Bonny Blankenship has a something major happen at work and it throws her life for a spin, so she decides to go back to the place where she felt the most at peace and at home - a summer beach house that her and her brother still own after their parents have passed away. Bonny thinks that escaping here for a moment can help her find a new north and send her down a better path in life. Her best friend will meet her there, but her best friend has some negative memories but maybe returning can help her find peace.

I absolutely adored this story. I loved Bonny and Lainey and their friendship felt so real and true and I loved seeing small glimpses into their first few summers together and then the full story of their adult relationship. I also adored the small town it was such a great setting for both of them to go to to regroup and you could see that pushing the pause button in the small town was easy.

I am embarrassed to admit that I own quite a few Patti Callahan Henry and all of them sound like they will be great reads, but this was actually my first book of hers that I completed. I loved her writing, characters and setting, so I will be picking up her others one very soon!

Have any of you read any of her books? What should I read next?

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Omar

Life throws us many curve balls, and to Bonny Blankenship the last one just shatters her life. While her life hasn’t been good in the last couple of years, recently everything was going right, she was just offered a new job in a different city and her daughter was in college, until the night of major car accident. That day her E.R. was full, she had overworked, and a person from her past show up injured. That day Bonny made a mistake that cause the life of one of her patients and her new life; now everything is falling apart, she is still leaving her husband, but her safety measures are gone, and she only has her half-renew family summer house to go while the medical investigation is resolved. She has asked her best friend Lainey and her daughter, Piper, to be with her at Water’s End, South Carolina for the summer.

The only problem is that almost forty years ago, Lainey’s mom despaired from the Water’s End summer house, and was never seen again. Now that Bonny is digging up the past and reopening old wounds, she needs to face with the consequences of her actions, the feelings for her first love, and the need to fix her life, all while getting the summer house ready for sell.

I liked this story, I liked the aspects of being a story of more women who come together, and heal their pains and find each other again. I also liked the use of time jumps and how they plan them to be scattered across the different time line, and the only appeared when the story needed it.

It was interesting to go over the life of Bonny and to learn how she came to be the person that she is at the beginning of the story. Most of all, I liked the journey that Bonny took to work through the problems and emotional stress that originated from her mistake that caused the death of her patient. Bonny went through a lot to find her real self again and give purpose to her life goal of been a doctor to help people. I believed that it was good story of character development and it showed that when we fall our only solution is to get up and keep going.

Without going into spoilers, I liked the ending of the book. I felt that it didn’t used the same generic story of a perfect happy ending, but instead left the characters in position where they resolved their personal issues or found the means to solve them in the future. Also, while there is the mystery of Lainey’s mother disappearance, the book doesn’t fit completely under a mystery genre and maybe romance, but instead it falls under women fiction and normal fiction, which I believed has a little of all genres in it.

I loved and hated Bonny’s husband, I loved his scenes and how Bonny handle them, I hated the arrogance that the character had. I think it shows how good is a writer, when their work seems so real that causes the reader to have these types of emotions against fictional characters.

An aspect that I didn’t liked was that at one point Lainey is been explained about her mother, but she doesn’t seem to hear what the other person is saying because she keeps going back to the same question and not taking the time to understand what the other one is saying. I know that she is emotional about learning about her mother after so many years, but I still felt that the scene was going around circles with no end.

The Bookshop at Water’s End is a story that will take you through a journey of self-discovery and understanding of the human self, when set in a situation where the past comes back to haunt our life.

If you are a fan of Patti Callahan Henry and her work, then I recommend you the Bookshop at Water’s End. Here a group of women will find their way from the troubling states of their lives, while looking over old wounds of the past and present, and understanding their true self is much more.

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*

The Bookshop at Water’s End is told from multiple perspectives giving four different women all the chance to narrate and tell their personal story. Bonny and Lainey have been best friends since they were children and Piper is Bonny’s troubled daughter, and finally Mimi is the owner of the bookshop. These women ranged in age from nineteen to eighty and the author did such a brilliant job of creating distinct and powerful voices for each of them. As I write this, I’m trying to decide who my favorite character is and I’m struggling, which only proves my point that the characterization is amazing!

