Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™

CLICK TO PURCHASE

From the publisher:

New York Times bestselling author and Queen of the Beach Reads Mary Kay Andrews delivers her next blockbuster, Hello Summer.

It’s a new season…

Conley Hawkins left her family’s small town newspaper, The Silver Bay Beacon, in the rearview mirror years ago. Now a star reporter for a big-city paper, Conley is exactly where she wants to be and is about to take a fancy new position in Washington, D.C. Or so she thinks.

For small town scandals…

When the new job goes up in smoke, Conley finds herself right back where she started, working for her sister, who is trying to keep The Silver Bay Beacon afloat―and she doesn’t exactly have warm feelings for Conley. Soon she is given the unenviable task of overseeing the local gossip column, “Hello, Summer.”

And big-time secrets.

Then Conley witnesses an accident that ends in the death of a local congressman―a beloved war hero with a shady past. The more she digs into the story, the more dangerous it gets. As an old heartbreaker causes trouble and a new flame ignites, it soon looks like their sleepy beach town is the most scandalous hotspot of the summer.

Mary Kay Andrews has been my first “beach read” every summer for years now. I love her books, especially her writing style and her sense of humor. This book is more of a mystery and a family story, but it still has a touch of romance that I’ve come to expect. And yes, there is a happy ending, and best of all, I was thoroughly entertained.

I have been having a hard time reading since this pandemic has changed our world. I can’t concentrate as well as I normally do, and I find my mind wandering. I’m reading maybe 3-4 books a week instead of my usual 5-7, and I tend to put down a book fairly quickly if it is not holding my attention. I am happy to report that was not the case here. I would have read this in one night except I started it too late, so it was a two day read for me. I am working from home so I am still setting my alarm and rising early. So no reading late into the night for me!

As always, the characters are brought to life on the page, as is the setting. This time it is set on the Gulf Coast of Florida, in a small beach town. There may or may not be a Silver Bay (I didn’t look) but there are a number of small towns just like it. After an online publisher goes under just as Conley was supposed to start her new job there, she goes home to her family, where her grandmother orders her to go work for the family newspaper, at least until she finds another job. Unfortunately, Conley’s sister is the managing editor and she is quite resentful that Conley took off and left her chained to the family business. The town gossip is still writing a column for the paper called “Hello, Summer” and Conley is tasked with taking her ridiculous prose and turning it into something readable and accurately spelled.

An old friend of Conely’s is running his family business, a pharmacy, and taking care of his mother who is suffering from dementia. They hang out together, and slowly their relationship deepens, all against the backdrop of a suspicious car accident that took the life of the area’s favorite politician. There is intrigue and humor galore, making this a terrific escape. Another winner from one of my favorite authors (and favorite people!)

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

CLICK TO PURCHASE

From the publisher:

In Danielle Steel’s epic new novel, the lives of four generations of women in one family span fortune and loss, motherhood, tragedy and victories.
 
From the glamorous San Francisco social scene of the 1920s, through war and the social changes of the ’60s, to the rise of Silicon Valley today, this extraordinary novel takes us on a family odyssey that is both heartbreaking and inspiring, as each generation faces the challenges of their day.

The Parisian design houses in 1928, the crash of 1929, the losses of war, the drug culture of the 1960s—history holds many surprises, and lives are changed forever. For richer or for poorer, in cramped apartments and grand mansions, the treasured wedding dress made in Paris in 1928 follows each generation into their new lives, and represents different hopes for each of them, as they marry very different men.

From inherited fortunes at the outset to self-made men and women, the wedding dress remains a cherished constant for the women who wear it in each generation and forge a destiny of their own. It is a symbol of their remaining traditions and the bond of family they share in an ever-changing world.

Last week I had one of those tele-health appointments with my doctor. That’s where I’m at home in front of my bookcases (fiction section) and he’s at home or maybe at the office, I don’t know. We basically Facetimed and it was easy and worthwhile. But then he asked about my books. What were all those books behind me.

