is bound to be found out, just not in ways that she expected. When she sees JD again, their chemistry sizzles and flares up again, and they realize that their love for one another is as strong as it was two decades ago.
  
  I am a bit disappointed because I have come to expect more from her writings. However, since it kept my attention throughout this busy weekend, it isn't all that bad. She can still tell a story. Not every story has to be as stellar as her first ones, and she is still one of my favorite authors. In fact, her book, The Land of the Mango Sunsets, is on my short tbr list. Just because I didn't care for this book as much as I enjoyed her others, it doesn't mean that someone else wouldn't enjoy it. However, if you're really interested in reading what she can write, please, I encourage you to read Sullivan's Island and Plantation. Those two books are on my bookcases permentantly. I will always love her for those two!
  
  This novel is great for that dreary plane flight or for a quick read while lounging at the pool. I can guarantee that it is a fast read.
  
  6/15/08
  
  
• Not so much
  By A3TG9SZRDTAWL5 on 2008-06-25
  I waited a long time for this book, and I am so sorry to say that it just wasn't that great for me. I wanted it to be a wonderful read like all of her other books, but I just couldn't get into it. It was just a very simple read, and I didn't feel the chemistry like I wanted to w/ the characters. I am not going to give up on her, so once again,,, I will wait for her next book, and run out the first day of release and purchase a copy, only this time,, I hope I can give it a better rating/review.
  
  
• engaging contemporary family drama
  By AFVQZQ8PW0L on 2008-04-13
  Two decades ago in the Carolinas, Betts McGee and J.D. Langley met and fell in love. However, she has working class genes while his blood is aristocratic. Still they seemed to have overcome their class differences when they became engaged. However, that same night her mom dies in a car accident while his mom Charleston sophisticate Louisa rants about dumbing down the blue blooded DNA. Unable to cope with her future mother-in-law from hell while grieving, Betts leaves her family, J.D. and the Carolinas behind to start fresh in Manhattan. No one back home knows she left pregnant and raised a son Adrian by herself while doing quite well with depressed real estate.
  
  However, her current assignment is in the Charleston area where she will work a land deal with unhappily married to Valerie local J.D. She would prefer to be prisoner of terrorists or the CIA, but Betts heads home to work the BULLS ISLAND deal with his firm Langley development. As she realizes she never stopped loving J.D., she continues to conceal the lie of omission from him, her family, and Adrian while J.D. knows he is married to the wrong woman.
  
  Although the audience knows what to expect, Dorothea Benton Frank provides an engaging contemporary family drama that showcases the author's skill as throughout readers will have doubts about the anticipated outcome. The cast is solid with the story line mostly told from the viewpoint of the lead female. Readers will enjoy this fine romance as everyone will wonder whether Betts is willing to take a second chance at love while eluding gatorzilla.
  
  Harriet Klausner
  
  
  
• Disappointed!
  By A184TDDL80MEW1 on 2008-04-26
  Not Dorothea Benton Frank's best work. She is such a great writer and unfortunately this book did not have the charm most of her books have.
  
  
• Same old thing
  By A1NKXEHB7UI6DR on 2008-05-28
  I don't think I'll read another one of her books. There's only so much unreal life I can stand. Everyone ends up happy no one's hurt, all ill feelings gone. Enough of this type of book. No more for me. Give me real life any day.
  
  
• Easy Breezy Read
  By ADAVU93Q3KNDK on 2008-05-28
  Wile the author is near and dear to my heart, I must say that as her daughter I would be the first person to be critical of her work. I am an avid reader myself and absolutely devour her books. "Bulls Island" was the easiest read yet. Yes, at times I found that I could see what was coming but I find that happy endings are what I really want anyway. DBF's books are full of life and her characters are written so vividly, that they could be sitting right next to you on your front porch, gossiping and swigging some sweet tea. I was pleasantly surprised to have DBF write about liars. Usually her books are about good people who have bad things happen to them, where I guess is also the case in Bulls, but in this book the characters know that they are doing bad things and making less than wise decisions. What a challenge to write the protagonist as a liar. It would be hard to gain the readers love for the heroin, if we saw major flaws. If it were not written so well, we would look at her and hate her for keeping her child in the dark about not knowing who his father is. It might seem that the plot is "unrealistic" (like SOME of the reviewers have said) but people really do hold onto dark secrets for years and years, one-night stands do happen, and I think everyone has known a mother in law to be less than motherly. Some of the reviews on this web page call her characters lacking of flavor of the south, where I find the character of the mother to be an EXACT description of southern women... err SOME southern women. The character JD is very much a southern gentleman. Right down to the description of his clothing.
  When you read this book you have to remember that the main character has been living in New York City, which changes you. Plain and simple. The character of the boss I found that wile being a secondary character was very developed. The scene where she confesses her story to him, and he grants her forgiveness is great! I like that everything works out in the end. I like that DBF gives the reader something to think about, people to love and then happy endings.
  And I'd just like to say this because I can't help myself,
  enough with the digs at her friendship with Pat. Yes they are friends. She mentions him because it is a joke between them. Clearly. She is not trying to rub that in anyone's face, it is something done to make each other laugh. Yes, she lives in the NYC area now and she adores it. She wishes she could move to Sullivan's Island everyday... but she in NO way feels that living in NYC is something that makes her more important than anyone else.
  If you did not enjoy Bulls, that's ok. I'm her kid and I didn't like Full of Grace... you are allowed to not like a book. You are even allowed to write a less than flattering review. That's the beauty of America, but it is not ok to rip apart an author as a person. You don't know them personally. You do not know how hard it is to write a book and make people love it. DBF has 9... yeah 9 best selling novels. So that can speak for itself. When you sit down to write a review that might not be a 5 star one.... please think about what you are saying... and if you can't say anything nice.... I'd like to think the readers of my mother's books have evolved past the 3rd grade.
  But back to the book for a sec,
  I thought it was awesome. Mango also blew me away. I was on the airplane reading it and crying like a baby. She is such a wonderful writer. I can't wait for Sullivan's Island 2... for all you nice reviewers out there... I'll tell her to type faster.
  Go BUY her books... support her children in college. ;)
  