This is mainly told in the present day as Bonny, Lainey and Piper all spend some time at Bonny’s parents house in Watershed. There are also a few chapters that flashback to the late seventies/early eighties during the three summers that Bonny and Lainey spent there together. Watershed was a fantastic setting and the author truly brought it to life. I kept going back and looking at that beautiful cover while I was reading and it just fits perfectly with the setting she created.

The main focus of the story surrounds the three women as they struggle with their own personal problems, but the past plays a heavy role in their current dilemmas. Lainey’s mom disappeared and was never seen again and the addition of this mystery added something special and heartbreaking to the text.

This was a wonderful summer read with depth, there are some lessons to be learned from it and the themes were also beautiful. The power and beauty of female relationships played a heavy role here and the friendship between Bonny and Lainey was just lovely. There was such a good, strong flow to the writing, it was so easy to get caught up in the characters lives and be swept away to Watershed. At it’s heart, it’s the story of women finding their place in the world and finally finding their true home. There is just something magical about this book that I really enjoyed, it’s special.

The Bookshop at Water's End is a wonderful story of women and families who return to Watersend to try to make sense of their lives, lives that are starting to spin out of control.

Bonny and Lainey were best friends and they come together that summer to support each other. They are both looking for answers and direction. They want to make changes in their lives and along the way they learn about themselves, and each other.

"We were all doing the very best we could: as women, as mothers and as daughters. We hurt each other; we heal each other; we mend and we break and we try again, until we can't and the headstone has its final say. And yet still our hearts reach out for both love and forgiveness, granted and accepted."

I love this kind of story where women friends are there for each other, supporting and loving, no matter what. The Bookshop at Water's End is an engaging, beautiful story full of memorable characters that I just savored to the end.

"...you don’t know who you can be, or what you can do, until you have to be and do."

The summer house at Watersend, South Carolina "Sea La Vie" has been a sanctuary from the outer world ever since Bonny Blankenship and Lainey McKay were young teen girls coming there with their parents.

Now Bonny, an ER doctor who made a tragic mistake, and her daughter Piper come to Watersend to prepare the summer house for sale and to make life decisions. Lainey, a famous artist now, also comes to help out her best friend and brings her two young children.

In the center of the story is a bookstore and bookseller that has been there for the mothers and now the children.

This is a wonderful summer read full of families, romance, angst, tears, laughter, questions asked and questions answered in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. I thought author Henry did an admirable job of creating three-dimensional characters - most likeable, some not - in a slow moving Southern tale. I wanted to sit in the Title Wave bookshop and read Nancy Drew mysteries.

I received this book from Berkley Publishing through Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased review.

In The Bookshop at Water’s End, we meet Bonny and Lainey two best friends who spent their childhood summers together in South Carolina and who have experienced the highs and lows of their lives. Bonny is a doctor who wants out of her marriage but when an accident occurs on her watch her whole career is put on the line. She has a teenage daughter who is going through some growing pains and Bonny thinks spending the summer at her childhood beach house will straighten Piper out.

Lainey, on the other hand, is forever trying to overcome the one summer her mother left her and her brother to never return again. She is married with children and although she promised her husband she would let go of looking for her mother she just can't. She is secretly still searching desperately to know why her mother could just leave and never look back. Lainey is forever chasing the love only a mother can give.

When Bonny asks Lainey to join her for one last summer in the summer home they shared as kids Lainey doesn't want to go back. She promised herself she wouldn’t after the pain she suffered that summer but she also promised Bonny if she ever needed her she would be there for her so she returns. Lainey’s brother is a carefree guy who is always looking for the next adventure so when he shows up Lainey is excited. She is always missing her brother but little does she know that he showed up for Bonny, the one girl he has always loved and never got over. Needless to say, this will be a summer no one will forget.

