CLICK TO PURCHASE
Beach House Series, Book 6
From the publisher:
The New York Times bestselling author of The Summer Guests returns at long last to her beloved Beach House series in this breathtaking novel about one family’s summer of forging new beginnings against the enduring beauty and resilience of the natural world.
It’s been sixteen years since Caretta “Cara” Rutledge has returned home to the beautiful shores of Charleston, South Carolina. Over those years, she has weathered the tides of deaths and births, struggles and joys. And now, as Cara prepares for her second wedding, her life is about to change yet again.
Meanwhile, the rest of the storied Rutledge family is also in flux. Cara’s niece Linnea returns to Sullivan’s Island to begin a new career and an unexpected relationship. Linnea’s parents, having survived bankruptcy, pin their hopes and futures on the construction of a new home on Ocean Boulevard. But as excitement over the house and wedding builds, a devastating illness strikes the family and brings plans to a screeching halt. It is under these trying circumstances that the Rutledge family must come together yet again to discover the enduring strength in love, tradition, and legacy from mother to daughter to granddaughter.
Like the sea turtles that come ashore annually on these windswept islands, three generations of the Rutledge family experience a season of return, rebirth, and growth. “Authentic, generous, and heartfelt” (Mary Kay Andrews, New York Times bestselling author), On Ocean Boulevard is Mary Alice Monroe at her very best.
It’s been a couple of years since the last entry (Beach House Reunion) into the Beach House series, but Monroe includes enough information to bring new readers up to date without alienating the series’ fans. The story involves the Rutledge family, as usual, but this time centers around Linnea as she returns home to the South Carolina barrier islands without her boyfriend or a job. Her parents are starting over on Sullivan’s Island in their small beach house, struggling to get out from under a bankruptcy and hoping her father remains sober. Her Aunt Cara is having trouble juggling her full-time job, her young child, and planning her wedding, so she’s happy to offer Linnea an internship at the aquarium. Linnea also gets involved with the turtle ladies and a good-looking visiting professor from England. A worsening case of dementia, microplastics in the ocean and, of course, the turtles add a serious note to this charming Lowcountry novel.
Verdict: This is an excellent addition to a popular series by a bestselling author. Mary Kay Andrews and Dorothea Benton Frank readers should feel at home here as well.
©Library Journal, 2020
5/2020 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
ON OCEAN BOULEVARD by Mary Alice Monroe. Gallery Books (May 19, 2020). ISBN 978-1982146948. 384p.
Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™ 