What an entertaining story that was a bit deeper than I was expecting.

Mary Kay Andrews once again gives us a story that we can get lost in but that has a bit of mystery and substance. It would be what I would consider a beach read with some meat to the story.

I just LOVE Mary Kay Andrews. Her love of real estate, beach houses, HGTV...I feel like we'd be friends IRL. Her latest book Sunset Beach was another fantastic read. I loved how she wove in the history of her grandparent's cottage into the mystery. Thank you for the advanced copy. I will recommend this one to our patrons!

I have a soft spot for Mary Kay Andrews books. They usually have a certain southern charm that I love, wonderfully flawed characters, and lots of humor. However, lately I've not been finding her books to be as charming as her earlier books. Sunset Beach was definitely a departure from her typical books. It was more like the mysteries that she has written under Kathy Hogan Trocheck. And although this was definitely more of a mystery, it still had lots of southern charm and good characters. I really enjoyed the watching the main character adjust to her new life and find herself.

This one would be a great "beach read" for anyone who enjoys light mystery and Mary Kay Andrews's southern charm.

Sunset Beach by Mary Kay Andrews is one of those books that you start reading and can’t put down. What more could you want - you are at the beach but there is a mystery to solve and relationships to repair? Drue is at the lowest point in her life. She has just lost her mother, still recovering from an injury and has no place to go. Her estranged father shows up and offers her a life line - a job and a forgotten family beach home. Drue becomes entwined in two very different mysteries one from the past and one from the present. She is trying to get to the truth even if it involves her family. A Mary Kay Andrews novel is like a hot Krispy Kreme doughnut you can’t resist it. I received a copy from netgalley. I was very happy since I have read several of Mary Kay Andrews books and have loved every one. If you like mysteries with a beach setting and interesting characters you will like this one.

This book was such a delight to read! Great story, colourful characters and terrific plot. Drue is in her thirties. Her mother has just died, she has lost her job and in desperation accepts a job in her dad’s law firm. Drue has not had much contact with her dad since he was divorced from her mom, but she is desperate. She gets involved in two cases (Iwhich she should not be involved in), but won’t let go. The story has romance, family drama, mystery and murder. I loved it!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for my honest review. I am a Mary Kay Andrews fan and this book did not disappoint. The characters and their relationships were relatable. I loved that there were two simultaneous mysteries to keep the reader engaged. This was an easy, light read and I always look forward to reading more by this author.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press. Thank you to both as I really enjoyed this book.

Drue was an easy character to like. You felt her struggles as she is coping with a knee injury and the loss of her mom. I enjoyed seeing how Drue and Brice mended their daughter/father relationship.

Drue was kind of lost at the beginning of this book, but I feel as she dove into the mysteries around Colleen Hicks and Jazmin Mayes I felt she kind of found herself. I enjoyed finding out what happened to these young women as much as I enjoyed Drue coming into her own.

This is a great beach read with heart and mystery. I recommend taking this book along on vacation this summer!!

I am a long time fan of Mary Kay Andrews and was eagerly awaiting her newest novel. Her books are my ideal version of a "beach read" as they are engrossing, have a bit of lightness but are not dull. Sunset Beach is no exception to this.

This novel follows Drue in the months after her mother's death as she moves back to Ft. Lauderdale and into her grandparents rustic cottage on Sunset Beach. She takes a job with her estranged father and quickly finds herself involved in solving two mysteries that all before her have decided were unsolvable.

From the get-go I was pretty involved in the story as I'm a sucker for beach anything but I also love the idea of saving older homes in lieu of tearing them down for the latest McMansion, especially in beach communities. Drue's cottage was described so perfectly that you could easily imagine it in your mind.

The meat of the story follows the two mysteries set about 40 years apart and both are equally as intriguing as the layers get revealed through the story. While it isn't a ton of chapters, there's enough "flashback" chapters to keep the older mystery alive without bogging down the current time plot.

