3 1/2 stars rounded up.

Olivia is married to the love of her life, Dean. It was a whirlwind romance that led to her happily-ever-after. Until that life shattered. Dean went missing one night after flying through the Bermuda Triangle. With no evidence to prove he crashed, Olivia could never accept that he actually died. But there was also no other plausible explanation. After years and years of waiting, she finally accepts that her husband is gone and moves on with her life.

Melanie has spent her schooling studying the Bermuda Triangle and is determined to learn what actually happens to the boats and planes that disappear in the area of the ocean. A love affair with her therapist ends in tragedy and her work is lost.

When it comes out that Melanie and Dean are connected, it hurts Olivia to realize she didn't fully know the man she had loved for all those years.

So many twists and turns in this book. It was hard to know which way was up at times! At times it felt a little bogged down, but overall it was a fun ride and the ending definitely surprised me. A fun mystery with some romance thrown in.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Julianne MacLean does not disappoint with this story. It's a love story, a mystery, a sad and very happy story. It has a bit of everything. I enjoyed it from start to finish. Well worth reading.

What would you do if the love of your life just disappeared? If one day he's there and that night he's just vanished into thin air? Would you believe he was taken by aliens maybe? Maybe some magnetic force? The Bermuda Triangle? Or did he somehow manage to get lost without any trace? This is what happened to Olivia when her husband Dean goes to work one night. He's a pilot and has to take a big star somewhere even though he's suppose to spend the evening with her. They are trying to make a baby and he's called away. Then she gets that horrible phone call saying that he just disappeared. Just vanished without a trace.

Now we go back a few years and meet Melanie Brown. She's a young woman going to college. She's working on her final paper and it's about the Bermuda Triangle. Her professor sends her for some therapy after she loses her mother and loses interest in her dissertation. She starts falling for her therapist which can't be a good thing. Right? After several months they start seeing each other but he of course tells her she has to keep it quiet or he can lose his license and be jailed. It's against the law.

These two women's lives are both turned upside down by men. How will their lives intersect? Who do they have in common? So many secrets will be revealed and hearts broken. Lives will be changed forever. Some for the better in many ways and some not so good. This is a love story that has a bit of heartache. A big mystery. A lost love and a found love. It's truly a pager turner. One you will not want to put down.

Told by three main characters. Olivia, Melanie, and Dean. Each has a story. Each has their own problems. Each has some secrets. Some good, some not so good. What will become of these three people? How will they end?

All of my questions were answered and even though I figured out what happened, it was a little surprising. Just a little. I honestly did not like Dean. He seemed way to childish to me. He could have done better even though he had so much to overcome. I felt bad for him for his childhood but that is all. He had so many things to be thankful for. Melanie I didn't really like but I did feel for her also. She was just a very troubled young woman who depended on men too much. Olivia was a rich young lady but she was not petty or selfish in any way. She was very giving actually. I liked her. I loved Gabriel.. You have to read this to find out who he is. I really loved him.

Thank you #NetGalley, #JulianneMacLean, #LakeUnionPublishing for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

5/5 stars and a very high recommendation. Read this one.

This is the first book I have read by this author but it will not be the last! It is such a good book!
It actually moves on several years but it holds your attention the whole way.
I thoroughly enjoyed every chapter of the book.
It sure would make a great movie!

Thank you so much, NetGalley, the Author, and the Publisher for giving me the chance to read and review this wonderful book!

I could barely stop to do anything else once I started reading Beyond the Moonlit Sea by Julianne MacLean. Since each chapter clearly identified the character and year, it was quite easy to follow the alternating stories. I must confess that I stayed up way too late to finish the last few chapters. That makes it a 5 star book for me. I look forward to reading more from this talented author. Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an advance copy to read and review.

This was my first story by Julianne Maclean and certainly not the last. Had plenty of twists and turns. The characters were written well and the plot was amazing.

Beyond the Moonlit Sea, by Julianne Maclean, was both intriguing and ultimately, disappointing. Plot lines that intrigued were more or less abandoned midway through the novel. Characters that seemed to have a pivotal impact also disappeared. Ultimately, this story boiled down to a routine plot about an abandoned woman who builds a new life. Not a bad story, but not what I expected from the first chapters.

Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read a digital ARC.

The book is about three people: Olivia, Melanie and Dean. There's some love story, some mystery and an epilogue you will not see coming. All expertly developed back and forth through several years. Those who were young in the 80's will savor some memories about that time. Things were different back then. And sometimes a reminder of how we lived is welcome to fulfill the gap the present might offer to us. It's always about the challenge, isn't?
I loved this book as well as the previous ones I've read from this author.
Thank you NetGalley for the chance of reading this book in exchange for an honest review.

