#MMBBR #Review #FirstLine #BeachHouseForRent by @maryalicemonroe @GalleryBooks @simonschuster ‏

New York Times bestselling author Mary Alice Monroe returns to her beloved Isle of Palms to tell the poignant, charming story of two women, one summer, and one very special beach house.

When Cara Rutledge rents out her quaint beach house on Isle of Palms to Heather Wyatt for the entire summer, it’s a win-win by any standard: Cara’s generating income necessary to keep husband Brett’s ecotourism boat business afloat, and anxiety-prone Heather, an young artist who’s been given a commission to paint birds on postage stamps, has a quiet space in which to work and tend to her pet canaries uninterrupted.

It isn’t long, however, before both women’s idyllic summers are altered irrevocably: the alluring shorebirds—and the man who rescues them—begin to draw Heather out of the shell she’s cultivated toward a world of adventure, and maybe even love; at the same time, Cara’s life reels with sudden tragedy, and she wishes only to return to the beach house that had once been her port amidst life’s storms. When Heather refuses to budge from her newfound sanctuary, so begins the unlikeliest of rooming situations. While they start out as strangers, as everything around the women falls apart they learn that the only thing they can really rely on is each other.

And, like the migrating shorebirds that come to the island for the summer, these two women of different generations must rediscover their unique strengths so by summer’s end they, too, can take flight in ways they never imagined possible. 

#FirstLine ~ The beach house sat perched on a dune overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

I adored this book.  It was fantastic and a book I want to go back and escape into it because it was so beautifully drawn out.  I loved the setting and the story was both heartwarming and interesting.  The characters were some that I could relate to.  It was one of those reads that when you sit down you get completely lost and end up reading it in one sitting.  Such a great summer read!

New York Times bestselling author Mary Alice Monroe found her true calling in environmental fiction when she moved to coastal South Carolina. Already a successful author, she was captivated by the beauty and fragility of her new home. Her experiences living in the midst of a habitat that was quickly changing gave her a strong and important focus for her books.

Mary Alice Monroe writes richly textured books that delve into the complexities of interpersonal relationships and the parallels between the land and life. Monroe’s novels are published worldwide. She has achieved many lists, including the New York Times, USA Today and SIBA. She has received numerous awards, including several Readers’ Choice Awards, RT Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2008 South Carolina Center for the Book Award for Writing and was featured at the National Festival of the Book. In 2011 THE BUTTERFLY'S DAUGHTER won the International Book Award for Green Fiction.

Mary Alice is an active conservationist and serves on the Board of the South Carolina Aquarium, The Leatherback Trust, and Charleston Literacy Volunteers. She is a frequent speaker at book festivals, conferences, and private events.

Monroe lives with her family on a barrier island outside Charleston, South Carolina. Her new novel, BEACH HOUSE MEMORIES (May 2012), is the prequel to her bestseller THE BEACH HOUSE and completes her first trilogy. 

For more information, videos, contests and more, visit her official website: www.maryalicemonroe.com. 

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#MMBBR #Review #SRC2017 @BookSpark The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by @tjenkinsreid @iBooks @simonschuster ‏#WashingtonSquarePress

June Books

Every Last Lie by Mary Kubica

The Rules of Half by Jenna Patrick

The Half-Life of Remorse by Grant Jarrett

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Proof by C.E. Tobisman

Last Seen by J.L. Doucette

The People We Hate At The Wedding by Grant Ginder

“Riveting, heart-wrenching, and full of Old Hollywood glamour, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is one of the most captivating reads of 2017.” —BuzzFeed

“The epic adventures Evelyn creates over the course of a lifetime will leave every reader mesmerized. This wildly addictive journey of a reclusive Hollywood starlet and her tumultuous Tinseltown journey comes with unexpected twists and the most satisfying of drama.” —PopSugar

In this entrancing novel “that speaks to the Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor in us all” (Kirkus Reviews), a legendary film actress reflects on her relentless rise to the top and the risks she took, the loves she lost, and the long-held secrets the public could never imagine.

Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?

Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the ‘80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story near its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.

“Heartbreaking, yet beautiful” (Jamie Blynn, Us Weekly), The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is “Tinseltown drama at its finest” (Redbook): a mesmerizing journey through the splendor of old Hollywood into the harsh realities of the present day as two women struggle with what it means—and what it costs—to face the truth.

