The Books

I’m the first one to admit it–the beach is not sexy. Sand grains end up everywhere. Wet swimsuits and tiny towels create numerous complications. Exfoliation is inevitable. In all the wrong places. But none of it ever stopped me from falling in love with the geographic wonder known as the coast. Hi, I’m Jenn Shon, and I’ve had an over fifty-year love-affair with the beach. It’s been the setting of so many big moments, I knew those stories deserved a spotlight.

This book takes you on a tour of my life’s ridiculousness at some of my favorite beaches from New England to Florida, Ireland to St Lucia, and of course California. The stories are real, honest, creatively spun, and span two continents, a minimum of four countries, and more sketchy motel rooms than I’d like to admit. Between almost dying in the Atlantic Ocean to crying over the destruction of a smokestack, traveling with illicit substances to seeing my backlit salvation out an airplane window, this book has everything you need for a great beach read.

But I implore you, when life hands you sand try not to get any down your pants.

Author Jenn Shon, also Jenn Flynn-Shon, trained for this moment for thirty-nine years. When Shon penned her first journal entry at age eleven, that’s all it took to launch a near four-decade love/hate affair with documenting the highs and lows of her life. Today, her stories are polished and approved to nestle into this, her first collection of essays. Biting wit, love for irony, and a dash of self-depreciation characterize Shon’s voice both on and off the page. The twenty-eight stories in this book traverse the Northeast United States, tropical destinations in and outside the country, Europe, California and beyond. Just don’t get her started on why Plymouth, MA is not the Cape unless you have a spare hour to waste.

Dubbed, “a book you can’t put down except to clean up from your spit-take” (by Shon) we can’t wait for you to read it.