For me, characters carry a book. If I don’t care about the characters or find them impossible to believe, I can’t read more than a few chapters. Hampton’s characters pulled me in; hook, line, and sinker. And there was even a beautiful pace in which each new character came along and the narrative followed them a bit.
Sam Barnes is a beatdown man who just bums around the beach. He works the odd job so he can eat canned soup in his tin can of a trailer home. Locals know who he is, but nobody really knows him. In retrospect, Sam asking a man who is staring out at the water what he sees is a bit out of character. But it’s this interaction that changes everyone’s lives.
When Hampton follows a character, he seems to write in their voice yet maintains that third person perspective. The tone shifts are truly remarkable. When we’re with Sam, sentences are short and details are sparse. Shelly’s first chapter is descriptive and the language flows. Dave’s chapter talks about the present but constantly circles back to Debby, his wife who passed away a year prior. When Sam collides with Dave, which rolls them toward Shelly, everything is set into motion. As the book progresses, it feels like a single voice has taken over the narrative; either Hampton’s alone, or all of the characters as a collective.
I found it sad that Sam was sort of a wake up call for Shelly and Dave. Neither of them wanted to end up like him, destitute and miserable, so they made big decisions to leave their old lives behind to find new ones. But happily, they wanted to share their new lives with this man who was so much more than he seemed. “He dreamed of being a king but he’d always just been a jester.” (p. 4) was a line that grabbed me.
It was amazing to watch such strong characters with fierce opinions and habits to come together and achieve a common goal. Who could foresee that this strength and ferocity would transform into loyalty, trust, friendship, and love? And I think one of the big lessons of the book is that you have to forgive yourself once you’ve already been forgiven by others. Other gems I have taken away are the importance of living your best life, handling business matters with integrity and respect, and marching to the beat of your own drum.
My only critique is that I wish Hampton didn’t spell out situations so explicitly at times. He literally tells us about a jealousy that’s not romance based- it’s pretty obvious. When there is some friction between two of the main characters, he tells us why they’re acting cold to each other when we could already glean that from the previous scene.
I highly recommend this book to people who love a good redemption or personal transformation story. I am glad to hear that there will be an Aransas Evening coming soon. I look forward to reading it.
Review by Momma on the Rocks
I haven’t yet had the chance to visit the Port Aransas area of Texas (yet), but from author Jeff Hampton’s descriptions, it has the same sleepy feel of other touristy beach locations I am familiar with, rife with locals that my dad would describe as “characters”. Aransas Morning is a wonderful character study with enough well-developed action to drive the plot forward and create some excellent tension.
The pace of the book is slow and easy, and I slipped into its rhythm like the ebb and flow of the water lapping against the shoreline. I was quickly drawn into the story of each of the characters; Hampton does a lovely job of bringing them to life and giving them a depth I wasn’t expecting. Each is a bit flawed and real and likable. The men in the book are each running away from their past in one way or another. Sam was the most fascinating to me, having completely thrown aside his old life – and lifestyle – and seemingly taken himself in a completely different direction. I think at one point in time we’ve all been frustrated or devastated or heartbroken and wanted to chuck everything and run away, and the depiction of Sam’s life when he’s done just that is both honest and sad. However, as this group of five people come together, they slowly become like family, and each regains their purpose, their reason for being, and a few find self-forgiveness. Giving a little of themselves let them regain what they were missing, and that is a wonderful, quiet message in itself. I enjoyed watching each character rediscover themselves in some way, stepping well outside their comfort zones at times.
Aransas Morning is a lovely story about community, and how family isn’t always the one you are born into. In fact, sometimes the least likely people end up being the ones who mean the most to us, in all their messy, infuriating, complicated selves.
I was sad to see this book end, as I wanted to know what happened next in the lives of these people I had become so invested in. While this book worked wonderfully as a stand alone, I was tickled to learn that a sequel will be following, so I don’t quite have to let go of all these wonderful characters.
Review by The Clueless Gent
Aransas Morning will sneak up on you when you least expect it, lasso your heart, and then tug at it throughout the story! Reader beware!
When the story opens, we are taken to Mustang Island, just south of Port Aransas, Texas, and we meet Sam. Unsure how likable he would be, I immediately pictured him as a not-so-young beach bum – a drifter. The author really doesn’t give us a lot to go on. There’s no action, no conflict, no drama. But that’s because it’s only the calm before the storm.
We are introduced to a few more characters, and then we become privy to the backstories. Now things are starting to make more sense. By the time the author throws in some conflict, you are utterly hooked! You can’t get away!
The structure of Aransas Morning is very much like a hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico. At first, there’s no indication of anything bad on the horizon. A few dark clouds start to appear, but you keep reading. By the time the literary storm arrives, it’s too late to evacuate. You have to keep reading and see the conflict through. There is resolution, and the drama seems to disappear. Don’t be fooled like I was; you’re only in the eye of the storm. And remember, the backside of a hurricane is more severe than the front!
