Happy to revisit this family and the charming setting, The Souther Side of Paradise focuses on the youngest daughter, actress Emerson, and is told from alternating viewpoints fo Emerson and her mother, Ainsley (who has her own storyline running through the book.) This is a quiet work with lovely bits that don't initially seem like much but really flesh out the story. The characters are really well developed, and while I might have seen where Ainsley's story was headed, I enjoyed the ride to the destination - and I was still given a surprise and a very satisfying ending.

And how can I get a Coffee Kyle in my life?

A satisfying conclusion to a trilogy but also works well as a stand alone (Harvey scatters in enough details that you don't NEED to read the earlier books, but I think you'll want to, as her writing is a delight.)

This book was amazing! Kristy is my auto read author. I’m obsessed with her words and style! I would read her books every day of my life if I could!

What a wonderful series finale! I enjoyed every moment of this wonderful book.

Highly recommend the first three books in the Peachtree Bluff series:
Book #1: Slightly South of Simple
Book #2: The Secret to Southern Charm
Book #3: The Southern Side of Paradise

There is also a 4th book, which I haven't yet read--but I need to, now that I know it exists!
Book #4: Christmas in Peachtree Bluff

I received an advance reading copy of this book courtesy of Gallery Books via Netgalley.

I love the Murphy Girls. Peachtree Bluff is my favorite fictional place, the one I desperately wish was real! I wish I had a "Coffee Kyle" in my life!

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all the books in the Peachtree Bluff series, and learning about Ansley and her three daughters. This third book with a focus on the youngest, Emerson, was no exception. I only hope it’s not the end of the series!

Reading a Kristy Woodson Harvey book is like coming home again. Her characters feel like family. Often they feel like the crazy drama queens in the family, but still, family. This book, The Southern Side of Paragraph, was no exception. Well plotted, well paced, and full of grace notes - the kinds of scenes that seem like nothing but really turn characters from cardboard figures to dimensional people who leap off the page and into your consciousness. Bottom line: this book is a richly drawn, deeply satisfying read.

I love this whole series from Kristy Woodson Harvey! I'm not a huge "chick lit" reader, but these hit the perfect sweet spot for me. They are light, and funny with a splash of romance and family drama thrown in. Perfect for beach or poolside reading.

Kristy has delivered a great cast of characters that we get to enjoy for all three books.

You know when you just fall head over heels for a town? The people are quirky and unforgettable, the weather is perfect, there are cute little indie businesses EVERYWHERE, and there’s always some hot gossip you can’t help but want to be privy to. I fell in love with Peachtree Bluff, Georgia the minute I read Kristy Woodson Harvey’s Slightly South of Simple in 2017, and I’ve basked in my annual trips there ever since. Now, after finishing The Southern Side of Paradise, the third and final installment in the Peachtree Bluff series, I don’t know how I’m going to say goodbye.

The Southern Side of Paradise brings us back into the lives of the magnificent Murphy women: Peachtree Bluff native Ansley and the three grown daughters, Caroline, Sloane, and Emerson, who somehow landed back under her roof in the blink of one summer. This time around, it’s youngest sister and rising starlet Emerson’s turn in the spotlight–a position she seems destined for. With an impending wedding and a breakthrough dream role on the horizon, Emerson should be shining brighter than the Georgia sun, and she is–aside from a few mixed feelings, a possible health crisis, and the whopper of a secret she’s carrying around. With all of her daughters happy(ish) and her once-upon-a-time love Jack back at her side, Ansley should be at peace too, but she can’t help feeling that everyone is keeping things from her–and maybe she’s got a few secrets of her own, too. The Southern Side of Paradise beautifully explores how the past shapes the present, how plans can so easily fall off course, and how even life’s greatest difficulties can transform into something magical.

