The Bookstore on the Beach is a deeply moving story.
I was expecting a cozy, light beach read and that is not what I got.
I’m still gathering my thoughts. It certainly wasn’t what I expected.
Overall, it is a very intriguing read. I think just about anything that could happen, happened within this story. It did seem a bit drawn out in parts. But, honestly, it’s well worth it to keep on reading to find out the ending.
The story it basically about three generations: Mary is the grandmother, Autumn is the mother and Taylor is the daughter. Each one experiencing their own personal and emotional situation.
A bittersweet, emotional and intriguing read. .
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest opinion. All opinions expressed are my own.

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Mary – ☆☆☆☆
As with most Brenda Novak stories, there is a lot going on in this great story. Autumn and her children are going to her mother's for the summer. After her husband has been missing for 18 months, she thinks it might be time to let him go, that he might be gone forever.

Mary, Autumn's mother, and her Aunt Laura own a bookstore on a beach in a charming town. It is just the setting that Autumn and her kids need to start over. The kids find friends at the beach and Autumn rekindles an old love. Well, she was in love and Quinn was her first. Now Quinn wants to be friends and that turns into more than Autumn wanted it to, but it was something she couldn't stop.

As Autumn questions her mom about who her dad was, Mary doesn't want to tell her all the pain and heartache about the past. But when a private eye shows up, Autumn ends up doing some research and finding out things on her own.

With all the directions that the drama is going in in this book, you might need to keep a notebook handy. But don't let that drive you away from reading this one. It is filled with twists and turns, mystery and a little scandal, lost love, and there is a bookstore on the beach. What could be better?

I loved this book and I hope you do too.


Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
This is really beautiful book – it is a wonderfully rich story with many strands of great interest; a happy beach side holiday for a woman and her children who are dealing with a traumatic loss; a second-chance romance for her and the much-wronged Quinn; the relationship between three generations of women as each deals with their own serious issues; the deep friendship of siblings; and finally, of secrets no one would want to share and dilemmas that no one would ever want to face.

The writing is so smooth, that it is almost impossible to stop turning the pages once you start... be warned! I was so engrossed that I really did read it until very late into the night – but it was worth every second of missed sleep.

I absolutely loved Autumn, and completely understood her uncertainty given the untenable state of her life when she decides to spend the summer with her mother where she grew up – even if she knew that her situation would be the subject of local interest when she got there. It was unbelievable the difficulty that she faced following her husband's disappearance. We get to learn some of what might have happened, but it is a huge mystery and one which it seems will never be solved. How does one decide how long to wait, how much hope to hold on to, and how to help her children also make a similar decision? Quinn is like a breath of fresh air, but also brings on thoughts of terrible guilt.

I should not neglect to mention that we spend quite a lot of time in a bookstore and understanding how it was a safe space for Autumn and her mother, Mary. I am not going to say more, because there are lots of strands and plots which intertwine to give a really rich experience – all I can say is it is definitely worth it!

Mary Langford is delighted when her daughter, Autumn, plans a summer vacation with her children to Mary’s home in Sable Beach, Virginia. Autumn and her children have had a difficult time. Autumn’s husband vanished two years ago. She has done everything she can to find him, including hiring a private investigator, but no luck. A summer trip to Sable Beach might be just the thing for this family.

However, the summer is anything but stressfree. Autumn’s teenage daughter is going through several life changes, while her teenage son has his own issues. Then, Autumn comes face to face with her old high school sweetheart and discovers her feelings haven’t changed, but what if her husband should return? To add to Autumn’s troubles, she realizes her mother is hiding something from her.

This book is filled with quite a bit of family drama. The characters are well written and realistic. There are so many different thought-provoking things happening to all the characters. The storylines feel as if they could be “ripped right out of the headlines”. I was completely engrossed in this book and was anxious to see how it all wrapped up.

The Bookstore on the Beach is a riveting virtual getaway. I hated to see it end.






FTC Disclosure: I voluntarily reviewed a free Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.

The Bookstore on the Beach  follows the story of three women, all related, from three generations. It also includes the people who love and support them - or not.

Mary or Mimi to Taylor and Caden, has had a very bad experience in her past that she has kept secret. Now there are factors that are threatening to have this become more known than she wants.

Autumn her daughter and mother of Caden and Taylor, has been searching for her husband Nick, who has mysteriously gone missing. Now she has fallen for someone else.

