I have always loved Brenda Novak’s books, so I was so excited to read her newest one. I am glad to say I enjoyed this book, as much as her previous books! She does such a wonderful job at getting you hooked to the story, right from the start. Once I started, I did not want to put this book down.

This story centers around three generations of women, over the course of the summer. Each family members has their own issues that they’re working through. I loved how the author connected each character together through their struggles. The problems these characters face are real life issues. You will find yourself connecting with them and rooting for them. This book is part fiction, romance, and even has a little mystery to it as well! If you’re looking for a great beach read this summer, I highly recommend checking this book out!

Review featured at www.books-n-kisses.com

I am a fan of Novak’s. I won’t say I have read everything she has ever written but I have read books of hers that I really enjoyed. This was not one of them.

Honestly, there is just so much in this book that it becomes unbelievable. Yes, a family can have bad times when it feels like everything is on their shoulders but it really isn’t. In this book it is. I mean everything was thrown at the family including the kitchen sink.

I would have been happy with this book being much shorter. There was a lot in the middle that was filler, in my opinion. I liked the beginning and came back in for the end but the middle was just too long.

I really felt the connection between the mother and son. I felt each word of love she said to him as I have said the same to my son.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Loved it! I thought this was going to be another book about a romance on the beach. (should have known better it is a Brenda Novak book after all.) It was more - it is about the lives of 3 woman, 3 woman who are stronger then they think and the people who love them.

I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review -
What a totally awesome book!
Autumn's husband has been missing for two years. Because of this she has taken her two children and moved in with her mother who owns a bookstore.. .. And then the unexpected happens - she runs into the boy she loved in high school and once again the sparks fly.
Autumn wonders if she dare let herself become involved as she is still married - but with all the people she has hired to look for her husband no one has been able to find him. And - what about her children - will they accept a new man in her life? A thought provoking book you will want to devour!!!

Today I’m part of the Winter Reads Blog Tour from Harlequin for Women’s Fiction, dishing about The Bookstore on the Beach by Brenda Novak. This is a novel that has several subplots, but primarily focuses on three generations of women: Mary, a bookstore owner with a past she’s kept hidden; Autumn, her daughter whose husband went on a business trip and never returned; and Taylor, Autumn’s daughter, who is trying to understand her sexuality and also dealing with a life changing event. The story is told in three voices. There is some romance, some mystery, some “family issues”. This is my first Brenda Novak title and I enjoyed it!
Thank you for my copy and making me part of the tour!

Mary and Laurie are two friends who own a bookstore in the beautiful location of Sable Beach. Mary's daughter Autumn has had a difficult 18 months - her husband, Nick, has disappeared in his capacity as a Government employee. Autumn isn't ready to give up on him yet, and continues to investigate, but she really needs the comfort of her homeplace so decides to take her teenage son and daughter to Sable Beach for the Summer.

This is one of those books about a small town full of characters with secrets - Mary is hiding something enormous that she hoped Autumn would never find out, but that is threatened when a private investigator shows up in town asking questions. Autumn is struggling with the feelings she still harbours for her childhood sweetheart Quinn. Taylor thinks she might be pregnant, and that's the least of her worries when she meets a group of teenagers at the beach and forms a connection with one of the girls.

This, for me, was almost too much at times. Every single character has an issue or a secret and I felt like it was a drama series that had been condensed down to fit into one book. I mean, what are the odds of two private investigations on in the same family at the same time but with two different people?!

I also would have really loved more of the actual bookstore. From the title, I imagined it to be a central hub for all the goings-on in Sable Beach and it really wasn't that. The notion of having a bustling bookstore in a beach location was the reason why I wanted to read it in the first place.

This is sounding a bit negative - it's not a bad book by any means, but it's the second one now that I've read by this author that I thought had a little bit too much going on (the first being A Matter of Grave Concern). If you DO make it to a beach at any stage this year, and you like these kind of sweeping, drama-filled generational stories, then this could be a really great beach read. I think if you like Lucy Diamond books this may suit you.

If you are a fan of romance, family drama and suspense you need to check out this book. I'm a sucker for any book that has a bookstore as part of it and this book took that initial interest and drug me right in. Lots is going on in this book and I found myself anxious to get back to it and find out what was going to happen next.