The Setting – Mustang Island
I’d be remiss if I didn’t go deeper into the setting. If you ever went with your family to a beach when you were a kid, this story will bring a wisp of nostalgia. It’s all there: the sand, the surf, the small beach town with weathered buildings. If you want to take that a step further, try listening to sounds of waves breaking on the beach as you read the story. You can almost feel the sand between your toes!
There are so many sensory treats that go along with a beach town setting, and the author did a fabulous job of filling the story with them. From the salty air and sandy breezes to the horns of passing ships, your imagination is in for a real treat.
The Characters of Aransas Morning
My only gripe with this story is the characters. Maybe they seem too real. They are all delightfully flawed, so when a character does something that I didn’t think he or she would do, I felt a little offended. As a simile, how would you feel if Superman saved someone from a burning building, and then robbed them? It would be completely out of character, am I right? It’s that kind of thing I’m talking about. There were at least two times I can think of where a character did something that was out of character. Maybe I only feel this way because I can connect with the characters so vividly.
All the characters come with their own unique backstories, so any semblance of stereotype is eventually contradicted. And they all mesh together so well! This story is a perfect example of how a group of strangers can become like a family.
Technically Speaking
The character arcs are very good. Aside from my earlier comment about characters being out of character, the author did a fantastic job of making the characters seem genuine. This may seem a little contradictory, but if you read the story, you’ll understand. If you step on a sharp rock when walking on an otherwise smooth beach, it may sting a little, but you keep walking. It’s like that.
There were no SPAG (spelling and grammar) issues to speak of, and the pacing was pretty near perfect. This was one of the few stories I’ve read that had a slow and unremarkable beginning, but then evolved into something I just couldn’t put down. I read the last third of the book in a single sitting because I didn’t want to wait to see how something turned out!
Do I recommend Aransas Morning? If you enjoy a story with great characters, this one is for you. It’s a very easy read.
Will I read the sequel when it comes out? You bet!
Review by Tangled in Text
A few of the conversations and interactions between the characters were a bit awkward and dry, but I think that had to do with the characters’ personal peculiarities. This story had a group of shy, recluse, broken people coming together and relearning how to interact with others again. The characters’ backstories were incredible and clever. They meshed together beautifully and each story complemented the others.
I personally think it should have been titled, Dream Bean, because it seemed to be centered around that little coffee shop and joining forces to fight for its survival.
Watching these unlikely friends join together and grow to depend on one another as they slowly lift each other’s spirits while improving their own confidence and fight for life was inspirational and uplifting.
Aransas Morning is the story of how a group of strangers came together to be a family in the most unusual way. When Sam’s high class lifestyle in Dallas comes to an abrupt end, he finds himself in Port Aransas with nothing left of his former life and living as a beach bum. It’s there he meets Dave, a young widower; Shelly, owner of Dream Bean coffee shop; Bo, a shrimper with secrets of his own; and Bo’s young daughter, Allie.
As you start to read this book, you think to yourself, “where is this book going?” It starts slowly and then there comes this pivotal moment that everything changes within the story, and you start to realize what’s really going on that made Sam the way he was. There is also a moment in this book that will make your heart sink for what is going on and what will happen, but you just have to read it to figure out what part I’m talking about! I also have you warn you: it will make you want to visit Port Aransas just to see how this author made this story seem so real!!
Overall, this was an enjoyable read that shows that family isn’t just blood, it’s the people that will do anything for you in your time of need. It will be interesting to see what the second book in this series will bring to the table and what will happen next for everyone in the story.
Thank you to Jeff Hampton for writing a good book that will make anyone want to pick up the second book in this series when it comes out later in 2018!
I’ve lived in Texas for almost fourteen years, but I’ve never been to the Gulf Coast, and my first thought when reading Aransas Morning was, “I have to correct that error.”
My second thought was that beach towns are essentially the same whether they’re in New Jersey, California, Mexico, or, apparently, Texas, and as a long-time visitor and some-time resident of such towns, I really loved how well the author, Jeff Hampton, captured the laid-back vibe so inherent to such places. There’s just something about living so close to sun, sand, and surf that changes your internal rhythms, and even I, a life-long night owl, find myself up at sunrise whenever I’m at the beach.
Aside from immediately putting the reader in that beachy state of mind, Hampton tells a compelling story. There’s nothing flashy in his writing – the language is pretty simple, and the characters are the kinds of ordinary people we interact with every day – and yet there’s something about Sam, Dave, Bo, Shelly, and Allie that makes you want to keep reading.
From the first chapter, I was rooting for every character. I particularly loved that grizzled fisherman Bo had that softer side, that twinkle in his eye. Gruff characters run the risk of being stereotypes, but Hampton gave this gruff character just enough depth that he became supremely real.
In fact, that’s true of all of the characters in this novel. Each is flawed; none are villains. They’re a collection of people who are each on their own journey, and any one of them is interesting enough to follow, but Hampton has woven them together into a tapestry of growth and change, new relationships, and old dreams, and created something truly special.
Isak Dineson once wrote, “The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea.” In Aransas Morning, Jeff Hampton has illustrated that with grace, elegance, and excellent coffee.
Goes well with: Fresh-caught fish, grilled on an open fire, served with a simple salad and cold beer.