reecaspieces

Overview

Whisking you back to the shores of her bestselling Beach House series, Mary Alice Monroe weaves together a tale of the struggles and triumphs of the historic Rutledge family of Charleston, South Carolina. Beautifully wrought and rich with keen insight, this is an illuminating tale of new beginnings, resilience, and one family’s enduring love

Cara Rutledge returns to her Southern home on the idyllic Isle of Palms. Everything is comfortingly the same, yet each detail is rife with painful memories. Only through reconnecting with family, friends, and the rhythms of the lowcountry can Cara release the hold of the past and open herself to the possibility of a new love, career, and hope for the future.

Meanwhile, her niece Linnea, a recent college graduate who doesn’t know where her life will take her, leaves her historic home in Charleston, with all its entitlement and expectations, and heads to her aunt’s beach house. On the island, she is part of the freer, natural ocean lifestyle she loves, rejoining the turtle team, learning to surf, and falling in love. Remembering the lessons of her beloved grandmother, Lovie, the original “turtle lady,” Linnea rediscovers a meaningful purpose to her life and finds the courage she needs to break from tradition

In this heartwarming novel, three generations of the Rutledge family gather together to find the strength, love, and commitment to break destructive family patterns and to forge new bonds that will endure long beyond one summer reunion.

Review

Linnea has just graduated college. She cannot find a job so she takes a job as a nanny for Cara. It is perfect for her. She gets to live in the beach house and surf every day, and who doesn’t want to do that! Little does she know the family business is in ruins because of bad business deals made by her father. And her brother is about to make some terrible choices which could cost him his life.

I love Linnea and her ability to stand up for what she wants and what she needs. Every family has expectations and Linnea’s is no different. Her father wants her to do something different with her life and he also expects her brother to go to the Citadel plus go into the family business. These expectations rock this family to its core!

No one does a southern family beach read like Mary Alice Monroe. This one does not disappoint. Reading this book is like visiting with old friends and family. Just takes you home, home to the beach, shrimp and grits and of course, the sea turtles.

I received this novel from the author for a honest review.

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Overview

From the author of Happiness for Beginners comes an unforgettable love story about finding joy even in the darkest of circumstances.

Margaret Jacobsen has a bright future ahead of her: a fiancé she adores, her dream job, and the promise of a picture-perfect life just around the corner. Then, suddenly, on what should have been one of the happiest days of her life, everything she worked for is taken away in one tumultuous moment.

In the hospital and forced to face the possibility that nothing will ever be the same again, Margaret must figure out how to move forward on her own terms while facing long-held family secrets, devastating heartbreak, and the idea that love might find her in the last place she would ever expect.

How to Walk Away is Katherine Center at her very best: an utterly charming, hopeful, and romantic novel that will capture reader’s hearts with every page.

Review

This book is more than a love story. It is about courage, strength and overcoming all which life throws your way. And believe me, Margaret has just taken a huge hit. She has just been in a plane crash. And yes she survived, but her back and her life as she knew it, did not.

There is a double meaning in the title of this book. Margaret has been paralyzed, so she can’t just “walk” away. But she learns to deal with walking away from all she knew and discovering the new path her life is now headed.

I love this book! I love Margaret and her family, especially her sister, Kitty. Kitty is a straight shooter, rough around the edges and she definitely has her sister’s back plus, she has her own little story line through out this read. Then, there is Margaret and Ian, her Scottish physical therapist. These two have a chemistry not to be ignored. I enjoyed the way the author intertwined all these story lines. There are several running through this read and they all intersect to create a sad, courageous, love-filled tale.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

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Overview

Grilled G’s Gourmet Food Truck is where chef, owner, obsessive list-maker, and recent widow Gina Zoberski finds the order and comfort she needs to struggle through each day, especially when confronted with her critical mother Lorraine and sullen daughter May.

