I loved this book with my whole heart—not just the lovely, tender moments, but also the heart-achy moments. Kat and Blake become best friends at summer camp when they’re 12, but their friendship—indeed their whole lives—implode when they discover that they are more than friends; they are half-sisters. 15 years later, their lives change again, when they each receive half of a beach house as an inheritance from their father. The Beach Trap has so many layers, some of them complicated and messy, and the wide range of emotions often took my breath away. There is romantic love and familial love, sisterhood and friendship; but foundation of all of the relationships is shaken by grief, anger, betrayal and abandonment. There were times I laughed out loud, there were times my eyes were swimming with tears, the feelings were so strong, and my own connection to the characters was deep. What struck me the most as I reached the end of the book was the growth and transition of both Kat and Blake as they not only navigated very shaky ground and yeats of resentment, they also figured out who they were and where they belonged, and what it really meant to be family.

Kat & Blake met when they were twelve at camp and became friends easily. Then they discovered they were really sisters and things fell apart. Fifteen years later, their father has died and left them joint ownership of a beach cottage. Reluctantly they agree to work together to fix it up and thus begins the journey to healing and a relationship. Sure to be a fun satisfying beach read.

I genuinely liked that the real love story was between the two sisters, and that their romances were tertiary. A feel good summer read, perfect for beach and poolside. The characters felt real and authentic.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC.

Kat and Blake meet at summer camp at the age of 12 and instantly become best friends. When the two realize they are actually half sisters however, their friendship is officially over. It’s been fifteen years since that summer, and Kat’s dad has just passed, leaving her half of the family beach house. The problem? He left the other half to his other daughter Blake, who hasn’t seen or heard from him since her mother died. Now the two sisters have to find a way to fix up the house together. Blake with hopes to sell it and skip town, and Kat with hopes of prolonging selling so she can come up with the money to buy out Blake and keep the house in her family.

There is no better feeling than loving a book by two people you adore! I have loved @Thishammer previous books, and have gotten to know and love @bradeighgodfrey through bookstagram over the past three years. When I saw the two teamed up as @alibrady, I knew I needed to get my hands on a copy of this book! The more I read, the more I find myself so drawn to friendship love stories these days! Now, give me a book with a friendship love story AND a love story, and I am extra sold! I found myself both loving and sometimes wanting to smack both Kat and Blake at times, especially when they weren’t communicating with each other! I loved how throughout the book you saw them both start to see things from the others point of view, and I truly enjoyed that while what you saw on the surface on each character may have seemed so straight forward, when you dug a little deeper, both girls had their own hurts, but really just wanted to be loved. Plus I always love a good house demo and could totally see the house in my mind as they redid each room! It made me want to be at the beach, so if you have a beach trip coming up, this is the perfect time to grab a copy of this one!

When I first started this story I didn’t expect anything out of the ordinary. A typical women’s fiction book, right? Not for me. Somewhere along the line this book really started getting into my heart.

The whole half sister twist took on another dimension that gets right into your soul. The hurt and pain you can feel right along with them. The distrust of old pains and the fresh new hurts makes it hard to see through to the other side along with a solution.

The authors took all of that emotion and bundled it into a story that is fresh with delicate raw, tender feelings as the half sisters try to heal and move forward. The budding romances help the healing process while adding some levity and clarity to it all. Plus the guys are great characters too.

The Beach Trap is a beautiful beachy read that sings of family, love, and acceptance through broken, yet healing hearts. And love really does win in the end. I cannot wait to read more from these two.

The Beach Trap is a brilliant read! I was addicted to the storyline right away and never wanted to put it down. Not only is there emotional moments but moments that all of us readers can relate to on a deep level. I went into this one thinking it would be just another romcom but I came out thinking that this is the kind of book everyone should read. I highly recommend it.

3.5 stars

Blake O'Neil and Kat Steiner were best friends when they met at summer camp 15 years ago but that all ended the day Kat's dad came to pick her up and she learns Blake is her half sister.

Fifteen years later, Kat is an influencer with an ever growing following. She lives a life of luxury. Blake is a live in nanny struggling to get by.

When Kat's dad dies, the girls are shocked to learn he has left the family beach house to both of them. Together Kat and Blake must figure out how to move forward.

This is a cute, easy read!

I haven’t found many beach read romances that I want to give 5 stars to. But this book earned those 5 stars.