Overall I found this book charming, engaging and a delight to read. Looking forward to more of Mary Kay Andrews' books in the future!

I was tickled pink to have received an eARC novel from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press in exchange for my honest review.

Once again, the perfect, perfect beach book from Mary Kay Andrews! Sunset Beach is a treat from start to finish. Drue, the main character, has had a run of bad luck, but she doesn't let it define her or hold her back. In order to survive, she has to work for her estranged father's ambulance-chasing law firm. While there, she turns amateur detective as she stumbles onto two mysteries, one in the present day that involves a client of her dad's firm, and one from the 1970s, which actually involves her dad in his younger days. There's danger, intrigue, humor, tons of family drama, and the great atmosphere of Old Florida in Drue's St. Petersburg neighborhood. I love that Mary Kay Andrews includes an afterword of personal information at the end of the book. Part of Drue's story is fixing up a classic 1950s beach cottage that she inherits from her grandparents, and Mary Kay shares her personal interest and experience in rehabbing old beach homes and searching for antiques and other treasures to fill them. She even shares some great recipes for beach entertaining. Loved this book. I didn't read it on the beach, but it made me feel like I was on vacation!

Another beachy hit from Mary Kay Andrews. I adore her Weezie and Bebe mysteries and while this title isn't a straight up mystery, there is a little detective work done by Drue that is reminiscent of that series. I would love to see Drue again and possibly as the star of a new series by Ms. Andrews.
Drue is a very realistic character and I just wanted to hang out with her!

I have been reading books by Mary Kay Andrews and her pseudonym Kathy Hogan Trocheck for years and years. She has only bombed maybe once and when I mean bombed -I mean that she got two stars from me. Most of her books are 3's, 4's and even 5's. I had a difficult time deciding what amount of stars to give this book. It is written in such a different style that I'm used to from the author. These characters are deeper with more problems to deal with and the issues they are dealing with are grittier. The fact that there are jumps in time (several different murders one forty years in the past) didn't do me any good until I really got into the book -then my unhappiness with this book flew out of the window.

I don't really like having to take so much time to 'get into a book' (the book was never bad, it just was a bit slow)but this book slowly pulled me in and I found myself liking that. Character growth abounded (I really did not like Drue at first) and the character's, like Wendy, that I disliked at first, I came to like and the character's that I liked at first I came to distrust even before the denouement. What I did NOT see coming was how the forty-year-old murder happened and why it happened and WHO made it happen!

This did turn out to be an engrossing read for me and one I will recommend to mystery lovers who like a tiny side of romance. And I do mean tiny!

*ARC supplied by the publisher.

This looked like a beach read , but it was too annoying to go very far into it. I have liked some of her other books and know they are not usually deep or unpredictable, but enjoying if you aren't looking for those things.

Right from the start, even though I am in FL where the story takes place, I felt it was too over the top ridiculous a story to want to finish. FL can be a good escape from aspects of reality, but this was nowhere near reality and gives FL a bad name. Absolutely everything was too, too... too unbelievable to care about the characters who were too far removed from what I'd call regular people, too silly a storyline of long lost dad coming to her rescue, only to find her dad has now married her 8th grade best friend, who now hates her and does not wish her well. Need I go on?

Thank you NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest opinion. I will no longer request books by this author.

I received an advance reader copy of Sunset Beach. I was expecting a generic beach read and it was an unexpected favorite.
This love story was multi layered with two amateur mysteries to be solved.
The story flowed easily, the stories within the story were intriguing with unexpected twists and turns. The characters were well developed and likeable. A good read to take to the beach or read in front of a fire. 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Mary Kay Andrews for the ARC of Sunset Beach. I have been a fan of Mary Kay Andrews for quite a while. And this book does not disappoint. While the title and the cover makes it seem like a very breezy, easy beach read this one goes past that point. Family dynamics takes center stage in this novel. When Drue's mom dies and her estranged dad shows up for the funeral her life takes a turn that causes her to move back to Sunset Beach. After Drue starts work in her dad's law firm she finds cases that don't add up. The story shows her investigating and trying to find justice for one of her dad's clients. This book has suspense and intrigue and a wonderful beach setting. Such a great read!

