Book Review: Sunset Beach

I read this book simply because of the author as from reading the Amazon synopsis I wasn't completely sold.  It sounds sort of mediocre to me but I gave it a chance.  It wasn't a big thriller or anything but it was cute and did throw you for a couple loops.  I was waiting on the father and evil step-mother to turn out to be complete frauds but SPOILER ALERT...it isn't them who's the fraud....you will have to read the rest to find out.  There is also a bit f a funny mistaken romance and some good ole fixer upper action on the beach cottage as well so I think this book has a little of something for everyone.  

Amazon Synopsis:

Drue Campbell’s life is adrift. Out of a job and down on her luck, life doesn’t seem to be getting any better when her estranged father, Brice Campbell, a flamboyant personal injury attorney, shows up at her mother’s funeral after a twenty-year absence. Worse, he’s remarried – to Drue’s eighth grade frenemy, Wendy, now his office manager. And they’re offering her a job. 

It seems like the job from hell, but the offer is sweetened by the news of her inheritance – her grandparents’ beach bungalow in the sleepy town of Sunset Beach, a charming but storm-damaged eyesore now surrounded by waterfront McMansions. 

With no other prospects, Drue begrudgingly joins the firm, spending her days screening out the grifters whose phone calls flood the law office. Working with Wendy is no picnic either. But when a suspicious death at an exclusive beach resort nearby exposes possible corruption at her father’s firm, she goes from unwilling cubicle rat to unwitting investigator, and is drawn into a case that may – or may not – involve her father. With an office romance building, a decades-old missing persons case re-opened, and a cottage in rehab, one thing is for sure at Sunset Beach: there’s a storm on the horizon. 

Sunset Beach is a compelling ride, full of Mary Kay Andrews' signature wit, heart, and charm.

Book Review: The Weekenders

Another Mary Kay Andrews book I recently finished is The Weekenders.  The luxury and grandeur of having an island vacation home drew me into this book but when the main characters life unravels in the first few chapters you are quickly invested in her life, the destiny of the island and its inhabitants. Not to mention it is a true who done it type of mystery.  My Mom had also just read this book so I was constantly throwing out my guesses on who the murderer was but I never thought of the guilty party!  Another fun and easy Summer read to unwind with.

Amazon Synopsis: 

Some people stay all summer long on the idyllic island of Belle Isle, North Carolina. Others come only for the weekends-and the mix between the regulars and “the weekenders” can sometimes make the sparks fly. Riley Griggs has a season of good times with friends and family ahead of her on Belle Isle when things take an unexpected turn. While waiting for her husband to arrive on the ferry one Friday afternoon, Riley is confronted by a process server who thrusts papers into her hand. And her husband is nowhere to be found. 

So she turns to her island friends for help and support, but it turns out that each of them has their own secrets, and the clock is ticking as the mystery deepens...in a murderous way. Cocktail parties aside, Riley must find a way to investigate the secrets of Belle Island, the husband she might not really know, and the summer that could change everything.

Told with Mary Kay Andrews’ trademark blend of humor and warmth, and with characters and a setting that you can’t help but fall for, the New York Times bestseller The Weekenders is the perfect summer escape.

Book Review: Digging In

I have had this book on my kindle for close to a year I would say and going into our Christmas vacation I had only read 6% of it.  I found it a bit hard to get invested at the very beginning but once I finished all my MUST reads that I was really looking forward to I was left to read this on our flight back from Europe.  I finished the book over the 8 hour flight and was please at how it ended.  Like I said it takes a bit to get invested but once the story got rolling I really became invested in finding out how the main character transformed herself and her life.  I recommend this book to more of a middle age crowd as I think they will find it more relatable but it was a good cheap read either way.  It was way better than siting bored on an airplane that is for sure!

Amazon Synopsis:

In Loretta Nyhan’s warm and witty Amazon Charts bestselling novel, a widow discovers an unexpected chance to start over—right in her own backyard.

Paige Moresco found her true love in eighth grade—and lost him two years ago. Since his death, she’s been sleepwalking through life, barely holding on for the sake of her teenage son. Her house is a wreck, the grass is overrun with weeds, and she’s at risk of losing her job. As Paige stares at her neglected lawn, she knows she’s hit rock bottom. So she does something entirely unexpected: she begins to dig.