I explained that those were my fiction books, housed in my living room. Cookbooks have their own bookcase, as do nonfiction, in other areas of my home. Then he asked what authors were on the shelves. I named a few, Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Mary Kay Andrews, Adriana Trigiani, Barbara Kingsolver, Scott Turow. For the most part, the only books I keep anymore are the ones that have been signed by the author. Or that I love too much to part with. He then asked if I had any Danielle Steel. I do not.

Now, this particular doctor is a man, and he was in medical school when I started college so a few years older than I am. I would be pretty surprised if he reads Danielle Steel, but I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that his wife does. It started me thinking that I haven’t read her in a few years, and I happened to have this book on my Kindle, courtesy of the publisher. I read a few of her books when I was pregnant with my (now 35-year-old) son, and then I read a couple more a few years ago. I liked one of those and hated the other. But she is such a popular author I figured I’d give her another go with this new book.

I’m sorry I did. I went back and read my reviews of the books I read in 2017 and this book had the same exact problems.

I’m not sure why I finished it, other than I fell back on an old bad habit of reading to the end in hopes it would get better. It didn’t.

I was annoyed with myself for sticking with it and wasting two and a half hours of my life that I’ll never get back.

The characters never come to life. We don’t know them well enough to care about what happens. Even a character’s death didn’t faze me. And the dress? The wedding dress. Two of the family members wear it and that was lovely.

This book covers roughly four generations of a family and I really didn’t care about any of them. Another waste of time, and one that I’ll hopefully learn from. If you are a fan of her books, you will probably enjoy this one. I just think there are so many authors out there writing far better books. I’d be happy to recommend some.

5/2020 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

CLICK TO PURCHASE

From the publisher:

An accomplished storyteller returns with her biggest, boldest, most entertaining novel yet—a hilarious, heartfelt story about books, love, sisterhood, and the surprises we discover in our DNA that combines the wit of Jonathan Tropper with the heart of Susan Wiggs.

Maggie, Eliza, and Tricia Sweeney grew up as a happy threesome in the idyllic seaside town of Southport, Connecticut. But their mother’s death from cancer fifteen years ago tarnished their golden-hued memories, and the sisters drifted apart. Their one touchstone is their father, Bill Sweeney, an internationally famous literary lion and college professor universally adored by critics, publishers, and book lovers. When Bill dies unexpectedly one cool June night, his shell-shocked daughters return to their childhood home. They aren’t quite sure what the future holds without their larger-than-life father, but they do know how to throw an Irish wake to honor a man of his stature.

But as guests pay their respects and reminisce, one stranger, emboldened by whiskey, has crashed the party. It turns out that she too is a Sweeney sister.

When Washington, DC based journalist Serena Tucker had her DNA tested on a whim a few weeks earlier, she learned she had a 50% genetic match with a childhood neighbor—Maggie Sweeney of Southport, Connecticut. It seems Serena’s chilly WASP mother, Birdie, had a history with Bill Sweeney—one that has remained totally secret until now.

Once the shock wears off, questions abound. What does this mean for William’s literary legacy? Where is the unfinished memoir he’s stashed away, and what will it reveal? And how will a fourth Sweeney sister—a blond among redheads—fit into their story?

By turns revealing, insightful, and uproarious, The Sweeney Sisters is equal parts cautionary tale and celebration—a festive and heartfelt look at what truly makes a family.

The Sweeney sisters’ lives revolve around their father, William Sweeney, a much-heralded literary lion. When he suddenly passes away, the sisters gather at the old homestead. Liza, the eldest, lives nearby with her boring husband and runs a successful art gallery that showcases some of her middle sister, Maggie’s work. Maggie is a free spirit who has had trouble with adulting. The youngest Sweeney, Tricia, is a fiercely competitive New York City lawyer.

The girls gather for the reading of the will, and they learn that due to one of those ubiquitous home DNA tests, there is another Sweeney sister, a half-sister. William’s publisher is threatening to sue over an overdue memoir; the sisters are tearing the house apart to find it while simultaneously trying to process their newest family member, their parent’s marriage, and all their other problems, with a lot of love and laughter.

Verdict: It’s been a while since Dolan’s last novel, Elizabeth the First Wife, and it was worth the wait for this humorous, heartfelt family story. Should appeal to fans of Elin Hilderbrand and Elizabeth Berg.

©Library Journal, 2020