I loved this storyline! While Bonny was a bit of heavy-handed character for my taste I loved Lainey. I truly felt compassion for her and for her quest of finding her mother. When she finally gets her answers the pain I felt for her was real. All those summers again and her mom leaving forever stayed with her and altered how she saw and felt things. It made her wait in life to have children thinking she would be the same way with her kids and she didn’t want that. The Piper storyline was good, I loved how she found herself in her new surroundings and how she finally grew up and how she finally found real love with someone who could appreciate her.

This was a very enjoyable read of coming back home. Though some didn’t want to go back it was needed to face their demons and to ultimately find out the answers they needed. This shows you that family doesn’t always have to be by blood but by those who love you the most.

This book had so many different levels and layers to peel back, I just don’t even know where to start. So I guess at the beginning is a good place.

This is the story of two best friends who spent summers at the beach and their lives became intricately woven together over the years. But then the happiness fell apart over a tragedy that changed their lives forever.

Fast forward to today. Dealing with a tragedy at work, a loveless marriage, the only place to escape to is the water and the house where happy memories used to live.

The author writes a magical story that has many layers, as I stated earlier. It’s hard to explain without giving away a lot of the plot. But everything in the story is interwoven and history seems to repeat itself.

There’s anger and heartbreak; a lifetime love and new love. There’s friendships old and new. And over-lapping it all is the hope that we all can have a fresh start regardless of the situation.

The story is a deep look into the lives and connection of women over the years as well as looking into your own self for healing and forgiveness.

Not every story ends on a happily ever after. The book is closed and the characters are comfortable and happy with their decisions. I just wanted a little bit more.

The author has written a story that will touch you in many ways and definitely have you thinking. That is a sign of a great book. Definitely want to check out for your summer reading.

Bonny Blankenship’s most treasured memories are of idyllic summers spent in Watersend, South Carolina, with her best friend, Lainey McKay. Amid the sand dunes and oak trees draped with Spanish moss, they swam and wished for happy-ever-afters, then escaped to the local bookshop to read and whisper in the glorious cool silence. Until the night that changed everything, the night that Lainey’s mother disappeared.

Now, in her early fifties, Bonny is desperate to clear her head after a tragic mistake threatens her career as an emergency room doctor, and her marriage crumbles around her. With her troubled teenage daughter, Piper, in tow, she goes back to the beloved river house, where she is soon joined by Lainey and her two young children. During lazy summer days and magical nights, they reunite with bookshop owner Mimi, who is tangled with the past and its mysteries. As the three women cling to a fragile peace, buried secrets and long ago loves return like the tide.

My Thoughts: Bonny’s journey back to Watersend would resurrect old memories, secrets, and the pain of the past, but it would also remind her of the magic she always felt there. And she needs that magic now, just after a tragedy in her job as an ER doctor leaves her floundering.

With Piper still healing from a broken relationship, the two of them wait and are soon joined by Lainey, who has her own wounds from the past. The pain of the summer that her mother went missing. For years she has searched, but to no avail. The art she creates helps her express the pain and communicate to those who see it.

Owen, Lainey’s brother, is the love Bonny has longed for ever since those days in Watersend, but the more they draw together, the more they seem to part. Owen’s urges take him on journeys that she cannot follow. Adventures that help him push away the pain of the past.

Mimi, as the owner of the bookshop, is the source of all wisdom to Bonny, Lainey, and especially Piper. She offers a refuge, some suggestions that feel like treasures, and, in the end, she has the answers to some very deep questions.

How do Mimi and her friend Loretta fill in some gaps for Lainey? What will Piper find in the small town that will heal the wounds of loss? Will Owen finally come to stay, or will he constantly be on the move again? What does Bonny decide about the old life she left behind in Charleston?