I adored Julianne's These Tangled Vines and jumped at the chance to read her newest as well. This is the best new historical fiction book out right now that is not on your radar!! I especially recommend this for someone that may not gravitate towards historical fiction normally; this is not heavy on history and it is just an extremely compelling story. ⁣⁣
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Julianne Maclean delivers on some excellent twists that had my slow clap in their execution. I was mildly interested in the Bermuda Triangle and this book had me deep diving into so many theories and unexplained disappearances!! This book spans about 30 years and is told from multiple perspectives, over multiple timelines. Julianne writes characters, secrets, family drama, and suspense so well. The story is told from three perspectives, which really made it feel quite complete. Each of the characters had vastly different family histories and upbringings which impacted their feelings of self worth and how they projected themselves in other relationships. This book would also make for an excellent book club pick with lots to unpack in a group setting.

The storyline, which takes place from 1986 through 2017, does not follow a straight line. It’s told from the viewpoints of the three main characters: Olivia, Melanie, and Dean. While the topic intrigued me, I often found the writing style to be awkward and the dialog forced. The characters are somewhat flat and one-dimensional and I found it hard to become engaged with them. The pacing is slow, although periodically the story jumps ahead in time, giving it a rushed feeling. I found myself skimming chapters in order to get to the end and find out how things resolved. I seem to be an outlier here but in my opinion, this is not one of Julianne MacLean’s best.

I loved finding this new book by Julianne! The mystery kept me turning pages to figure out the mystery of the main character’s husband’s plane! I could not put this down. This book definitely has you feeling compassion for all characters involved in the plot.

Wow! Julianne MacLean is an incredible storyteller. Beyond the Moonlit Sea is set against the backdrop of the Bermuda Triangle and has so many twist and turns that you won’t see coming that you have to continue flipping through the pages to see what happens next.

This romantic suspense story is a definite 5 star read. There are parts of the story where you will need to have the tissues handy. Beautifully written and mesmerizing this is a story not to be missed.

Thank you #netgalley and #lakeunionpublishing for allowing me to read the eARC of this book. All opinions expressed above are my own.

Beyond the Moonlit Sea, by Julianne MacLean, is a riveting romantic suspense novel. It almost felt like two books in one. The story had me hooked right from the beginning. It was well plotted out, well written and overall an interesting and enjoyable book.
Melanie Brown, who's recently lost her mother to a natural disaster, is having a hard time and struggling with losing interest in her scientific studies. She's a particle physicist who's latest obsession is the Bermuda Triangle. Since she's struggling with enjoying doing her research, her school pays for her to see a therapist. Unfortunately, Melanie and her therapist find themselves having strong feelings for each other.
Olivia and Dean are madly in love. He's a popular pilot that his flies wealthy clients all over the world. After a last minute trip he disappears over the Bermuda Triangle, Olivia is absolutely devastated. After years of looking for answers, she realizes that she must move on.
Years later, when some detectives show up at Olivia’s door, she begins to see Dean’s disappearance in a sinister light. As secrets are revealed, she begins to wonder if she ever knew her husband at all.

Thanks to Netgalley, Lake Union Publishing and Julianne MacLean for this ARC. I didn’t know what to expect from this book, suspense, romance, scientific theories, and mystery ? Happy to say, this book had it all. I enjoyed all the characters, the storylines and loved the addition of playful dogs. I wish there was more of the Bermuda Triangle angle, but this is one book I will recommend and remember.

What an incredibly compelling story! I was immediately invested in the lives of these three people, Olivia, Dean, and Melanie. They were bound together by the past and secrets built upon secrets, with the Bermuda Triangle's tantalizing reputation looming over it all. I was completely absorbed in getting to the bottom of the unexplained mystery of Dean's disappearance.

Olivia begins the story upbeat and optimistic and remains until the end, even when her world is falling apart. When she becomes absorbed in her own search for answers, she maintains enough clear-headedness to know when to move on and live life again. I loved how she realized she'd treated her former boyfriend poorly and took great pains to avoid doing it again, consciously opening up to him about her thoughts and fears regarding Dean. I loved her honorableness, and I loved their relationship.

As for Dean and Melanie, both were deeply damaged from their childhoods. He was doing pretty well but couldn't let go of the past, continuing to hide his background from everyone. But the effect of this was so subtly revealed that even with his voice delivering part of the story's narrative, I was surprised by his decisions.

Melanie's gradual collapse was much more apparent. We have her voice as well as Dean's, providing a running commentary of her mental state. She seems like such a nice, intelligent, and engaging young woman until the therapy and her past take their toll.

I enjoyed how the author used the two timelines to set up the starting points for the book and advanced the story over a 30-plus-year timeframe. I appreciated the story's development of Olivia's two marriages and the feeling of her life moving forward normally and successfully after losing Dean. The Olivia that opens the book is essentially the same Olivia at the end but with the wisdom of a life well-lived. I couldn't have asked for a better resolution to this book either.

I wholeheartedly recommend BEYOND THE MOONLIT SEA to readers who have read and enjoyed this author's previous work and those who like general fiction with dual timelines and a setting from the 1980s to the late 2010s.

EXCERPT: Olivia - Miami 1990

I should have known better. I shouldn't have said the things I did.