  
• Betts, the rich tramp...
  By ADF1AQLNIZK5L on 2008-06-18
  As always, I continue to be Dottie's fan & wait for her next book as a child might wait for Christmas. Bulls Island is a decent read. I appreciated how the author spun ecology into some of the chapters. But... I could never get sympathetic with the main character, Betts McGee. I guess being from the South, it is hard for me to understand how true Southern women pick up a strange man at a bar for sport (exactly!). To make matters worse, Betts always had everything her self-righteous heart desired in the way of designer this & that. My impression of Betts? Snob Slut. The story was a bit too simple: it didn't take many pages to guess the father of her son. However, I wait for the next book... hopefully it will have more Southern flavor.
  
  
• Make your wife happy
  By A4AYSODXCSXJ on 2008-07-14
  My wife love every book by Dorothea Benton Frank. It makes her happy, which is good for me.
  
  
• Wonderful, Wonderful, Wonderful!
  By A18M68DE1Y6W51 on 2008-05-23
  OK I'm an unabashed Dorothea Benton Frank devotee, but I LOVED this book. I love ALL her books, but I picked this up at a very low time in my life and found myself smiling and sighing with contentment throughout--and that takes a lot. It's just simply fun.
  
  Could the plot ever happen? Probably not. Would all the t's be crossed and the i's dotted by the end in a way that is just perfect? Uh uh. So what. You want reality? Get a heavy tome by Joyce Carol Oates (with no offense meant to her) and dive in. Get well and truly depressed. You want entertainment, human kindness, lovely people, a fun story? This is your book.
  
  I won't belabor the plot, as it's similar in many ways to Frank's other works. High-powered Manhattan single mom returns to South Carolina homeland after 20 years away, bearing many secrets. Secrets that can tear other lives apart. Especially for the only love of her life, J.D. Langley, whom she fled all those years ago--and whom she now has to have as her business partner on a huge development project.
  
  That project, developing Bulls Island, is handled with sensitivity and grace and a great deal of environmental information. Would that REAL developers had such "green protection" in their plans.
  
  Be that as it may, this is simply a terrific read, entertaining, fast-paced, can't-put-it-down old-fashioned pleasure.
  
  
• Bull'seye for Bull's Island
  By A22OG0EX62IBMX on 2008-07-13
  Betts McGee is a successful career woman, working for Triangle Equity in New York City and she and her son Adrian are celebrating his getting into Columbia Uni, when she is instructed to fly to Charleston to settle the firm's claim on some environmentally sensitive land scheduled for a Trump-type housing/sports complex. In addition she has just met Vinny Braggadocio, who comes over as extremely mafioso! How will she face her old flame J. D. Langley who is also interested in the property? However, J. D. has a problematical marriage to deal with as well as alligators and valuable swampland.
  
  I love Dorothea B. F's zestful style, just the book for a desert island - no-one could be miserable after a chapter of Dorothea's work. Her love of the South Carolinan islands and her fascination with character enthrals as ever. Evil is always overcome and right living maintained and there's always a pressing topic binding the plot. I'm sure Dorothea's books are based on her own experiences: the city girl returns to the crumbling dynasty's home, there's always a forbidding matriarch at the back of the family and a kindly, grandfatherly gentleman too weak to put the matriarch in perspective. Then there's a rival woman and a very dear woman-friend and often unthinking youngsters with potential for ultimate good plus an overhanging threat such as commercial greed or pollution or such, all ingredients of a good read by a natural storyteller.
  
  
• Bulls Island
  By A3EFBSS9YH9H4N on 2008-07-30
  This book was fantastic.I enjoy her work a lot. Since I am a Southern woman, I can relate to her subjects. I lent the book to a friend, now she wants to read more of Frank's books.
  
  
• Great Read
  By A3VQOGRBPP7BV6 on 2008-07-30
  I really enjoyed this book. I'm from Charleston, SC and always feel such kinship with all the female characters from DBK books. She does such a wonderful job of describing the Charleston scenery and the details that she provides are so accurate. I wish I could write that way. I read this book in about two days and couldn't put it down. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for great summer read.
  