Multiple narrators carry us along in The Bookshop at Water’s End and fill in the missing pieces of their stories. A beautifully wrought tapestry combining art, medicine, and books…the stories would offer meaning and magic for their souls. 5 stars.

***My e-ARC came from the publishers via NetGalley

I’m so happy to bring you my review of Patti Callahan Henry’s upcoming novel, The Bookshop at Water’s End. This was such a beautiful novel full of sadness, happiness, closure, and new beginnings.

Bonny is a successful ER doctor, in a loveless marriage, and makes a horrible mistake one hectic night while on duty. Needing to take some time for herself, she heads to her family’s cottage in Watersend, SC. Piper, Bonny’s twenty-year-old daughter comes along reluctantly after a string of troubles and her boyfriend heading to Europe with another girl. Bonny also convinces her best friend Lainey and her children to join them at the river house for vacation, although Lainey doesn’t want to return to the place with such horrible memories.

Bonny and Lainey were the best of friends when they visited the house in Watersend as children. Lainey’s older brother Owen was typically with them, resulting in his becoming Bonny’s first love. Now that they are adults, Bonny and Owen have stayed in touch throughout the years, expressing their affections, however, Bonny has been busy with her career, her daughter, and stuck in an unhappy marriage. Owen, on the other hand, has been living a life of adventure traveling from one place to the next – but never settling down. Lainey still tries to locate her mother, wondering if she is dead or alive, and constantly misses her brother, wondering why he won’t answer and/or return her calls, longing to re-connect with her only family. Immediately, the bond between Bonny and Lainey was evident, although, it didn’t take long to notice the strain between them, which was Owen.

Piper has made some not unusual teenage/young adult mistakes including failing out of school, drinking, etc. She starts her summer at Watersend miserable about her boyfriend leaving the country with another girl, but quickly finds her own niche in Mimi’s bookshop. She also meets a handsome and incredibly kind young man, Fletch, who she finds herself quickly drawn to. Most surprisingly is Piper’s relationship with Lainey’s young children George and Daisy. Where Piper initially dreaded having to help take care of them for the summer, she quickly bonds with the young children and enjoys their time together.

This novel portrays three very different women facing very different challenges in their lives, yet there is still a strong bond between them. They have good days and bad days, hurt each other and pick the other up when needed. The author demonstrates that no matter what age, profession, marital status, etc., we all face challenges stemming from our pasts and what to do with our futures. They each were holding onto good things and painful things in their lives, as well as, trying to figure out meaning and purpose in their lives.

Patti Callahan Henry’s writing was beautiful and flawless as always, prompting me to re-read several lines while reading simply because the words touched me. The novel touches on love, friendship, fear, regret, guilt, and hope. It reminded me that sometimes we choose our family or they choose us, and there is no one meaning of happiness. Various times throughout the novel, particularly related to Lainey and her mother that disappeared, the author references part of a poem which fit perfectly into this novel:

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. (taken from Mary Oliver’s, “Wild Geese“)

The beauty of that verse from the poem is that it applied to everyone in the novel, as well as, to so many people in our own lives.

The Bookshop at Water’s End is absolutely one of the best novels that I have read. It embodies so much emotion and experience that it’s impossible not to reflect on your own life after reading. I cannot recommend this one enough, and it releases July 11.

*Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Patty Callahan Henry's newest Southern fiction book is transportive, sending the reader to the lush setting of Watersend, South Carolina, a town filled with history and secrets for Bonny Blankenship and Lainey McKay, friends who spent formative summers in the town and are now back with their children as Bonny faces the biggest crossroads of her life. The author has a great talent for writing about relationships- the relationships between parent and child, between friends, between lovers- and the complexities and challenges that lie within all our connections. Tender and a touch melancholy, this characters (and the beautiful setting) are the stars of this story. The author successfully created multiple narrators for this story that have unique (but compatible) voices. A quiet, moderately paced story perfect for the long days of summer.