I am such a huge fan of Taylor Jenkins Reid.  She is one of my all time favorites.  Her newest gem THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO is her best yet.  I love that she gets the way people think.  She gets to the heart of the human condition...the insecurities, the successes and failures, fears and bravery and everything in between.  She understands what the readers want and can maintain a solid, well structured and beautifully written story that keeps the reader engaged from start to finish.  I never cease to be amazed by her gift, enthralled by her characters and moved by her stories.  I am again left feeling like I have been given a gift by being able to be in her book and to experience the story.  Another hit and one I will not soon forget!!!

Taylor Jenkins Reid lives in Los Angeles and is the author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo as well as One True Loves, Maybe in Another Life, and more. Her novels have been named best books of summer by People, US Weekly, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, InStyle, PopSugar, BuzzFeed, Goodreads, and others.

You can follow her on Twitter @tjenkinsreid.

#MMBBR #Highlight Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty by Ramona Ausubel

"A timely, sophisticated tale [that] explores what happens when a charmed life loses its luster.” –O Magazine

From the award-winning author of No One Is Here Except All of Us, an imaginative novel about a wealthy New England family in the 1960s and '70s that suddenly loses its fortune—and its bearings.

An NPR Best Book of 2016
One of Best Books of Summer –O Magazine
One of The 12 Summer Books That Everyone Will Be Talking About –Harper’s Bazaar
One of 20 Books Perfect for Your Summer Vacay –Refinery29
One of 22 Summer Books You Won’t Want to Miss –Huffington Post
One of 19 Summer Books that Everyone Will be Talking About – Elle.com
One of the Most Anticipated Books of 2016 –The Millions
One of 30 Best New Books for Summer 2016 –Good Housekeeping
One of 30 Books You Should Read this Summer –Chicago Tribune

Labor Day, 1976, Martha's Vineyard. Summering at the family beach house along this moneyed coast of New England, Fern and Edgar—married with three children—are happily preparing for a family birthday celebration when they learn that the unimaginable has occurred: There is no more money. More specifically, there's no more money in the estate of Fern's recently deceased parents, which, as the sole source of Fern and Edgar's income, had allowed them to live this beautiful, comfortable life despite their professed anti-money ideals. Quickly, the once-charmed family unravels. In distress and confusion, Fern and Edgar are each tempted away on separate adventures: she on a road trip with a stranger, he on an ill-advised sailing voyage with another woman. The three children are left for days with no guardian whatsoever, in an improvised Neverland helmed by the tender, witty, and resourceful Cricket, age nine.

Brimming with humanity and wisdom, humor and bite, and imbued with both the whimsical and the profound, Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty is a story of American wealth, class, family, and mobility, approached by award-winner Ramona Ausubel with a breadth of imagination and understanding that is fresh, surprising, and exciting.

   

Ramona Ausubel is the author of the novel No One is Here Except All of Us, which was a New York Times Editor’s Choice and a San Francisco Chronicle and Huffington Post Best Book of the Year. Her new book A Guide to Being Born is a collection of short stories, which will be out in May 2013. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review Daily, One Story, The Best American Fantasy and shortlisted in The Best American Short Stories and The Best American Non-Required Reading.

Find out more at www.ramonaausubel.com

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#MMBBR #Review #SameBeachNextYear by #DorotheaBentonFrank #FirstLine @WmMorrowBks @Morrow_PB

New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank returns to her magical Lowcountry of South Carolina in this bewitching story of marriage, love, family, and friendship that is infused with her warm and engaging earthy humor and generous heart.

One enchanted summer, two couples begin a friendship that will last more than twenty years and transform their lives.

A chance meeting on the Isle of Palms, one of Charleston’s most stunning barrier islands, brings former sweethearts, Adam Stanley and Eve Landers together again. Their respective spouses, Eliza and Carl, fight sparks of jealousy flaring from their imagined rekindling of old flames. As Adam and Eve get caught up on their lives, their partners strike up a deep friendship—and flirt with an unexpected attraction—of their own.

Year after year, Adam, Eliza, Eve, and Carl eagerly await their reunion at Wild Dunes, a condominium complex at the island’s tip end, where they grow closer with each passing day, building a friendship that will withstand financial catastrophe, family tragedy, and devastating heartbreak. The devotion and love they share will help them weather the vagaries of time and enrich their lives as circumstances change, their children grow up and leave home, and their twilight years approach.

Bursting with the intoxicating richness of Dorothea Benton Frank’s beloved Lowcountry—the sultry sunshine, cool ocean breezes, icy cocktails, and starry velvet skies—Same Beach, Next Year is a dazzling celebration of the infrangible power of friendship, the enduring promise of summer, and the indelible bonds of love.

#FirstLine  

Prologue isle of palms, south carolina , 2016 

The conversation that launched my need to tell you this whole crazy story actually came from our son Luke, who like his twin, is practically an adult.  