Image-conscious Lorraine always knows best and expects her family to live up to her high expectations, no matter what. May just wants to be left alone to mourn her father in her own way. Gina always aims to please, but finds that her relentlessly sunny disposition annoys both her mother and her daughter, no matter how hard she tries.

But when Lorraine suffers a sudden stroke, Gina stumbles upon a family secret Lorraine’s kept hidden for forty years. In the face of her mother’s failing health and her daughter’s rebellion, this optimist might find that piecing together the truth is the push she needs to let go.

Review

Gina finds her mother in the floor after a stroke. After the frantic rush to the hospital, Gina is going through her mother’s papers. She finds a picture of her mother with a strange man. “What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.”

Gina is a hard-working mom. She is trying to overcome her husband’s recent death and to basically survive in her life. She finds her mother incapacitated, then her daughter in a compromising position with a boy, she is about done! Then, on top of all this, she realizes her mother is harboring a secret. But like most strong women, she does not give up.

I fluctuated between 4 and 5 stars. I settled on 5 because this book dang near made me cry…TWICE. Plus, Gina is one of my favorite type characters….strong woman! This is a powerful novel about surviving death, overcoming hardships and accepting family for who they are.

This is the best Amy Reichert has ever written and I have read them all.

I received this novel from Netgalley for a honest review.

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Overview

The time for Stephen McCauley’s breakout novel has come and My Ex-Life is it in a major way. A delicious novel for fans of Tom Perrotta, Maria Semple, and Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney about how sometimes the only way to move forward is to go back.

David Hedges’s life is coming apart at the seams. His job helping San Francisco rich kids get into the colleges of their (parents’) choice is exasperating; his younger boyfriend has left him; and the beloved carriage house he rents is being sold. His solace is a Thai takeout joint that delivers 24/7.

The last person he expects to hear from is Julie Fiske. It’s been decades since they’ve spoken, and he’s relieved to hear she’s recovered from her brief, misguided first marriage. To him.

Julie definitely doesn’t have a problem with marijuana (she’s given it up completely, so it doesn’t matter if she gets stoned almost daily) and the Airbnb she’s running out of her seaside house north of Boston is neither shabby nor illegal. And she has two whole months to come up with the money to buy said house from her second husband before their divorce is finalized. She’d just like David’s help organizing college plans for her 17-year-old daughter.

That would be Mandy. To quote Barry Manilow, Oh Mandy. While she knows she’s smarter than most of the kids in her school, she can’t figure out why she’s making so many incredibly dumb and increasingly dangerous choices?

When David flies east, they find themselves living under the same roof (one David needs to repair). David and Julie pick up exactly where they left off thirty years ago―they’re still best friends who can finish each other’s sentences. But there’s one broken bit between them that no amount of home renovations will fix.

In prose filled with hilarious and heartbreakingly accurate one-liners, Stephen McCauley has written a novel that examines how we define home, family, and love. Be prepared to laugh, shed a few tears, and have thoughts of your own ex-life triggered. (Throw pillows optional.)

Review

David is all alone now. His lover has left him, he has gained weight and just seems to have lost all traction where is life is concerned. Then enters Julie…his EX-WIFE. David and Julie have always had a great relationship, even when their marriage ended. David was more than happy to fly east and lend a helping hand. Julie is going through a divorce. Her only child is about to go to college. He husband wants to sell her house out from under her. Needless to say, her life is falling apart. But, David is there to prop her up.

This is a tale basically about a good, strong friendship. I did find the characters a little whiney, especially at the beginning. This does level off as the story goes along and they become stronger through each other. The plot is thin and needs a good bit more action. However, I still enjoyed the tale.

The one-liner jabs through out this novel are a hoot! And Julie smoking pot…and quitting…but finding her hidden joints and smoking again, made me laugh out loud.

All in all not a bad story and life, friendship and getting the job done!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

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Overview

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Weekenders comes a delightful new novel about new love, old secrets, and the kind of friendship that transcends generations.