I love early Mary Kay Andrews books and she's remained pretty formulaic with her books for awhile but I feel like her last book, The Weekenders, was beginning of a new path for her. Although she rights "chick lit" under MKA, she has a few female detective series under Kathy Hogan Trocheck, which I also love. With Sunset Beach, she successfully merges her standard independent woman meets a man she can't stand story line with a mystery no one else around can figure out (or wants to) other than said independent woman.

Another thing I appreciate about her writing: her characters also range in age. From the 20something we saw in Dempsey Jo Killebrew in The Fixer Upper to women in their late 30s in her most recent books and the older ladies (Weezie & BeBe) we see in Savannah Blues and other books in their series, Mary Kay Andrews covers the gamut and doesn't miss a beat.

Drue Campbell, 36 years old and down on her luck. With her mother just dying, she is barely recovering from a kite boarding accident and has no job. When her estranged father, Brice Campbell, shows up at her mother's funeral, Drue has no choice but to accept his offer of a job at his law firm. Packing up what little she has, she crosses over to St. Petersburg. Surprised, she finds her 68 year old father married to Wendy, a girl she once knew (and disliked) from 8th grade... It seems as if nothing has changed in that regard. That was one surprise, the other was that she inherited a small dilapidated beach cottage on Sunset Beach that once belonged to her grandparents. Her life is far from perfect, working with her father's wife, Wendy, a frenemy, a cottage to repair and a job from hell...the background is set.

While investigating a leak from the cottage roof, Drue goes up to the attic to investigate and comes upon an interesting find in a box with her mother's name on it...newspaper clippings about a case involving a missing woman from 1976. Along with that, there was a three inch binder with police reports and old black and white photographs. What was that doing in her grandparents attic? As if that was not enough to pique Drue's interest, there is another more recent case that she also gets involved with...a little girl whose mother was strangled and is being raised by her grandmother. But something didn't sit right with Drue in either case. With two mysteries to solve, along with a hated stepmother, family contention, the dangers involved with these two cases and not knowing who she could trust, this is a novel that is difficult to put down.

I really was tickled as I read the descriptions of Florida, especially where I live...spot-on with palm trees, beaches, dive bars, et al. There is nothing like watching the sunset over the water, or the beautiful pink and purple sky outlining the palm trees. Just don't ask me how I feel about hurricane season!

Mary Kay Andrews never disappointments, her novels are the best and this one keeps you glued till the end. Ms. Andrews is a consummate author, her writing and novels are quite entertaining. Highly recommended.

Loved loved loved this book. Perfect chic lit book for your next vacation...especially if you're heading to the beach. Mary Kay Andrews never disappoints with her easy to read, can't put it down novels. Definitely recommend this fun read! Thank you to Net Galley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Received a copy of this book from nergalley.
The cover of the book does not do it justice,thought it would be a summer romantic read for the beach but once I dtarted reading the book I vould nit put it down.
It has sll the elements of a must read book ,family drama, romance,intrigue and all well written by the author.
Can not wait to read more of these books.

Another great beach read by Mary Kay Andrews. I wish I was reading it on the beach instead of freezing cold and snow, but at least I got a little escape by reading about Sunset Beach. When thirty something Drue arrives back at Sunset Beach she is grieving the loss of her mother, and her ability to kitesurf. She has taken the lifeline in the form of a job from her father with whom she has not had a good relationship, and moved into the cottage left to her by her grandparents. As she rehabilitates the cottage and herself she is also looking into murder case. Lots of depth to this book, with well developed characters and sense of place.

I am not *always* a Mary Kay Andrews fan but this book really held my attention and had a little bit more than some of her others. I enjoyed it very much. Kept my attention at all turns and I think it will be a popular summer beach read this year!