This is a skip. I didn't care for the first book but wanted to give this one a chance but overall these just feel too off for the current time period. I think these would've been hits in the early aughts - alongside the likes of Bergdorf Blondes, etc.

Lovely feel good book to read. It was a joy to read. Lovely characters. Great plot. The book was charming. Very well written. I’d definitely recommend this book

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. Just a no for me. Nothing happens in the book. So slow and boring. Didn't like a lot of the subject matter.

A Palm Beach Scandal centers around two sisters who couldn't be more different. But when Elodie can't carry a baby to term she begs her sister Aubrey to be a surrogate. A Palm Beach setting, secrets, a major scandal, what more could you want?

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I tried to get into this book but I could not connect with the characters and did not care for them.

Failed to get caught up in this one. It read a bit too stiff for my liking, trying too hard to be 'perfect' (got this vibe from the heroine from the get-go, and it was hard to shake off). The drama then felt a bit too much, like piled on to the extreme one after the other, and we're barely 10% into the book already... The story thus felt exhausting afterward, which didn't lend itself to a nice time overall, unfortunately

This is a super fun read. I really enjoyed this one!

Many thanks to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Well, it won't take long - I didn't like this book. Those two stars are very generous to be honest.
There isn't a single thing that I liked.
The characters are boring and in the end of the book infuriating. The sisters - especially Elodie is just insufferable. The way she demanded her sister to be the surrogate just blown my mind and the audacity to just neglect your unborn child...
The other thing that bothered me was the amount of times when the high-end luxury brands were mentioned in this book, more than in a fashion magazine. Like, you talk about rich white people, we get it! Don't need to remind us in every sentence.
Overall this story was just messy and that plot twist with the "dark family secret" was totally unnecessary. It would have been better to just concentrate on family relationships during this unusual pregnancy. And the ending was so confusing, it actually didn't make any sense to me.
i wasted almost two months on this book, so don't do the same mistake and maybe just skip this book.

I grabbed this book when it was part of the read now so I never requested it. Sorry to say I just couldn’t get into it so I didn’t bother.

Having read Marren’s previous book, A Palm Beach Wife (complete with a matching pastel cover), I went in knowing to expect gratuitous servings of luxury label-droppings and vivid descriptions of the homes, stores, restaurants and patrons of Palm Beach. The plot line of “Scandal” is much more interesting and plumbs greater emotional depth than in “Wife”. Protagonist sisters Elodie and Aubrey are part of the perfect Cutler family, paired with mature, caring men (unlike in the predecessor book where the men were superficial accessories to the female characters). The only hardship they face is Elodie’s infertility, and when she asks her younger sister help her achieve her dreams by stepping in as her surrogate, complications emerge around discretion, tamping down Society gossip, and long-held family secrets surface. Some of the plot lines are a tad far-fetched but are not offensively outrageous. The writing style can be staccato and choppy, with awkward transitions (I found myself retreading a few paragraphs to work out how Elodie got from the hospital bed after a miscarriage to dinner with friends in a restaurant, on the same page. Unfortunately, what most got under my skin were the generous sentence fragments littering the book: “Along with an older crowd, women who are too sunburned, men with elaborate comb-overs.” “Beyond the urgency of a Dior, Balenciaga, or Vuitton bag.”, and so on.

However, the story is still at essence a voyeuristic escape into the lifestyles of the rich, while still achieving a more realistic feel of a story - with characters invoking much more empathy and emotional investment - than the prior book. The ambiguous ending smacks of a Marren trademark, where she refuses to neatly whitewash any previous conflict or tie up loose ends for the characters. Overall, 3/5 stars, and a superior book to “A Palm Beach Wife”. Will appeal to those interested in PB life, high society, and the cultural norms - and oppressiveness- of it all.

Thank you to #NetGalley, St. Martin’s Griffin press, snd Susannah Marren for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A Palm Beach Scandal grabbed my attention with it premise, and I knew I had to read it even though I haven't read the first book in the series.

It was the right decision as this story can stand on it's own, and if I'm being completely honest, I don't understand why it's even a part of the series, as it looks and feels like a standalone.

The story talks about two sisters, one who can't have children, and the other who becomes her surrogate.

I decided to read it because of personal reasons, because I also wanted to surrogate for my own sister, before I found out it's illegal thing to do in my country.

The story is written in first person, following Elodie's and Aubrey's POVs.
The writing style is good.

This story is about character development, and it shows how one would react in giving circumstances.
It is also thought provoking.

I know many readers were disappointed in Elodie's actions, and I have to admit I didn't understand her way of thinking either, but that is why I appreciate A Palm Beach Scandal.
It showed us the reaction different from how most people would handle the situation, and I think it was believable. Things like that do happen in real life.

I received a copy of the book from Netgalley to review. Thank you for the opportunity.
A complex and well written story that brings out the truth behind relationships.
The editing was pretty awful, making it very difficult to read.
A good read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Susannah Marren, for my copy of A Palm Beach Scandal for an honest review. This is the second book in the Palm Beach Novels stories and I didn’t read the first and didn’t feel lost. Elodie and her her younger sister Aubrey are 8 years apart and yet the are very close. They grew up on Palm Beach and have never wanted anything. The sisters choice to stay on Palm Beach differ one staying and one moving to Miami. As they get older things get more complicated and the sisters have to find a middle ground. Elodie is struggling with infertility and Aubrey is trying to spread her wings. A recent home DNA, the sisters take, test causes even more troubles. The sisters will have to come together and deal with the issues in front of them. Will secrets break them? Will their family be broken up over this? All in all this was on ok read for me. I learned all about Palm Beach, which I could do without. It was a quick read.. not much thought needed. I gave this 3 stars. I did recommend this on my Instagram page.. for readers who like this type of book. See my review on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I am glad I did get to read it, sometimes a quick, easy read is what you need during these crazy times.

This was an ok book, but I found it hard to get interested. I don't care for Palm Beach and the glitz so not interested

I really liked the premise of the book and the relationships that it explored, but it took me some time to get into the story. I kept waiting for "more," which just unfortunately did not happen, but I can see how others enjoyed it.

Thank you the publisher and netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I couldn’t finish this. I tried to start the first book in this series and it was so vapid I couldn’t continue; nonetheless, I tried to give this a fair shot but it was much of the same.

The scandal and the drama! I really enjoyed this read. Everything is complicated, scandalous and intriguing. This is my first read by this author, I really enjoyed the plot and the character development. The pressures of judgment of high society and everyone knowing everyone.

This was an interesting book. The story line intrigued me because it was a unique story line. Good and fast read. I enjoyed the book and the relationship between the sisters. On the outside they were quite different from each other, but as you got to know them you could see the similarities and the super strong bond that they shard.

This just wasn`t my cup of tea. I could understand a bit of both sides (Elodie and Audrey) But the rest of the characters just bored me.

Dramatic, and full of heavy scandal, but this book was hard for me to read, and also the characters were not very likable, Elodie and Aubrey are sisters who are 8 years apart but they are as close as twins. But their relationship takes a huge turn when Elodie, as per her husbands request, asks Aubrey to be her surrogate. That was a huge wow, how the family went about it, the secrets between them, how Aubrey is portrayed in the book as well, and how Elodie went from being this down to earth amazing woman to someone I really disliked. Too much going on and the ending fell short. But since I’m all for the scandals and secrets, it was ok. Thanks Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.