Taylor at seventeen, broken hearted from the loss of her Dad does something that has repercussions for herself and those who love her.

Each of these women are at a crisis point in their lives, they have big issues to face and work through. Are they able to? Can they follow their hearts and live true to themselves?

The story is set at a beach side place with a bookstore that doesn't play a huge part but is there, providing a steady backdrop to the lives of the characters.

I enjoyed the book and it makes for a good heart warming, bittersweet read.

Let me start by saying that there are MULTIPLE things happening and effecting the characters in this story: a missing husband, a childhood abduction, teen pregnancy, rape, sexual identity crisis, hiding from the past, a cancer-afflicted family, a second chance romance, guilt, secrets, more secrets, anxiety and anger. And trust me when I say that the piling on of issues throughout the story, and the oft extreme behaviors that are reactions to these issues and secrets was wearing – even as the characters drew you in to make you want to see where and how everything would work.

In short, we have Autumn with her teenaged children Taylor and Caden who have been thrown by the disappearance (ostensibly in the Ukraine) of her husband and their father. It’s been eighteen months with little or no information and feeling that everyone needs a break – she’s taking the kids to her mother’s place on a Virginia Beach – where Autumn grew up. For her part, Mary, Autumn’s mother loves having the kids up for the summer, although they’d not been as their father rarely came along, and didn’t seem to fit in. But giving them all a chance for the summer while Autumn regroups from hours of relentless searching seems to be the best option. Even if her mother was extremely overprotective and reluctant to talk about the past. But having family and people you know, in a place you love, is always good for a summer.

Yet Taylor and Caden meet new people, and Taylor is drawn to one of the girls there – someone unlike anyone she knows: and this friendship will become a jumping off point for all that she’ll go through – from a surprise pregnancy to questions about ‘friendship versus love’ feelings, along with her own issues with her father’s disappearance, her anger with her brother’s apparent ability to ‘move on’ and wondering about her mother’s new ‘crush’. When we add in Mary’s backstory, a PI in town searching for her under her former name – we start to hear of her own childhood trauma after being abducted and held hostage from the age of 12 – a story she’s never shared with Autumn, even reframing her life and ‘adding’ family as her world shrunk to the tiny beachfront town.

Then there is the story of Autumn and the crush she had on Quinn as a child, and how the attraction is still there – despite Autumn’s determination to ignore or avoid it. With Quinn back in town after his own rather violent and tragic end to his marriage, the rumors are spreading but he’s more concerned with his mother’s cancer recurrence, his father’s ability to cope and the mounting medical bills. Still – he's wanting more of Autumn, and more from their relationship than casual and infrequent ‘passing moments in the street’. There’s a ton going on and I’m torn about the believability of the multitude of issues that were there, cropped up and some rather ‘pat’ solutions put in to wrap the story up, but the characters were palpable and complete with the exception of Caden who seemed to have moments and flashes of brilliance (particularly for a 15 or 16 year old boy) but he was left to his own devices for much of the story. If you can suspend belief in the ever-increasing traumas and melodramas – the story is a slower read –but good for an escape for a bit of time.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at <a href=” https://wp.me/p3OmRo-aSK /” > <a> I am, Indeed </a>

Unfortunately, this one just wasn't my cup of tea. There was way too much happening that it went from "okay that's out there" to "wow, this is entirely implausible." I had a hard time connecting to any of the characters. A miss for me. Regardless, my thanks for the opportunity to read an advanced copy.