In The Bookstore on the Beach Brenda Novak tells us the story of three generations of women, grandmother Mary, mother Autumn and daughter Taylor.

Eighteen months ago, Autumn’s husband disappeared mysteriously and she has done all she can to try and find out what happened to him, with no success. Now her and her children, Taylor and Caden, return to Sable Beach to spend the summer vacation. It’s their first time back since Nick disappeared and she hopes the change of scenery will be beneficial for them all.

If Caden has been able to deal with what has happened relatively well, Taylor has been struggling and, before they left, she did something that will forever change her life. But at Sable Beach she meets someone special who gives her a new perspective on her life and helps her find herself again and accept her new reality.

Autumn begins to come to terms with the fact that she will probably never know what happened to her husband, and that the most likely scenario is that he is dead. And that, for her kids sake and for her own, she might have to move on. When she reencounters Quinn, her old unrequited passion from youth, now divorced, she discovers that, to her great embarrassment, she still has feelings for him. The difference is that now the feeling seems to be mutual...

Meanwhile, Mary has ghosts from her past to deal with. The secret she has been keeping for so many years threatens to be revealed and that may mean losing the daughter she loves so much. But there is nothing she won’t do for her daughter and her grandchildren, and that love will give her the strength to deal with it, at the same time that she continues to support them as they deal with their own problems.

I loved all the characters, even the supporting ones! Mary has been through so much, but she survived and became the best mother and grandmother she could be. Autumn, who has always put her family ahead of everything, learns that, if she’s not happy neither will her children. And Taylor who, at the beginning can’t see beyond her own grief, learns to empathize and realizes we don’t always get the life we dreamed we’d have but that it doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll be unhappier.

I also liked Caden, who is so sweet to his sister when she needs him the most. However, my absolute favorite is Quinn. He’s also been through so much but when he reunites with Autumn realizes there may be a second chance at happiness for him after all. But can she take a chance on them?

I liked all the stories, but loved the romance between Autumn and Quinn. He’s so patient, so understanding, and always gives her the time and the space she needs to decide what she wants to do. He has raised the bar for heroes… That’s why he didn’t deserve (and neither did we) the scare the author gives us, leaving the happy ending literally to the last paragraph… I would have liked an epilogue, but we can’t always get what we want...

I really wanted to like this book but I found too much going on and I ended up just losing interest in this book.

This is one I do not recommend .

From the beginning, there was a lot going on in 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 by Brenda Novak—missing husbands, old loves, hidden closet skeletons, mysterious domestic crimes, potentially life-altering mistakes—but the writing for this multigenerational story told by characters Mary, her daughter Autumn, and granddaughter Taylor, flowed so seamlessly, ‘a lot’ worked. I was constantly on the edge of my seat as I watched the secrets and angsts each of these women carried unfurl, and I was so hooked that I couldn’t put the book down. To the detriment of any plans I had for the day, lol, I finished 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 in hours. I absolutely 100% recommend this one!

𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝘼𝙍𝘾 𝙘𝙤𝙥𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙗𝙮 𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙚𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙣 𝙏𝙧𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙋𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙈𝙄𝙍𝘼 𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙨 (𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠-𝙮𝙤𝙪!). 𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙫𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙮 𝙤𝙬𝙣.

I was very excited about the premise of this book when I read it, let's be honest almost anything featuring a bookstore could pull me in, but I finished this one with a feeling of wanting more and yet, also wanting less. It felt like there were too many different plots and sub-plots to be able to concentrate on any of them fully, and in some instances it felt like there were holes. It would have been nice to have some backstory on her missing husband, since he's already missing at the beginning of the book. While I did enjoy the story overall, I would have liked some things to be paired down and refined, while I would have liked more from the ending. That being said there were a lot of things I did enjoy in this book, such as the characters and some of the threads being woven in the plots. It was an enjoyable read overall.

2.5 stars, rounded up
I picked this book up for two reasons: one, that the main character Autumn's husband had disappeared without a trace eighteen months previously and she was trying to find him and what had happened to him. Two, it featured a bookstore and books about books/bookstores/libraries are some of my favorites. This book turned out to be an overall decent read, but it definitely has some shortcomings.