More than anything, The Southern Side of Paradise–like all of the books in this series–is about love. Every page is drenched with the love of family, the love of a town, and the love of a life perfect in its imperfections. It explores old loves, new loves, and the loves that are somehow both. Ansley and Jack’s romance is one for the ages, and will forever rank as one of my all-time favorites. Kristy Woodson Harvey has created a true community within the pages of the Peachtree Bluff novels, and I’ve come to think of Ansley, Jack, and the girls as beloved friends. (I have been entrusted with their deepest secrets, after all.) I love that with every novel, I’ve gotten the chance to know each of the “Starlite Sisters” a bit more, and at every turn, I continue to be surprised about where their journeys take me. As with life itself, I never knew what to expect next, and I somehow had to trust that everything would turn out just as it should. In the talented hands of Kristy Woodson Harvey, that’s exactly what happened.

The Southern Side of Paradise moved me in every possible way, and as hard as it is to say goodbye to this wonderful summer town, I know it will stay with me forever. I’ll never forget those days at the sandbar, the weird and wonderful community meetings, and the hotter-than-a-scalding-latte Coffee Kyle. (Especially not Coffee Kyle.) And who knows? Maybe the gates to Peachtree Bluff will reopen one day. A girl can dream, and life is full of surprises.

I really loved this book in a new to me author. The characters and location really and to the story. I can't wait to read the next one. This book keeps you guessing until the end.

A good beach read. This continues with characters in Peachtree Bluff and what happens to the sisters, and other characters in the small town wrap up nicely.

Everybody's keeping secrets in Peachtree Bluff! Ansley's three daughters, Caroline, Sloane, and Emerson, are all home with hidden issues of their own.

Ansley, after being widowed on 9/11, is engaged to her first love. She and Jack, her fiancee, are keeping the biggest secret of all.

Caroline must decide if she wants to stay married. Her husband had a very public affair with a super model. To make matters worse, the super model is the subject of a new movie, so the affair will play over and over on the silver screen.

Sloane is learning to help her husband as he struggles with PTSD. He was captured and held for many months. It's due to Sloane's uncle that he was located and rescued.

Emerson, the baby, is home from making her latest movie. Unfortunately, she plays the super model who had an affair with her sister's husband. Can we say "Awkward"?

The older girls have always known that their father was a sperm donor. Just who was he, anyway?

There are many more secrets in The Southern Side of Paradise. It's a fun, easy read that shouldn't be missed.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received a free digital copy of this title to review from Net Galley.

#TheSouthernSideofParadise#NetGalley

This is the third and final book in the Peachtree series, and it ties up the stories of the Murphy women quite nicely. When I received the advance review copy to read, I didn't know this was the final book, and in a way I was disappointed. I've enjoyed reading about the lives of the Murphy women, and leaving them will be like leaving good friends.

In addition to the details that brought the setting of the town, the beach, the lake, and Starlite Island alive in all of the books, I appreciated the uniqueness of each of the characters. Through all three books the women had their own very distinct personality that stayed true through each story.

While reading this final book in the series, I really enjoyed seeing all the main players in previous stories take the stage, including Granny who makes an appearance in remembrances by Emerson and Ansley. I always liked Granny's no-nonsense approach to life and her wonderful philosophy. In a flashback told from Emerson's point of view, the reader gets a taste of Granny at her best. Emerson is having a serious discussion with Granny and Granny says, "Honey we better hope that God has loopholes. Otherwise we're all screwed."

Amen to that!

I enjoy the author's writing, and I've been invested in these characters since the series first started. So even though this last story didn't have some of the depth of plot issues that the two previous books did, I read on to the end and I am so glad I did. The ending was perfect. It made me smile. One of those smiles you get even though tears are misting your eyes, and I dare you to read the book and not feel the same way.

Traveling With T's Thoughts:

I have MUCH love for Kristy Woodson Harvey and her writing. From her early books, Dear Carolina and Lies and Other Acts of Love, to the Peachtree Bluff series (Slightly South of Simple, The Secret To Southern Charm and now The Southern Side of Paradise), KWH hits the writing sweet spot for me: Sweet, but not sickly sweet, characters that I can root for, romances that are believable, and settings that make me yearn for a plane ticket to spend like a week there.