The saying goes never judge a book by its cover and boy are their right in this instance. The cover of this book looks so serene of a woman on her way to the beach from her beach house screams she will be having lots of fun, lets just say this book is far from that depiction.
Autumn and her teenage children are dealing with the fact that her husband has gone missing for the last eighteen months. She has hired a private investigator and even gone to the FBI and still have no idea what has happened to him. Autumn decides to head to Sable Beach Virginia for the summer to visit her mother and aunt.
Autumn mother is also dealing with her own anguish, she has been keeping a secret for many years about her past that she has never shared with Autumn and we the readers become privy to the fact that her secret is going to come out as she races against the clock to stop it from happening as she possible prepares to tell Autumn.
Autumn teenage children Caden and Taylor are also grappling with having lost their father in their own way. Both kids make new friends at the beach but one new friend stands out to Taylor and that's Sierra. Taylor has never met a girl like her and becomes in awe of her and began have feelings she is not familiar with and she too is also grappling with a secret that she has not told anyone and is emotionally hurting inside.
An if this was not enough secrets to go around we find out Autumn high school crush has come back home to take care of his mother who is dealing with a medical crisis. Autumn is torn with her rebirth feelings for Quinn her highschool crush and is torn between wanting to do the right thing and wanting to reward her heart of the impending feelings for Quinn.
I have read many of Ms. Novak's book some that drew me in and twist my emotions lets just say this did that and more.
A beautiful layer story of three generation of woman from the same family dealing with an emotional secret crisis in their life and how the love of each other will help them carryon. Although this has a love story this is more than a love story. It is about the human heart and how much it can take of sadness and how we can overcome it through lots of self realization healing and again the love of our family.
Review on goodreads and eventually amazon.

I devoured this book as I guessed many of the plot twists before I encountered them but I NEEDED to know it I was right. Brenda Novak does an admirable job of fleshing out characters so they become believeable. In fact, the only character which isn't believeable is the missing husband and the circumstances around the dissapearance. The teens involved, Taylor and Caden, are realistically portrayed and have serious challenges to take on. Autumn, their mother, has just as tough challenges but her romance with the object of her high school adoration is sweet and fulfilling. I did get confused with Mary, Autumn's mother and the dealings with prior tramatic experience as a young pre-teen. There was a lot of plots lines to follow but Novak made it all rewarding.

That ending... not cool. I needed more there. ☹️
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This book is filled with scenarios that just really tug at your emotions. Who can even comprehend how they would feel let alone emotionally handle someone who was just missing.

There are a lot of different layers in this story and totally not just about a bookstore and the lives involved there. It is a much deeper story with it’s complexity. It’s about heartbreak and learning how to move past and try to live your life.

It’s also about secrets and hiding a huge part of your life from other people that will be greatly impacted by the truth. Plus, to add an additional layer that tugs on your heartstrings, we also are pulled into how the kids deal with this tragedy.

But it’s not all heartbreak and sadness. The beach brings light and starts to heal the broken hearts and that always makes for a beautiful story.

But Novak gets us one more time with her ending that is just so emotional and I think I kind of hated it. LOL! I don’t want to give anything away but let’s just say you got to read it and be ready for it all. The highs and lows. The smiles and tears. The strength and weakness.

With sweeping scenes of the beachfront that bring beautiful memories to the full feeling of happy hearts and happy lives, Novak tells a story that moves your heart and gives you a roller coaster of emotion. This is one book you will remember and want to read over and over again.

Three generations of women (grandmother, mother, daughter) each are facing difficult/challenging life-changing decisions. The author did a fabulous job of intermingling these three stories together. I loved the relationship that these women had with one another.
This is well written and the characters are very strong. Besides the women, there are two wonderful male characters. Quinn who is finding himself again as he returns to the beach town to help his parents plays an important part in Autumn’s life; and Caden, Autumn son who didn’t have a huge part in the book, but he is a great character as he comes across as a wonderful son and supportive brother. The Bookstore on the Beach has heartbreak, healing, and a little romance mixed in. I enjoyed it very much.

Reviewed by Comfy Chair Books/Lisa Reigel (March 26, 2021)
ARC provided by publisher via Netgalley (plus I bought a copy)
A Brenda Novak Book Club read for the month of April

Books set in waterfront setting are always fun to read - especially if living in a landlocked state with no hope of seeing a beach any time soon. As always Novak presents family drama, secrets and resolutions. An enjoyable book.

Want to lose yourself in a book? The Bookstore on the Beach is the perfect choice! Autumn, her teenage kids in tow, travels home to visit her mother for the summer. Still grappling with the disappearance of her husband, Autumn quickly finds herself falling for her first love. This book has so many layers with multiple story lines; a daughter searching for the truth, a mother with big secrets, and a daughter with life-changing choices. Brenda Novak has written a gripping page turner!