Any title with "bookshop" in the title is like crack for librarians! I am so glad to be introduced to a new domestic fiction author I can recommend through readers' advisory. This title hits all the right notes, with well-developed characters, great dialogue and pacing that keep the reader interested. With hints of a mystery taking place during a summer long gone, the novel explores many themes popular in women's fiction, and I'll be displaying this title in my "New Fiction" display once we receive it. Great book.

I've been a fan of Patti Callahan Henry for years and was really looking forward to reading this book. While it wasn't my favorite there were some very good moments in this story of love, loss and friendship. A little too much back and forth in time and competing viewpoints for the story to really take hold for me.

First, I’d like to thank Netgalley and Berkeley Publishing Group for an advanced copy of The Bookshop at Water’s End. I was intrigued by both the cover and the title, as I had never read anything by Patti Callahan Henry. Besides recommendations from some of my friends, this is usually how I like to try new authors. I was not disappointed. Told from different character’s perspectives and different time periods, this was a story of two women, Bonnie and Lainey, who spent summers as young girls in Watersend, South Carolina with their parents. These were magical summers for these lifelong friends, until tragedy strikes and ends their annual trips. Fast forward to the present where Bonnie asks Lainey to once again spend a summer at Watersend to help her cope with a most difficult situation in her life. Lainey reluctantly agrees and now must also deal with the results of the tragedy from so long ago.
This was a beautifully written story which kept me turning the pages to see how these families find out how to begin again to find the one thing in life they are meant to do.
I highly recommend!

When Bonny and Lainey were girls their families were summer friends in the small coastal town of Water's End. They did everything together and were even called the "Summer Sisters" by some of the locals. The summer they were 13 something horrible happened and their families never returned to Water's End. Bonny's family owned the house where both families stayed and now Bonny was the owner. She'd fixed it up and rented it out over the years but now she was going to prepare to sell it. That was the plan but one night changed everything. Bonny, an ER doctor, makes an error that has devastating consequences. She decided to retreat to Water's End and take her 19-year-old daughter Piper with her. Piper just flunked out of her first year of college and finds solace in a bottle of Jack Daniels. Mother and daughter need a change and Bonny hopes the river house will help. She also calls Lainey who promised to be there any time Bonny needed her. They'd both made that promise. The thing is, Lainey never wants to see Water's End again. It holds so many bad memories. Like the true friend she is though she packs up her two young children and heads back to Bonny.

The three women will support and maybe even help each other find answers to large and small questions. I love novels like this - a lovely, lush setting, positive women, and relatable challenges. Patti Callahan Henry's story pulled me in and I enjoyed every minute spent with her characters. I loved the words of wisdom shared by Mimi, the bookstore owner. "The soul needs story and meaning to help us endure this life... Books can be medicine for the heart..."  I know this to be true.

The Bookshop at Water's End is a gripping story. It brings broken people together in an idyllic South Carolina beach setting. Then, after much heartbreak, it begins to put them back together with the promise of a happy ever after. it made me want to drop everything and plan a trip to the town of Watershed. Although well written, the last few chapters become much too sentimental and sappy for my tastes. So much so, that it delved into the realm of disbelief.

The Bookshop at Water's End
By Patti Callahan Henry

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: I have a material connection because I received a review copy for free from Net Galley and the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Lainey and Bonnie have been best friends since they were children. Bonnie’s parents owned a summer vacation home on a tidal river that surrounds a small town. Lainey’s family spent vacations with Bonnie’s family at the River House . As youngsters, they fancied themselves as a pair of modern day Nancy Drews. During their explorations around the tiny town they made notes in a notebook of unsolved mysteries and clues as to what and why things happened. The thing they never could fully explain was why Lainey’s mother had disappeared one night at the River House, never to return.

Fast forward to adulthood – Bonnie has become a renowned doctor and Lainey is a celebrated artist. They live on opposite sides of the country, but keep in touch. They rarely see one another. When Bonnie’s world comes crashing down around her ears, threatening everything she values, she calls Lainey to join her at the River House.