Blake had a weekend relationship with her dad until her mother died when she was young. Kat had a rocky relationship with both of her parents, but always felt like they were putting on a show. When the girls are 10, they meet at a summer camp and instantly feel connected… as adults, they find out that their connection is much closer than they think.

I love so much about this book — the characters, the setting, the plot. I can honestly say that I was not disappointed.

This will be the perfect summer read for those days where you want to escape.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Books for the e-ARC of this book!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4639343348

I went into The Beach Trap by @alibradybooks with overly high expectations because I adore both authors, and ended up loving it even more than I expected. It comes out June 14, but you can request it from Netgalley now and preorder it. I know Alison and Bradeigh are cooking up some super fun preorder swag you won’t want to miss!

Shy Blake O’Neill and outgoing Kat Steiner meet at camp when they’re twelve years old and become instant best friends. Their plans to keep in touch forever come to a screeching halt when Kat’s father picks her up early and the girls realize he’s also the father who abandoned Blake when her single mother died. Kat feels betrayed. She’s sure Blake came to camp with the express intention of weaseling her way into her family’s life. And Blake feels completely alone. Fast forward fifteen years. When Mr. Steiner dies, leaving the family’s beach house to both daughters, the two are forced together again with very different agendas. Blake needs to sell the house to pay for her grandfather’s health care and Kat is desperate to hold on to the place where she had so many good memories growing up.

At its core this is a story about sisters and, even as an only child, that theme really resonated with me. Both women have their own baggage with their families—especially the father they share—and it’s fascinating to see their different memories of the man who looms so large between them. But for romance lovers, both characters have a great story too. I think The Beach Trap’s Noah and Henry will be added to many a book boyfriend list. While reading, I found it easier to relate to one of the sisters, but ultimately it was the other sister’s arc that left me in unexpected, happy tears. By the end of the book I was definitely wishing a secret sister would come out of the woodwork for me. And okay, a beach house inheritance wouldn’t be so bad either. But I’m happy to live vicariously through Kat and Blake!

I’m so excited for this book to be out in the world and can’t wait for more people to read it. Thank you so much to the authors, @berkelypub, and @netgalley for an advanced copy. I’m still excited to get my preorder!

I really enjoyed this first novel by these two women and hope they have more collaborations in the works. I have purchased some of their individual books but haven't made time to read them yet.

This was an entertaining book about sisters who did not grow up together and didn't realize they were sisters until they become friends at summer camp and their father came to pick up his legitimate daughter Kat. Blake was stunned to realize that the father who had disappeared from her life had a whole other family. Kat hated Blake then because she thought Blake knew they were sisters all along. The girls were reunited when their father dies and leaves them his family's run-down beach house. Both of them need money but Kat does not want to sell the house for sentimental reasons. Blake decides to fix it up to see how much it can sell for. They end up becoming friends through the ordeal and there is a happy ending. I enjoyed this light but interesting story and give it 4 1/2 stars.

This had so many things I love in a book—a beach, a dog, some home renovations. Though it maybe billed as a romance it was more than that. Such a nice read.

Told in alternating voices, The Beach Trap follows the story of Kat, an Instagram influencer who grew up Jewish, wealthy and popular, and Blake, a nanny struggling to make ends meet, who grew up with a single mom and a dad only occasionally around. The two meet at the summer camp their dads attended, and when fate throws them together, become best friends… until they discover they are actually half-sisters and have the same dad. Fast forward fifteen years; their father has died and left the family beach house that Kat visited every year and that Blake has never seen to the two of women.

The Kat and Blake agree to fix up the decrepit property and sell; Kat is all about the interiors, and crossing over from her “Life is a Fashion Show” themed stream to expand into home decorating. She’s also working on an essay for a competition that leads to a lot of introspection. Blake, meanwhile, is not afraid to get her hands dirty and takes on much of the demo and reno herself, and begins wondering if she can turn this hobby into a career and get off the nanny carousel.

Each woman meets a guy that at first seems her opposite, so The Beach Trap is also a dual romance. And as in traditional romance novels, Kat and Blake have an enemies to lovers sort of arc, friends who split up, get a do-over, are mean, become friendly, have a misunderstanding, and then must make it right.

The writing is solidly plotted, characters believable in their meanness, selfishness and epiphanies, the romance is well-done, and the narrative compelling. The cover is attractive and as balanced as the storytelling, and the epilogue very satisfying.