The Southern Side of Paradise is the final book in the Peachtree Bluff trilogy (psst… KWH- if you decide to write more- I wouldn’t mind 😉 and it had some big shoes to fill and some questions to wrap up. And it did it all. Beautifully.

What I liked:

The cover. HELLO, gorgeous 🙂

The relationship between the sisters. I don’t have a sister, so sister books fascinate me- all they know all the secrets and hot buttons to touch during a fight, but are fiercely protective when the chips are down or someone is ganging up on their sister.

The ending. It’s satisfying. I can look back at the Peachtree Bluff series and feel content where KWH took these Murphy women. However, I think there is also room for re-visiting these women down the road. And I love that.



Bottom line: For me, this book is the introduction to the summer. It’s like the first snowcone of the summer, the aroma of the Memorial Day BBQ, the feeling of the swimming pool after a long winter without it. Grab your floppy hat, your sunscreen, sweet tea and let summer wash over you.

A captivating, enjoyable family drama. Full of unconditional love, and amazing resolutions to unexpected challenges. I really liked this book, as well as this beautiful family. Thank you NetGalley for the copy for review. All opinions are my own.

I am not new to southern fiction however; a lot of the books in this genre all seem the same. This was the first book that has hooked me in a long time. The writing was easy and enjoyable and the story was so so good! Definitely a MUST read!!!

As a card-carrying member of GRITS (Girls Raised In The South) I love a good book set in the South, especially if it's set on the coast. Throw in the fact that this book is the third in a trilogy about a mother and her 3 adult daughters, and it became a "must read" for me. I'd received an ARC of this, the third book, but I chose to start with the first one, and I'm so glad I did. I read all three books this summer, and thoroughly enjoyed all three.
Each of the 3 books focuses on a different daughter, but all three are present in each book, and of course the mother's life is at the heart of all three books - and in each book the viewpoint alternates between the mother's POV and the a daughter's. I mostly listened to these audiobooks, also reading parts of each, and enjoyed them all. A trilogy can become a bit repetitive when one reads all three books in a short period of time, and there were bits of this one that were, but not so much that the repetitive parts felt like filler, they were more like little reminders of pertinent details from the previous books.
This book focuses on the youngest daughter, Emerson, an up-and-coming actress who's going through a health scare and questioning many of her life choices. As we watch her struggle with decisions she must make, we catch up with her sisters and her mother. There's drama, there's humor, there's love and commitment and family (and family secrets). I loved these books, and have Kristy Woodson Harvey's other books on my wishlist.
My thanks to Netgalley and Gallery Books for providing a copy for an unbiased review.

This was a fun beach read. I think maybe I would've been more invested in the story if I had read the other two books.
It was a good read.

The Southern Side of Paradise is the last book in the Peachtree Bluff series by Kristy Woodson Harvey and was my first experience with her writing. A definite summer read (preferably on a pool float sipping a glass of rose.) Fans of southern fiction, particularly the low country, will love her characters and family drama! It was entertaining, romantic, heartwarming read. Themes of sisterhood, mother/daughter relationships, secrets and sacrifice will keep you rooting for the Murphy girls. Thank you to Netgalley for my free digital copy in exchange for my review.

This is the third (and final?) book to that series and I loved going back to Peachtree Bluff, Georgia. If you want a satisfying family saga beach read, go back and start this series from the beginning!

I received an Advanced Reader Copy from Gallery Books and NetGalley for my unbiased opinion of the book. Ansley Murphy's life is finally the way she wants it and then Emerson comes home. Her youngest child could blow her newfound life to shreds. Emerson meanwhile coming back home is less restful than scary. Having to face issues she doesn't want to face makes her and family stronger for it in the long run. I am sad this series is ending I fell in love with the first book all the way to the end of this one. I gained a new author, Kristy Woodson Harvey, keep up the great writing!