WOW!
I was expecting this book to be a beach read. You know, light and fresh.
What I got is so much more! Depth of characters. Action. Plot twists.
As I read this book, I was constantly asking myself "What would I do?". It was terrific!
As we watch Autumn and Quinn get their second chance at love, we feel all the gut-wrenching emotions along with them.
There are other storylines too. With more questions.
This a great book. But be warned, You'll be up all night reading it.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Bookstore on the Beach was my first book of @brendanovak 's but what a rollercoaster of a ride! I don't want to say much about the plot as I don't want to give anything away but holy family secrets! This one definitely had me wondering what would happen next and which secrets would unravel first. I couldn't wait to see where the summer would take each of the family members but was rooting for them the whole way through. Told in multiple POV's, this was a quick read and I would definitely recommend it! I think I have found a new author to binge. Thanks @netgalley and @harlequin for the advance copy. The Bookstore on the Beach is out April 6th so run to your nearest bookstore!

Thank you to Net Galley for an advanced copy of this book. This is the first Brenda Novak book that I have read and I thoroughly enjoyed it!! I love multi-generational family stories, especially those with slightly dysfunctional families and this book hit all of those points. Each woman in each generation has their own secrets that they must deal with and how they deal with them and each other throughout this book is very entertaining. For a book that I thought would be kind of a fluffy read, this book surprised me with just how intense the storylines got. It kept me interested from the very start to the very end and I was really happy with how the book ended. If you are looking for an interesting read that is not too heavy but has some romance, some suspense, some intrigue and an interesting family then pick this one up and read it.

A novel about a bookstore and a beach? Yes, please. As soon as I saw the cover, I wanted to read this. Also, I really loved One Perfect Summer so I was super excited to read another Brenda Novak book. I tip my hat to the author, because this novel has three complex story lines and she kept them all tightly woven in a compelling read. For me, this novel was much heavier and more serious than I expected. It's the opposite of a beach read, in my opinion. It really wasn't about a bookstore, either. Quinn was my favorite part of the whole story. Such a great hero! I had a hard time with the subplot regarding Nick from the very beginning. It didn't work for me and made the end of the novel quite puzzling. It was so abrupt. I really want a satisfying, happy ending and this was just a little too melancholy for my taste.

This book wasn't what I was expecting at all, but I still really enjoyed it! Based off of the cover, I was expecting a light and fluffy beach read. I didn't think it would deal with as many heavy topics as this did.

This follows three generations of a family, and every one of them has their own drama going on. Taylor is dealing with an unexpected teen pregnancy. Autumn is dealing with a missing husband and an old boyfriend. Mary is dealing with ghosts from her past.

Every one of these plotlines weaves together beautifully, but it did have me confused at times. For the first 15% of this, I was constantly having to remind myself who each character was. This problem disappeared as I read on, but keeping everything straight was difficult. I loved how intricate the plot was though, and how fleshed out each character was.

I was most interested in Autumn's plotline, and I would say that hers was the most pivotal. I empathized so strongly with her, and I was praying that everything would work out in the end. I loved her relationship with her family, it was super strong.

I do wish that we would've gotten an epilogue at the end. So many things felt unresolved, and the little resolution we were given was rushed. I did love the way everything wrapped up though!

Although this wasn't what I was expecting, I still really enjoyed it! It was a great book, full of drama and unexpected twists. I'll definitely be checking out more of this author's writing.

Thanks to Brenda Novak and Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

Another wonderful book by Brenda Novak. This book details the lives of three generations in a family. There is drama, mystery and romance. I loved the ending. Each book this Author writes out does the one before. Thanks to NetGalley, Harlequin and the Author for allowing me to read and review this book.

Wow. So many twists and turns that I never saw coming! I loved the character growth and progression and I loved that Nick’s return didn’t guarantee a Happily Ever After.

The Bookstore on the Beach by Brenda Novak is a wonderful beach read which touches on a number of topics that are in the news today.

Autumn's husband has been missing for 18 months and she has done everything she can to find him, including going to the FBI to ask for help in the search, but there has been no sight of him. She decides to spend the summer with her children at her mother's house at the beach, where she grew up. There she connects with an old love interest from high school who is divorced from his crazy ex-wife. What she doesn't know is that her daughter is pregnant and unsure of her sexuality and her son just wants to move on with their lives, even though he misses his dad terribly. Her relaxing summer doesn't turn out to be quite what she thought it would be as the weeks roll on...

I felt bad for Autumn that she had to navigate so much in one summer! However it was an enjoyable book and I thank the author, HARLEQUIN – Trade Publishing (U.S. & Canada) MIRA and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.