Lainey, fighting the demons from her past, agrees to come. She is bringing her small children with her. Bonnie is bringing her reluctant daughter Piper along to help her restore the River House for sale. Home from her first year of college Piper does not want to go, or babysit Lainey’s kids, but Bonnie has promised her services.

Ghosts from the past are stirring. They seem to arrive with the tides. When the past collides with the present, will Lainey and Bonnie survive? Will the answers they have searched for since childhood finally become clear?

The bookshop owner Mimi has an integral role in The Bookshop at Water's End. She supplies the background narrative in many places to add depth and important facts about the past. Expertly spun together, the past and present emerge as one like the tributaries of the tidal river that flows around the town.

The realistic characters had flaws. Not just a little added issue, but real, glaring flaws. That brought them to life. Just like real people that have secrets, bad relationships and make mistakes – big mistakes that could be life changing. I loved that about them, all humans make bad decisions that seemed like a good idea at the time.

The story is deep and rich, without being heavy. It is a perfect summer (or anytime) read. The mystery isn’t the focus of the plot, but is always popping up as it colors the thoughts and actions of the main characters. This is not a cozy, but more of a women’s fiction with a vein of mystery running throughout.

Patti Callahan Henry is a New York Times bestselling author. This is the first book I’ve read of Ms. Henry’s but it will not be the last.

Copyright © 2017 Laura Hartman

The Bookshop at Water's End is a poignant story about love, loss and redemption. The Summer Sisters have returned to their childhood beach home with their children to find themselves and learn from their past. This is a story about making mistakes, being human and learning to persevere. There is a mix of drama, suspense and romance that makes this story a perfect summer read. Strong addition to chick lit - the narrative of 19 year old Piper who is trying to rebuild her life after failing her first year of college and losing her first love will captivate YA and teen readers as well.

This is a sweet story of two grown women who are now mothers. Bonny is an ER doc trying to find her way out of a loveless marriage. After an accident in the ER, she needs some time to regroup, so she returns to Watersend, a small sea side town where she and Lainey became friends when they were thirteen years old. Back then, they had been inseparable. They were known as the Summer Sisters. They had the Girls’ Detective Club, inspired by Nancy Drew mysteries, and their safe haven was a bookstore run by a woman named Mimi. Bonny brings her teenage daughter, Piper, with her to Watersend, and, even though Lainey has terrible memories of Watersend, Bonny convinces her to leave her husband in California for a few weeks and bring her two small children out to the beach house.

Initially, Piper feels like she’s being punished because she flunked out of her freshman year of college. In addition to that blow, she’s also from her boyfriend not just breaking up with her but immediately falling for another girl and taking off to Europe with her. By making friends with a local boy and Mimi and babysitting Lainey’s six- and four-year-old children, Piper slowly begins to heal. Bonny has to decide what to do with her career and her life. Lainey wants to solve the thirty-five year old mystery of what happened to her mother.

Told from multiple first-person points of view, the complexity of the characters are good. I also like the mystery of Lainey trying to figure out what happened to her mother, a search that has played a large role in her life. The novel is not a completely fluffy summer read, although it does have a sweet mostly-happily-ever-after ending.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkeley Publishing Group for the opportunity to review this book.

Libraries and bookshops are a sanctuary.
Book store logo is - "Books may well be the only true magic" - Alice Hoffman

Summer 1978 - South Carolina
2 girls 13 years old making wishes and promises.
Then Lainey's mother disappeared and altering all of their lives from that point.
Now 30 years later friends go back to share time over the summer reuniting once again.
Bonny has made a mistake in the ER, and is dealing with the consequences of that
Piper is trying to get over her first true love
Lainey is still searching the past when a new hurdle comes and will send her in a whole new direction.

Good family book with a low country background. Well developed characters and Patty Callahan Henry writes so well that you just fall in love with her stories.