I received an advance reader’s review copy of #TheBeachTrap via #NetGalley

Kat and Blake, born 6 months apart, meet at summer camp when they are 12 years old and immediately become the best of friends. They promise to write and be friends for life until Kat's father from Atlanta comes to collect her early from camp. Blake, whose father did not live with her and her mother in Minneapolis is stunned to learn that Kat's father is also her father.

Kat's family has always lived well in Atlanta while Blake's grandparents, with whom she lived after her mothers' death, scrambled to make a living. The girls don't speak again until many years later. Their father passes away and leaves them, jointly, the family beach house. Each sister needs money but the house is in no shape to sell. Grudgingly working together, they fix the beach house in a whirlwind summer. Blake resents Kat's privileged lifestyle and Kat thinks Blake knew they had a shared father. Each of them meets a man that summer so they are both dealing with romance in addition to their resentment for one another and the way their lives have changed. Eventually, Kat and Blake work out their issues.

This satisfying read is recommended as a good vacation read, or for those who enjoy romances with a little more to them.

I have been anticipating this book for so long now. I’ve followed Bradeigh Godfrey and Alison Hammer on IG since I joined a couple years ago. I’ve followed along on their progress of writing this book and requested an ARC on NetGalley as soon as it became available.

It’s hard to believe The Beach Trap was written by two people. The book flowed so seamlessly! I’m such a sucker for multiple POVs, but I don’t always care about each character, instead racing through one chapter to get back to the other POV. That’s not the case here. Both Kat and Blake were equally like able and well fleshed out characters. I was so invested in both of their storylines.

I also loved that while this is billed as a romance, there was so much more going on. While I definitely enjoyed the developing romantic relationships, the family dynamics were what I was most drawn to.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. I have already pre-ordered a copy because I have to have the physical copy for my shelves.

The Beach Trap was the perfect weekend read for me! I loved the premise of the story (best friends at summer camp find out they are half-sisters), but I was surprised by how much I really loved the characters by the ending - and found myself with a few tears as well.

Kat is the sister who has it all (or so she thinks) - the loving family, money, big house - all the material things she thinks make her happy. Blake is her half-sister who had it tough all her life - her father was only mysteriously present every few weeks and when her mom passes away early in her life she is left by the wayside by a him. Her grandparents raised her into the strong independent woman she is today.

Fast forward to the present time, and their fathers untimely death. He leaves his family’s beach house to both girls and what ensues is their coming to terms with choices their father made. Their story is one filled with a lot of grief, laughter, finding love, finding their own way forward, and finding their way back to each other.

I absolutely adored The Beach Trap - and really appreciated the Epilogue which tied the entire story up in the perfect bow!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Berkeley Books, and the author for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

I loved that this book focused mostly on the half sisters and their relationship. I loved Blake immediately. I just felt for her and her situation throughout her life. I loved to hate Kat. She seems so self centered and is unbelievably rude and jumps to conclusions, but I felt she had grown by the end. She just needed to be told a few things for her to look more inward towards herself and how and why she acts the way she does.

I liked that they found a way to (sort of) peacefully coexist while each putting their own individual talents into the beach house.

Of course, I liked the romances for each of them. Both men are DELICIOUS in their own ways but I felt more love towards Noah than Henry.. though I appreciated them both and what they brought to their relationships with the girls.

So happy this is releasing on my birthday because it is ADORABLE. I loved it so much and it was so sweet.

Guys, I feel so lucky that I got to read this book! I loved it so, so much. It's funny, sexy, heartfelt, layered... I cried three times in the last few chapters (I can't say when bc spoilers but it has to do with sisterly feelings that overtook me and with a (very temporary don't worry) break up) and then this book healed me and made me so happy! I literally finished it last night and then this morning re-read the epilogue bc I wanted one more hit of all the good feels!
I’m going to be honest: I went into this thinking I’d be mostly interested in the romance parts (and I LOVED them, don’t get me wrong: Noah and Henry are total snacks, if you like single fathers and tortured men with very strong cereal mascot opinions you're in for TWO TREATS) but the relationship between Kat and Blake just stole the scene and was so beautiful and rewarding to read. As someone who has a pretty complex relationship with her sister it really spoke to me, and also made me feel hope and warm and fuzzy inside. My semester break just began yesterday and this book was the perfect start-I recommend it to everyone (especially to fans of Libby Hubscher and Emily Henry!!) Believe me, you want to take this book on vacation with you!!

4.5 stars

Read in a day. Wonderful story about two half sisters who are forced to work together for a summer after not seeing each other for 15 years. Fans of Beth O’Leary will also enjoy The Beach Trap.