The Shore House by Heidi Hostetter is the first book of the new contemporary woman’s fiction Dewberry Beach series. Now Dewberry Beach is the setting of this family saga and according to the author the continuation of the series will feature a new family in the same location which was a rather quaint small town. With each being different characters though they all could be read as a standalone if choosing to do so.

This first installment of the series features the Bennett family. Kaye, the matriarch of the family wants nothing other than to gather up her son and daughter and have them come to the shore with her and her husband. Kaye uses her husbands illness to pull at the sympathy of her grown children to bring them all together.

Stacy Bennett and her mother Kaye have never really seen eye to eye as she always felt Kaye favored her brother. Stacy’s husband convinces her that maybe a summer together with family is just what she and her children need though so they agree to Kaye’s plans. The summer however does not go as all had planned but maybe that’s what this family really needed.

I actually really enjoyed reading the tale of the Bennett family and thought this one is a great beach read. As with any family there are layers to each member and with the Bennetts a few secrets from the past to uncover. Really ever member is finding their new path to continue on in life so there was plenty of things that kept the pages turning all throughout.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

A wife's worry over her husband's recovery from a serious heart attack. A family reunion at their summer house. A daughter who has never seen eye to eye with her mother. A son who has never put down roots. The scene is set for a wonderful story of a summer family get together which doesn't turn out the way it was planned. Kaye. has taken control of husband Chase's life since his heart attack three years ago and masterminds every aspect of his life. She is organised and efficient and has everything sorted for the family's summer break at Dewberry Beach. But as soon as everyone arrives there are tensions. Daughter Stacy has had a difficult relationship with her mother. Currently pregnant with her third child, this summer meet was something she didn't want. Son Brad is a wanderer; someone who has spent his adult life travelling from place to place. He arrives late and with someone in tow who is about to ruffle Kaye's feathers in more ways than one.

This is a great story of family love, loyalty, misunderstandings and an opportunity for second chances.
A worthy five star review.

I love books about honesty and how difficult it can be with family to actually be honest. Being honest is a way of showing love, though, and that's something that Kaye and her children learn. I loved this book and all of its many themes. I thought it was much deeper than that typical beach read.

I'm a huge fan of emotional family dramas, but this one just fell flat for me. I really liked the characters, and could relate to both Stacey and Brad, but Kaye was a little too hovering for me as the matriarch. The ending was heartwarming, and I really LOVED the scenery, but I'm not going to lie, I skipped through several pages here and there just because I wasn't super absorbed in the story.

I loved this story and the complexity that Hostetter brought to her characters. This would be a great beach read or sitting outside sipping tea in the hot summer sun.

Thank you to Bookouture for the digital review copy of this book. This is the first book I've read by Heidi Hostetter.

I enjoyed visiting The Shore House in New Jersey. Heidi Hostetter set the scene beautifully with her descriptions of the area and the food, which left me wishing I could travel there.

This book is about a family who need to take time to deal with events from the past and make plans for the future. All 5 adults have issues to deal with, ranging from recovering from a near death experience to finding a job that makes them happy.

I enjoyed the book and will look out for the next book in the series (about a different family).

Kaye Bennett is ready for her family to reunite at their house on the shore and celebrate a summer and take it back to yesteryears when life felt easier. Kaye has a husband who suffered a heart attack three years ago and she is waiting for the other shoe to drop. She has two children who have been distant from her for one reason or another and she thinks a summer at the shore can solve everything.

I love a story that uses the "band getting together" theme and the reader wonders how all the characters will react when they get back together and they have a moment to bring up the past and confront it. Stacy is the elder sibling and has been holding onto a lot of feelings from the past and I found myself really feeling a camaraderie with this character. The feelings she had towards her mom and her parents were things that I have felt, so I really enjoyed reading her side of things.

The younger sibling, Brad, has had issues of his own and I wondered if my sister could agree with him and his feelings in this family. Brad's girlfriend was great comic relief and I loved the moments where she was possibly poking Kaye's buttons.