The main thing wrong with this book is that it is so incredibly uneven and tries to introduce far too many "issues" and none of them are dealt with very well. In addition to the missing husband there are also threads of kidnapping/sexual abuse, sexual identity, teen pregnancy, attempted murder of a spouse, rekindling lost love, and quite a few other things. It ends up being more of a mess than an cohesive story.

One problem I have with general fiction that attempts to introduce a mystery storyline is that it is generally not paced well, and the missing husband plot point suffers from that. We never get to know the husband before he is missing, so the reader can't form a connection to him or to his relationship with Autumn and the kids. When there is eventually some resolution, we have nothing to root for other than the relationship that happens on the page between Autumn and Quinn, even though the relationship with her husband is longer and more complex. Then the ending of the book is totally abrupt and the book feels very unfinished.

Mary's past should have been revealed to the reader much earlier than it is, because all of her insistence on keeping things from Autumn over and over gets annoying. Again with the uneven pacing, if the reader was let in on it sooner I think I might have been more on Mary's side.
I did like Taylor's storyline and it seemed authentic, but there was just way too much going on in this book to give any of it the thoughtful consideration it needed for such heavy topics.

Lastly, there was very little mention of books and the bookstore. Just vaguely in passing and I was disappointed that it wasn't a bigger part of the story. Overall this is a decent book, if you can set aside the pacing and the over abundance of issues. The characters are interesting and there are some meaningful situations.

How do you choose? An old life and love or a new one! How do you cope when you're seventeen and your life is upside down? How can you trust anyone - when all you've known is deceit and pain?

Great read - well developed characters - storyline that overlaps and intertwines and leads through love, heartbreak and making the decision to live your own truth.

Strong women - great story and a good ending - what more could you want?

I am trying to sort out how I feel about this book. At the center of the story is Autumn, whose husband has been missing for 18 months. After exhausting all efforts to locate him, Autumn acknowledges that it may be time for her to move on without him. Her mother Mary has been hiding a secret from the time that Autumn was three years old. But now there is a private investigator nosing around and it is making Mary very nervous. And finally, Autumn’s daughter Taylor has her own secrets. Taylor was left so confused after her father’s disappearance that she made some unwise decisions and may now have to deal with the consequences of her actions.

The strength of this book lies in its overall strong family bonds. Autumn has brought her two teenagers to visit their grandmother at Sable Beach for the summer. I really liked the interactions of the teens with their grandmother. Also at Sable Beach is Autumn’s first love Quinn who has moved back to care for his mother who is dying from cancer. The devotion Quinn has toward his parents is admirable.

Both Mary’s and Autumn’s storylines left me feeling unsatisfied with their conclusion. Mary’s horrific storyline was the most interesting and deserved a much stronger conclusion. Autumn’s storyline of the missing husband and her struggle with her attraction to Quinn did not ring true to me at all. I don’t want to spoil the story here so I will just say that another outcome to that story would have been much better. Taylor’s storyline was the most satisfying, although not very realistic. The endings to all three storylines were abrupt and incomplete.

Novak did maintain a good separation of the three women’s storylines while interweaving them expertly at just the right times.

I think what was missing for me was the actual emotions the characters should have been exhibiting given their situations. They were all too perfect. Even Autumn’s son Caden was just too perfect.

I received an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions are my own.

Title: The Bookstore on the Beach
Author: Brenda Novak
Genre: Women’s fiction
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

How do you start a new chapter when you haven’t closed the book on the last one?

Eighteen months ago, Autumn Divac’s husband went missing. Her desperate search has yielded no answers—she still has no idea where he went or why. After being happily married for twenty years, she can’t imagine moving forward without him, but for the sake of their two teenage children, she has to try.

Autumn takes her kids home for the summer to the charming beachside town where she was raised. She seeks comfort by working alongside her mother and aunt at their quaint bookshop, only to learn that her daughter is facing a life change neither of them saw coming and her mother has been hiding a terrible secret for years. And when she runs into Quinn Vanderbilt—the boy who stole her heart in high school—old feelings start to bubble up again. Is she free to love him, or should she hold out hope for her husband’s return? She can only trust her heart…and hope it won’t lead her astray.