  
• Easy read
  By A1NF0J53U6HEDP on 2008-08-08
  I read this book for a book club I belong to. It was refreshingly easy to read and a book that I didn't want to put down.
  
  
  
• Bulls Island
  By A2PBT9LPE93V5 on 2008-08-13
  I have read all of Dorothea Benton Frank's novels. I am a fan because she always accurately includes the history and local color of the Low Country. While this was not my favorite, I enjoyed reading it while vacationing on Isle of Palms.
  
  
• Not the best book by this author
  By A37U2BK4P4RJ3H on 2008-09-03
  I was very excited to get this book when it came out since I am a big fan of Dot Benton Frank's work. While this story does invoke the beautiful images of South Carolina coastal life - the charm of many of Dot's other books is missing. I could not wrap myself around much of the reasons behind the plot of the young southern girl fleeing her home town and everyone she loved. It seemed rather two dimensional to me. It also seemed far fetched that the secret she left town with would not have been revealed to her loved ones much sooner. I didn't relate to this character or cheer her on or feel particularly sorry for her either. This is a very different reaction I had from my sentiments towards most of Dot's other main characters. I do look forward to reading more of Dot's books but I hope that the plots don't seem as forced as this one did to me.
  
  
• a delight!
  By A2ASCIJSU05ETJ on 2008-04-13
  A delight from beginning to end. Loved reading a story that I could relate to. As a book seller, we get many review books. This story was fresh and original in the telling. Hope this author continues in her craft.
  
  
• Bulls Island
  By AH7Q8HDI0V6HM on 2008-04-19
  Bulls island is right up there with the rest of Mrs. Franks books in quality - excellent.
  
  I've only got one question about it. In the beginning Michael is a high school junior, appears to still be in high school 20 years later and at the very end of the book is voice is just beginning to change.
  
  Overlooking that however, the book is an excellent read and well worth the time. Bulls Island is truly a national treasure (have been there and seen it firsthand) and needs to be preserved as such. Building houses on it would be a sin.
  
  
• Great Read
  By A2I2FJZHFLR1N9 on 2008-04-21
  As always Dorothea Benton Frank has written a winner. She is one of my all time favorite writers and when one reads her, you become engrossed in the low country and island life. Her people are so real that one feels like they are old friends. Don't Miss!!
  
  
• Mesmerizing
  By A3212H6SF9W1LV on 2008-04-23
  
  
  One word to describe Bulls Island, by Dorothea Benton Frank- mesmerizing!
  New York Times bestselling author, Dorothea Benton Frank was born and raised on Sullivans Island, South Carolina. Today, her and her husband, Peter, divide their time between New York and Charleston. They have two children in college.
  A tale between two rivaling families- The Langley's, high and mighty, with more money than an army would know what to do with, have been feuding with the Barrett family since seemingly the dawn of time. As if right out of a Shakespearian play, J.D. Langley and Betts McGee fall in love, much to the dismay of their families. But after a tragic accident ends their engagement, Betts leaves Charleston and flees to New York to begin again; leaving behind her family, the love of her life, and her best friend. Twenty years later, Betts is preparing her son for college and has comfortably left her past behind her. That is, until her company, where she is a top investment bank executive, decides to take on the Bulls Island project. Forced back to the home she thought she would never see again, Betts comes face to face with everything and everyone she tried so very hard to forget. As if the project wasn't demanding enough, she has to encounter her erratic sister, her estranged father, J.D.'s psychotically cruel mother, and hold onto a secret that threatens to strip away all that she holds dear. Oh yeah, and attempt to not fall in love with J.D. all over again.
  Bulls Island is a power-packed thrill ride designed to tear apart every emotional strand and your being. Dorothea Benton Frank's clever and quirky dialog keep you engaged from cover to cover. It was immensely difficult to put down. Be prepared to get very little sleep until finished. The characters, even the secondary ones, were believable, endearing, and charming- down to every last flaw. The setting was phenomenal, making me miss my own family and comforts of my southern home. The plot flowed well and I couldn't find a dead spot to save my life. Between the action sequences, the heart-break, the confusion, the fury, and the laughter... well, needlessly stated, it was a great title from truly a gifted author. Dorothy Benton Frank leaves her readers contented, satisfied, and overwhelmingly pleased. I can hardly wait for the next one.
  
  Kelly Moran,
  Author and Reviewer
  
  
  
• Another A+ book from Dorothea Benton Frank
  By A3ORW8K85V50KF on 2008-04-24
  I am always on pins and needles waiting for the next book from Dorothea Benton Frank and again, this one was well worth the wait! The characters are charming and personify the Charleston that I know so well! This is a must have for your spring beach reading. People familiar with Charleston will identify with the characters-especially JD Langley and his persnickety mother Louisa. This book is ful of Southern "Charlestonian" Charm at its best!
  
  

• Off Season
• The Christmas Pearl
• The Land of Mango Sunsets
• Deep Dish
• The Beach House