This book is pure Benton-Frank from cover to cover.  She captures location with brilliance and creates characters that leave a lasting impression.  It was fun to get caught up in the drama of family, heartbreak and reawakening.  It was a delight to watch these characters make decisions and have to deal with consequences whether good or bad.  It was a nice escape from life and a perfect read for the beach. 

I am the author of eighteen novels placed in and around the Lowcountry of South Carolina and thanking God for my chance to speak. When I'm not writing, I'm reading or gardening or cooking. Love to travel, shoot the breeze with people and most of all, be with my husband and children - not always necessarily in that order. My most recent, Same Beach, Next Year (William Morrow) goes on sale May 16, 2017. Love to have company so come visit at www.dotfrank.com or on Facebook. And by the way, serious huge gushing thanks for everything - your kind words, posts and emails. Writing saves me, but without your support it wouldn't mean as much. Dot xoxo

#MMBBR #Review #FirstLine #CityMouse by @staceylender @KaylieJonesBook

"Debut novelist Lender sharply portrays the corrupt privilege of upper-middle-class suburbanites, and with a twist of her pen, the Stepford Wives take the upper hand over their husbands...The climactic explosion takes everyone by surprise. A bracingly tart portrait of suburban hell."
―Kirkus Reviews

"Lender’s enlightening, beautifully plotted novel dives deep into the notion of having it all while playing with the shallow notions of the American dream."
―Publishers Weekly

"Lender's debut novel is positively irresistible. It's hilarious and insightful and just the type of book any city girl needs to tote to her vacation rental this summer...even with three kids in tow."
―Daytime Confidential

"City Mouse is a sharp and sophisticated novel of suburban life with a narrative voice that is equal parts witty, observant, and vulnerable. A wonderful debut!"
―Susan Isaacs, New York Times best-selling author

"For every city mom who fears death by suburbia--and for every suburban mom who wonders if it's just her--this insightful, funny trip into the secrets behind those picket fences is required reading."
―Maureen Sherry, author of Opening Belle

"City Mouse reminds mothers of that priceless lesson: the grass is always greener...and maybe even alcohol-soaked Astroturf. I tore through this book like a bored, competitive housewife tears through her Xanax."
―Faith Salie, author of Approval Junkie

Priced out of their Manhattan neighborhood, Jessica and Aaron move with their young daughters to the one place Jessica swore she'd never go: the suburbs. But to Jessica's surprise, life in the commuter belt makes a great first impression. She quickly falls in with a clique of helpful mom friends who welcome her with pitchers of margaritas, neighborhood secrets, and a pair of hot jeans that actually fit.

Still, it's hard to keep up in a crowd where everyone competes for the most perfectly manicured home and latest backyard gadgets. And what's worse, as the only working mom in her circle, Jessica sometimes feels disconnected and alone. So she's thrilled when she's invited to a moms-only weekend at the beach, which she assumes will mean new opportunities for real talk and bonding. Instead, the trip turns into a series of eye-opening lessons, and Jessica must decide if she's strong enough to be honest with herself about the sort of life she really wants.

#FirstLine ~ It was the bathroom that finally started us house hunting on the weekends up in Westchester.  

This book was a hilarious and fun look into what it is like to deal with life in the suburbs.  There were laugh out loud moments, as well as moments when the darker side of people shone through.  The characters were well thought out and the story line was both complex and engaging.  I loved that this book had unexpected twists and turns that kept the book perfectly paced.  A great great for the summer.

Stacey Lender grew up in the suburbs of New York City with a god-awful perm and later graduated from Cornell University. She started her career as a roadie and rose through the ranks from luggage schlepper to marketing executive for entertainment brands including Radio City Music Hall, USA Network, Madison Square Garden, Sesame Street Live, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and One World Observatory at the top of One World Trade Center. Today she lives in Manhattan and Connecticut with her husband and two daughters, and has traveled to all fifty states. CITY MOUSE is Stacey's first novel.

#MMBBR #Review #FirstLine #TheSummerHouse by @hannahmckinnon @AtriaBooks @EmilyBestler @SimonSchuster

When Flossy Merrill summons her children to the beloved family beach house to celebrate their father’s eightieth birthday, both cherished memories and long-kept secrets come to light in this charming and lyrical novel from the author of The Lake Season and Mystic Summer. 