I think there was a little too much going on here to give any one thing the benefit of full development: the missing husband, the new love interest, the mystery of Autumn’s father, what’s going on with her mother, the multiple issues with her daughter…In the end, it just came across as rather crowded and chaotic, and I couldn’t enjoy any one thing fully. Solid writing, and I loved the setting, but this ended up being just a so-so read for me.

Brenda Novak is a bestselling author. Bookstore on the Beach is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Harlequin/MIRA in exchange for an honest review.)

(Blog link live 4/15.)

Autumn and her family are struggling to come to terms with their missing husband and father. He has been missing for over 18 months. They decide to spend the summer at Sable Beach with her mom, Mary. However, this ends up being the escape they need but it opens up many different issues…like the past!

Autumn runs into her old boyfriend from high school, Quinn. Now, I did not like Quinn at first. I felt like he pressured Autumn. But, as the story moved along, he grew on me, especially with his interactions with her kids. Autumn and Quinn slowly create a great relationship until…and you guessed it… something happens to threaten their new relationship.

But her mother’s story is the one that really captivated me. Mary had been kidnapped as a child and held in captivity for years. Autumn is the result of this horrendous crime. And Autumn has no idea.

This novel has a lot going on and boy is it good. It has been a while since I have read Brenda Novak. I have missed out. I did feel the story was a little long but I loved the characters, the setting and the multilayered tale!

Need just an all around good book, THIS IS IT!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

Eighteen months ago, Autumn Divac’s husband of twenty years disappeared after a trip to the Ukraine. She’s spent those months tirelessly searching for him in vain and decides to return to her hometown for the summer. Autumn and her two teenaged children stay with her mother, Mary Langford, who operates a bookstore on the beach along with her sister Laurie. She’s looking for a respite after the despair of husband Nick’s disappearance but runs into a bit of turmoil when her high school “first,” Quinn Vanderbilt, has also returned home to help care for his ailing mother.

Autumn’s return home is life changing, and not just for herself as she grapples with her developing feelings for Quinn. Her mother is also struggling with a major decision as Autumn continues to press for information about her father. It’s very obvious early on that she’s keeping some pretty big secrets. Autumn’s 17-year old daughter Taylor is facing some major issues that will affect the entire family.

Even though there’s a lot going on in the story, it all works rather seamlessly as three generations of women living in the same household are coming to terms with who they really are and what they want from life. I really liked Autumn’s relationship with Quinn who was a dream character. Mary’s explosive secret overshadows everything and I empathized with her choices. I listened to the story and Amy McFadden did a wonderful job of storytelling while providing character distinctions for the main and secondary roles. I enjoyed this multigenerational story about three women who manage self discovery in the midst of major life events. I do wish the ending had been more expansive but I’ll just use my own imagination.

You'll be hooked in no time! THE BOOKSTORE ON THE BEACH by Brenda Novak delivers a punch with enchanting characters, a compelling main storyline and so much emotional upheaval. The secondary storylines were competing with the meat of the story a tad much for me, but it was a really addictive read.

Autumn is a complex character. She has been searching for her missing husband for a year and a half, but this burning the candle at both ends life she's been leading isn't fair to her children who need her attention. She's taking them to the beach town she grew up in for the summer and hopes to find peace with the next step in her life while enjoying that down time.

Taylor is a typical teenage girl in turmoil. She's lashing out to protect her heart from the pain she's suffering and trying anything and everything to numb her feelings. She's got a secret that is going to change the life of everyone around her, but wants to enjoy the summer of a lifetime before she reveals it.

Mary has kept a major secret from Autumn for all of her life and as her finely woven web begins to unravel before her eyes, she is going to have to reveal her darkest secrets ... no matter the cost.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants an emotional connection with a multi-generational family as they try to come to terms with family revelations that will change their lives forever.

I juist wanted this to be over. There should have seen some tension in the plot line but for me it was just something I kept reading but never bought into. I did see what would happen at the end but it was not very clean cut. Instead it was hard to buy into to the missing husband not to mention the Mother's hidden history

I am so desperate to get away, so this book arrived at the perfect time. I loved being swept away to the beach with Autumn and her family. Brenda Novak crafts such beautiful characters. I recommend this multi-generational novel, very touching and inspiring! ⠀