This was a great family story where many readers could relate to one or more of the characters and maybe see their family reflected in this story. These are the perfect books to curl up with during a summer weekend and nod your head or shake your head at how eerily close they are to the family you are in!

Kaye manages to corral her adult children Stacy and Brad into spending the summer on the Jersey Shore (oh the beach!). She wants them to spend time with her, as well as with their dad Chase, who had a heart attack a few years back. Kaye is a helicopter mother/wife for sure and this poses a problem for Stacy, who is pregnant and has two kids. Stacey's dealing with her own issues; her husband Ryan is always at work and she's thinking about her own place in the world. She never got along especially well with Kaye but this summer....Brad, btw, isn't really a player in this story, nor is Chase but rather backdrop to the Stacey-Kaye relationship. There isn't a deep dark secret here (as there often is in books of this genre) but these two need to overcome themselves. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

Good book on family coming together for summer. There are always secrets and the truth will tell. Love shore books

The Shore House will warm your heart while making you want to visit the Jersey shore in this summer tale of truths exposed and forgiveness.

The story of the Bennett family tells the many complexities, connections and layers of concerns that many families face, which made this such a good read for me.

I was immediately intrigued with Kaye Bennett’s, the matriarch of the family, character. The situation of keeping on top of her husband’s three-year long recovery from a massive heart attack, while also able to manipulate the rest of the family to spend the summer at the family’s shore house, indicated a person of resilience. Kaye’s character was deep, and I appreciated discovering where her different insecurities stemmed from.

The author also brings to light how fast time can go by where people go along in life and somehow lose their way. When the Bennett’s daughter, Stacy observes that her husband’s start up is turning out to be more stressful than enjoyable as when it began, while also reflecting on her decision of quitting her beloved editing career to be a stay-at-home mom, she questions her choice.

Overall, the entire family was scared to be honest with each other, which is what many families experience. Children are scared to disappoint their parents; parents feel guilty for mistakes they may have made with their children and so on. Hostetter’s smooth writing tackles these family intricacies and wraps it up in this thoroughly unputdownable story.

I can’t praise enough about this book. It has love, obstacles and descriptive settings that brought me right into the shore house with the Bennett family, making this is the perfect beach read.

This is my first book by this author and it was a nice welcome beach read compared to all the thrillers I’ve been reading during Covid. This is taking place in Dewberry Beach and it had me wanting to go there!!! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this early release in exchange for my honest review.

The Shore House is a great way to spend your day when you want to forget everything there is going on in the world.
The Bennett family get together on Dewberry Beach every summer. The one summer they get together you can feel the tension between them and just wait for all the hidden things going on between the family to come out. As each page turns you get to know more and more about them all.
The Bennett family has a lot going on and I am looking forward to more from this author so I can learn more about them all. The Shore House is the first in the Dewberry Beach series.
Thank you NetGalley- Heidi Hostetter and Bookouture for the ARC. This is my personal honest review in exchange for the ARC.

When I started reading this book, I started having mixed feelings about the mother, Kaye. At first, I felt empathy for her after her husband Chase's heart attack and long road to recovery. That feeling didn't last very long, it quickly turned into feelings of dislike for Kaye as she manipulated her family, time after time, into doing what she wanted for the outcome she planned. She wasn't a very likeable character for most of the book.

Stacy and Brad are Kaye and Chase's children, both grown. Stacy is married with two children, her husband built his own company and is a bit of a workaholic. Brad is a free-wheeling, trying to find himself man who never settled down. The whole family spends the summer at The Shore House, which Chase inherited from his parents. There is a long history at the shore house, you do things a certain way and you do them every year as tradition.

The story follows the family through the summer, its ups and downs, and leaves room for a sequel that I'm sure will follow Brad.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book, but my opinions are my own.

A delightful read with more substance than I was expecting from a "beach read".

I loved the diverse characters and their stories and the issues that each one was struggling with and brought with to the story.

The general theme of the story seems to be control - who has it, who is being controlled, what happens to the people being controlled and the ones controlling.

A great read which takes me back to my childhood family seaside vacations with grandparents; aunts; uncles; cousins; parents; siblings and dogs.