As the hole gets bigger, Paige decides to turn her entire yard into a vegetable garden. The neighbors in her tidy gated community are more than a little alarmed. Paige knows nothing about gardening, and she’s boldly flouting neighborhood-association bylaws. But with the help of new friends, a charming local cop, and the transformative power of the soil, Paige starts to see potential in the chaos of her life. Something big is beginning to take root—both in her garden and in herself.

Book Review: The High Tide Club

My reading goal for 2020 is to read 15 books. That averages out to about 1 book every three weeks and I'm already hitting my goal.  I finished my first book of 2020 a few days ago and it feels great to be one down.  This is my third Mary Kay Andrews book since November.  I fell in love with this author back in like 2008 when I really got into reading again as an adult.  Her books are so fun, a touch of romance, and really easy beach reads.  They are all set in the south usually and this book is no different.  It's a story of unexpected friends and new family that has plenty of fun twists and turns.  If you want to feel the heat of Summer then jump into this book or put it on your to read list for a beach vacation.  

Amazon Synopsis:

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.

Currently reading- Sara Shepard's The Heiresses!

Christmas in Europe

EEEKKK!!!! I'm so excited for this upcoming trip in the middle of December….we are going to be spending 10 days in Europe for Christmas.  I've always wanted to see the Christmas markets in Germany so we will be flying into Germany on the 17th and making our way by train to Holland by Christmas Day to spend it with our family there.  We fly home around the 27th!

Book Review: Last Seen

I'm on a roll when it comes to my yearly reading goal.  As of now I've read 7 books out of my goal of 15 for the year.  Last Seen, the last book in the Amateur detective trilogy, is a great book where one of the amateur detectives is now in the trap of the killer they are chasing.  The remaining detectives must not only figure out how to save their friend but also uncover the remaining pieces of the killers sorted past all while solving SEVERAL other crimes.  I think it had a perfect end to the trilogy.

Amazon Synopsis:

The stakes are higher than ever in this third installment of The Amateurs, as Aerin finds herself kidnapped by the killer she knows all too well, and her friends must work to solve a puzzle laid out by the villain in order to save her. At first, the mystery they're tasked with seems to have nothing to do with Aerin or her kidnapper. But as Seneca, Maddox, and Madison hit the Jersey Shore to gather clues, they begin to uncover the true background of the killer and the horrors that shaped him into who he is. The scavenger hunt leads them to the family of a recently kidnapped boy, a serial child-snatcher, and dark secrets they could never have seen coming. As Aerin struggles to play nice with the person who killed her sister in order to buy herself time, her friends work feverishly against the ticking clock that could mean her life, and every clue they uncover leads Seneca to suspect she's more connected to the killer's history than she ever realized. With nail-biting suspense, twisted secrets, and non-stop action, this final installment in #1 New York Times best-selling author Sara Shepard's The Amateurs series will shock even the savviest of readers with its big reveal.

Book Review: Follow Me

A couple months ago I did THIS review of the first book in The Amateurs series by Sara Shepard and I couldn't wait to move on and read the rest of the trilogy.  These books are perfect for young adults or really anyone.  A perfect Summer read, the second book in the trilogy is Follow Me.  It follows some newly graduated high schoolers and a few college kids as they try to uncover and catch a complete psychopath and murderer that is playing a serious game of cat and mouse.  The young adults really learn about themselves as they chase a friend/killer around the East coast.

Amazon Synopsis:

It was the perfect night for a party. That is, until twenty-one-year-old Chelsea Dawson disappeared. The social media star was last seen enjoying a beautiful summer night at the Jersey Shore with her friends. But after an explosive fight with her ex-boyfriend, she vanished without a trace. When Seneca, Maddox, Aerin, and Madison hear about the suspected kidnapping, they notice a jarring detail about the victim: she looks exactly like Aerin's sister, Helena, who was killed five years earlier. Seneca is convinced she knows who killed Helena, and she can't shake the feeling that the same person has taken Chelsea. Desperate for answers about the two girls, and the truth behind her mother's murder, Seneca will stop at nothing to find out if the cases are linked. So when Maddox receives an invitation to the Shore from none other than their primary suspect, the Amateurs begin an intense new investigation. Full of disturbing secrets, startling twists, and horrifying revelations, the second book in #1 New York Times best-selling author Sara Shepard's The Amateurs series follows the team down a twisted path—one crafted by a