Body Surfing - Anita Shreve

I consider Anita Shreve to be comfort reading. After exploring different types of literature - with some success, but definitely some failures - it's nice to know there are authors I can go back to that are predictable. Shreve's books, for me, are always enjoyable and usually feature a main female character that I can relate to on some level. Her latest novel, Body Surfing, features Sydney, who at the age of 29 is already once-divorced and once-widowed. Unsure about her future, she decides to spend her summer at a beach house tutoring the 18-year old daughter of a wealthy couple. The house was once owned by the widow in Shreve's earlier novel, The Pilot's Wife. The family's two older sons show up and the competition over Sydney begins (without any apparent explanation). Eventually, Sydney falls for one of them, causing a rift between the brothers. While the book features a couple signature Shreve twists that I looked forward to, it seemed like there was too much going on in terms of the characters' interactions with each other - but without much explanation of backstory. The mother of the children dislikes Sydney, but it's not entirely clear why. The daughter is slow, but suddenly develops artistic talent as well as a romantic relationship, seemingly out of nowhere. Sydney references her prior husbands often, but I didn't feel as if the emotion she claimed to feel had much bearing on her actions or reactions to situations. This is not one of Shreve's better novels, but for those who appreciate her style, it's good relaxing on the porch kind of reading.