I look forward to seeing what else emerges from this shore town with the author's pen.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me the chance to read this book.

I really enjoyed The Shore House and devoured it as a feel good summer read- a perfect one for the beach.
The story follows three generations of family returning to their summer residence by the beach and has the perfect mix to make it a cosy and comfortable read.

The Shore House is a great read to throw in your beach bag and get lost sitting by the ocean. The women of the Bennett Family descend on the family short house with much more than their suitcases. Each dragging their own emotional dramatic baggage it becomes clear very quickly to matriarch Kaye that the family is in desperate need of a reconnection with each other. She sets out to make this her mission all while holding back her own baggage.

This book fell flat for me. Both Kaye and Stacy were whiny and pushy and it turned out, I just didn't care about either of them, which was sad because the book centers on them. I wish more had been fleshed out with their relationship, which perhaps might have provided me with a little empathy for them. The male characters had minor roles but I actually liked them more than the female leads. Ryan was a good guy trying to do his best to support his family and deal with Stacy, and poor Chase was three years recovered from a heart attack and dealing with Kaye's obsessive control over him. I wish he had stood up to Kaye sooner. Brad needed more development as I was happy to see him start to settle down (even if it was entirely predictible) but why was Iona even introduced as a character? She showed up for what, half a chapter and then poof! Gone, never to be seen again. Totally not needed for the plot, had her relationship with Brad been long-distance instead of in-person, the drama still could have been used for developing Brad.

This is a wonderful summer read! The characters (One you'll want to slap and the others you'll want to hug) are well developed and the story is heartlifting. The story reminded me so much of childhood trips to St. George Island. If you're a fan of family redemption and growth, you'll enjoy this. I'm excited to read book #2!

The Shore House is an entertaining and well written book.. great plot and character development. A story of a family their problems and secrets. I received an arc from the publisher and this is my unbiased review.

Review The Shore House – Heidi Hostetter

Three years have passed since the last visit of the Bennett family to their shore house in Dewberry Beach. Chase, father of the family, had suffered a heart attack, needing those three years to rehabilitate. Now that he’s been feeling better his wife Kaye decides it’s high time to spend a summer at Dewberry Beach again, together with their grown children and their families. Daughter Stacy arrives with her husband Ryan and their two kids Connor and Sophie. Stacy is a bit hesitant, as her relationship with her mother hasn’t been all that good. Although he is late, Stacy’s brother Brad is on his way as well.
Unsurprisingly not everything goes according to plan. Kaye is very anxious and afraid her husband will suffer another attack. Chase feels suffocated by his wife’s rules for a healthy lifestyle. Stacy carries an unexplainable fear for the ocean with her, which of course doesn’t go well with two little children who want to go to the beach every day. Brad is trying to make a life for himself, but does not want to disappoint his father, who wants Brad to be a businessman like himself. All things considered, this situation can only lead to frustration.
However, the summer does offer chances. A chance for Kaye to forgive herself, a chance for Chase and Brad to determine a new lifestyle for themselves and a chance for Stacy to come to terms with an unresolved childhood trauma. What’s a better setting to go through these processes than at a family shore house in Dewberry Beach?

The Shore House is a lovely book, filled with everyday realities. Who doesn’t recognize friction between a mother or father and a daughter or brother? Or meaningless fights with a spouse, only because you’re tired and need sleep? Everyday incidents that make the characters come to life, that makes the reader able to imagine what a family vacation in a shore house might really be like. It is a book about the things in life that are the most important: love, friendship and security. A book that puts an end to the illusion that money or a big career are essential. Follow you heart and your dreams.

In the back of the book a letter by author Heidi Hostetter is attached. In the letter Hostetter tells the reader about her youth in a place similar to Dewberry Beach. Writing The Shore House felt like coming home, something that is felt in every detail of the book. The homely familiarity of for instance, the owner of the store Applegate’s, where you can get literally anything you need for your summer vacation and even find things you did not know you needed before you went there!
In the same letter Hostetter announces a sequel. Not about the same family, but about another family but once again situated in Dewberry Beach. I am looking forward to it!

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing the review copy.