When ninety-nine-year-old heiress Josephine Bettendorf Warrick summons Brooke Trappnell to Talisa Island, her 20,000 acre remote barrier island home, Brooke is puzzled. Everybody in the South has heard about the eccentric millionaire mistress of Talisa, but Brooke has never met her. Josephine’s cryptic note says she wants to discuss an important legal matter with Brooke, who is an attorney, but Brooke knows that Mrs. Warrick has long been a client of a prestigious Atlanta law firm.

Over a few meetings, the ailing Josephine spins a tale of old friendships, secrets, betrayal and a long-unsolved murder. She tells Brooke she is hiring her for two reasons: to protect her island and legacy from those who would despoil her land, and secondly, to help her make amends with the heirs of the long dead women who were her closest friends, the girls of The High Tide Club—so named because of their youthful skinny dipping escapades—Millie, Ruth and Varina. When Josephine dies with her secrets intact, Brooke is charged with contacting Josephine’s friends’ descendants and bringing them together on Talisa for a reunion of women who’ve actually never met

The High Tide Club is Mary Kay Andrews at her Queen of the Beach Reads best, a compelling and witty tale of romance thwarted, friendships renewed, justice delivered, and true love found.

Review

Josephine is dying and before she goes she wants to make amends and see that her family’s land is secure. She calls in Brooke to make sure her wishes are granted. She asks Brooke to find the descendants of The High Tide Club.

I love Josephine. She is a tough old bird. She is cantankerous and she IS going to get her way. She is a recluse living on her own island and is one of the best flawed characters I have read about in a while. Josephine stays into a fight with someone at all times. She is not a generous or a kind person. Plus, she has a past and a huge secret. And it revolves around a dead body! Enter the story of the High Tide Club! These are ladies from Josephine’s past and she has let their friendships deteriorate due to various reasons.

Mary Kay Andrews has done it again. It is hard to top Hissy Fit. But she did it! I love so much about this twisty tale. There are so many moving parts to this story. And believe me, this has a little bit of everything, mystery, murder, family drama. This is not to be missed!

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Overview

A trio of college friends who reunite aboard a cruise ship experience an unforgettable vacation in this compelling novel from the author of The Summer of Good Intentions, which was hailed as “everything a summer read should be” by Elin Hilderbrand.

Three college roommates are celebrating a twentieth wedding anniversary by taking a cruise to Bermuda. As the ship pulls away from the pier, everyone is looking forward to lounging by the pool, sipping sunset cocktails, and reminiscing. Abby, the mother hen of the group, will be celebrating her wedding anniversary in style, even as she and her husband keep a secret from the group. Ambitious career woman Caroline happily anticipates several stress-free days away from her magazine job with her boyfriend, Javier, who may or may not be finally inspired to propose. And single mom Lee (annoyingly gorgeous and irresistibly popular in college) hopes she’ll win back the affections of her formerly sweet daughter Lacey, who after her first year in college, has inexplicably become a little bit of a monster.

As the balmy pink shores of Bermuda come into view, tensions simmer, and old jealousies flare, sending the temperature from soothing to scorching in this engrossing tale of three best friends on a vacation they won’t soon forget—but not for the reasons they expect.

Review

Love, love, love this cover. Who does not love a cover which looks like instant relaxation!

Three college friends and their families are setting sail on a cruise to Bermuda, basically to celebrate the renewal of vows for Abby and her husband. This turns into a trip to remember.

This is a quick, good, all around beach read. And to tell you the truth, I have no idea what was so great about it. It really is a normal beach read about life, family, friends. Nothing special. But, I was captivated! All the way through.

Each character brings a different story into the mix. Caroline and her boyfriend Javier..is he going to propose? Single mom Lee and her college aged daughter Lacey…is she pregnant? And then there is Abby with her twins and her great husband…what is wrong with Abby? On top of all these questions, the setting of the cruise ship and Bermuda just kept me glued to the pages.

All the characters compliment each other and really give this story the kick you need to start off BEACH SEASON! HOORAY!

I received this novel from Edelweiss for a honest review

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