Flossy Merrill has managed to—somewhat begrudgingly—gather her three ungrateful grown children from their dysfunctional lives for a summer reunion at the family’s Rhode Island beach house. Clementine, her youngest child and a young mother of two small children, has caused Flossy the most worry after enduring a tragically life-altering year. But Samuel and his partner Evan are not far behind in their ability to alarm: their prospective adoption search has just taken a heart-wrenching turn. Only Paige, the eldest of the headstrong Merrill clan, is her usual self: arriving precisely on time with her well-adapted teens. Little does her family know that she, too, is facing personal struggles of her own.

No matter. With her family finally congregated under one seaside roof, Flossy is determined to steer her family back on course even as she prepares to reveal the fate of the summer house that everyone has thus far taken for granted: she’s selling it. The Merrill children are both shocked and outraged and each returns to memories of their childhoods at their once beloved summer house—the house where they have not only grown up, but from which they have grown away. With each lost in their respective heartaches, Clementine, Samuel, and Paige will be forced to reconsider what really matters before they all say goodbye to a house that not only defined their summers, but, ultimately, the ways in which they define themselves. Featuring McKinnon’s “sharp and evocative” (Kirkus Reviews) voice, this warm-hearted novel is perfect for fans of Elin Hilderbrand and Mary Alice Monroe.

#FirstLine ~ Clem awoke with the sense that something was not right.   

I loved this book because it is about a family, a real family, with all its imperfections.  It seems that no matter how much time passes and how much we grow up, when siblings get back into the same house old rivalries and issues resurface.  That is certainly true in The Summer House.  When the Merrill siblings come back to the summer house to celebrate their father's birthday they open new wounds and unearth old secrets.  This book was great because it both heartwarming and honest!  A great summer read.

Hannah Roberts McKinnon is the author of two commercial fiction novels, The Lake Season and Mystic Summer, with Emily Bestler Books at Atria/Simon and Schuster. She previously published two YA novels, Franny Parker and The Properties of Water, with FSG/MacMillan. 

Hannah was born and raised in the hills of Fairfield County, Connecticut. An avid animal lover, she grew up riding horses, writing poetry, and reading anything she could get her hands on. From a young age she dabbled in the arts, settling on painting and writing stories about her pets, friends, and family. The daughter of two teachers, she had a love of English at an early age. 

After attending Skidmore College and Connecticut College, she traveled overseas to Australia where she earned her MA and Sixth year degree in Education. Hannah taught elementary school for 10 years. She has since had two children, and when she's not carpooling to dance class and soccer practice, she works full-time from her home office writing novels, chasing chickens, wrangling rescue dogs.

Visit her author website at www.hannahmckinnon.com and on Twitter at @hannahmckinnon

#MMBBR #Review #FirstLine #TheBeachHouseComingHome #GeorgiaBockoven @Morrow_PB @WmMorrowBks

Bestselling author Georgia Bockoven is at her powerful and emotional peak in this novel perfect for fans of Nancy Thayer and Elin Hilderbrand.

Unlock the door to the beach house…a place where life slows down, people come together, and love is the strongest force of all.

After you’ve given your baby to strangers, what do you say when someone asks if you have children?

Fourteen years ago, Melinda Campbell was fifteen and a half, pregnant and terrified. Desperate to protect her baby from a malicious grandfather and needed at home to take care of her own critically ill father, Melinda makes the most generous, heart-wrenching choice of all: adoption. Now she’s living the successful life her father struggled to give her, but missing her daughter with a longing that shadows every joy.

Jeremy Richmond knows the beach house the way a painter knows his canvas, intimately and focused on detail. His life revolves around his adopted daughter, Shiloh, the girl who’s owned his heart from the moment he first held her as an infant. They were a picture-perfect family until Shiloh was diagnosed with pediatric lupus and Jeremy’s wife walked away.

When Shiloh tells her father she’s tired of fighting her illness and wants to meet her biological mother before it’s too late, Jeremy agrees to find a woman he has no desire to meet.

From the moment Melinda and Jeremy come face-to-face, they realize their worlds will never be the same. Will the beach house that has harbored troubled hearts for decades prove to be the balm they need to heal…?

Georgia Bockoven is an award-winning author who began writing fiction after a successful career as a freelance journalist and photographer. Her books have sold more than three million copies worldwide. The mother of two, she resides in Northern California with her husband, John.

#FirstLine ~ El Nino teased the California coast, promising weeks of rain, but delivering just enough to keep hope alive.  

This book is amazing...an emotional read that captures the attention and keeps the reader engaged until the very end.   I have loved this series from the start and this book was a great installation.  There is a lot of depth in this book...there are tears of heartbreak and joy.  You will be rooting for the characters and will love seeing past characters.  This series is one of my summer favorites.