That's what I told myself when I learned what happened to my husband on his return flight from the US Virgin Islands. But isn't that what we all say after something goes terribly wrong and we look back and wish we had behaved differently.

ABOUT 'BEYOND THE MOONLIT SEA': Olivia Hamilton is married to the love of her life, Dean, a charismatic pilot who flies private jets for the rich and famous. But when he vanishes over the Bermuda Triangle, Olivia’s idyllic existence unravels. After years of waiting, Olivia must eventually let go of the fragile hope that her beloved husband might still be alive.

Melanie Brown is a particle physicist who spends late nights studying the Bermuda Triangle. But her research interests falter when her mother dies in a tragic accident. Struggling to reboot her life and career, Melanie begins a forbidden love affair with her therapist.

When a shocking discovery shows Olivia’s and Melanie’s paths are intertwined, it casts Dean’s disappearance in a new light. The two women’s strange connection threatens to unlock secrets that will change everything Olivia thought she knew about her marriage, her husband, and most importantly, herself.

MY THOUGHTS: I am a sucker for stories about or set around the mysterious disappearances that occur in the Bermuda Triangle.

I started Beyond the Moonlit Sea with great excitement and read almost half of it in the first sitting. The storyline, which spans from 1986 through to 2017, and is told from the multiple viewpoints of Olivia, Melanie and Dean, intrigued me although I often found the writing style quite stilted and, at times, awkward.

The second half of the book became predictable, and was largely quite mundane. I found myself skimming over pages until we came to the chapters involving the DNA when my interest was again piqued, but not to the same extent it had originally.

I was expecting suspense, and didn't get it.

Would I have liked more about the mysteries surrounding the Bermuda Triangle? Definitely. Ditto for Melanie's thesis.

I found it quite odd that Melanie as described by her 'friends' to the police is vastly different from the many facets of Melanie that we see through both her own and Dean's eyes. This information is dropped into the book, and then - nothing!

Unfortunately, this was only an okay read for me, nothing more.

⭐⭐.5

#BeyondtheMoonlitSea #NetGalley

I: @juliannemaclean @amazonpublishing

T: @Julianne MacLean @AmazonPub

#contemporaryfiction #domesticdrama #historicalfiction #mystery #romance

THE AUTHOR: Julianne Maclean loves to travel and has lived in New Zealand, Canada, and England. MacLean currently resides on the east coast of Canada in a lakeside home with her husband and daughter.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Lake Union Publishing via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Beyond the Moonlit Sea by Julianne MacLean for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

Beyond the Moonlit Sea, cataloged as women's fiction, is a story filled with mystery, love and loss, betrayal, grief and forgiveness and a twist of the Bermuda Triangle. Unexpected turns and a truly entertaining and original plot, make this book a fantastic read.

4.25 stars--BEYOND THE MOONLIT SEA by Julianne MacLean is a story of mystery and suspense; a women’s historical fiction focusing on the intersecting lives of Olivia Hamilton, Dean Robinson, and Melanie Brown.


Told from three first person perspectives (Olivia, Dean, Melanie) following several timelines from 1986 to 2017, BEYOND THE MOONLIT SEA follows Olivia Hamilton in the weeks, months and years after the disappearance of her husband Dean Robinson. Dean Robinson’s life was quickly spiralling out of control, and with it the possibility of losing it all. Restless and consumed by the dysfunctional family dynamics that continue to control every aspect of his life, Dean crosses a line, several lines, from which he can never go back. Meeting Olivia Hamilton brought with it the potential for a new life and a new future, a future from which there would be no return. Leaving everything behind in New York, Dean and Olivia would make their new home in Florida until the fateful day Dean’s plane would disappear near the Bermuda Triangle, a plane piloted by Dean himself. Years would pass, Olivia would move on with her life, falling in love with a man from her past but long awaited news was about to shake up Olivia’s world when two detectives bring information that will shock them all.


BEYOND THE MOONLIT SEA is a story of secrets and lies, betrayal and vengeance, obsession and anger, love and letting go. Julianne MacLean pulls the reader into an intriguing tale of deception, delusion, destiny and fate wherein the secrets and lies of one man are about to affect everyone, going forward.



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Beyond the Moonlit Sea, categorized as women’s fiction, is a twist-filled book that combines love, grief, and the Bermuda Triangle. You are probably thinking that’s an interesting combination, right? I’d consider it another romantic suspense - a genre I really enjoy! I was hooked from page one and stayed up late to continue to read when I first started, which is rare for me.
This was the first book I read by Julianne MacLean, and I really enjoyed it. It was well written, with good pacing and well-developed characters. I was (almost) excited when my bus was late and I had 20 additional unexpected minutes to read this on my commute to work this morning.
Beyond the Moonlit Sea published this past Tuesday 6/14 - thanks to Lake Union, Amazon Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion! This one is a good mix of adventure, emotional drama, and suspense! It would make for an excellent beach read - but I would NOT recommend reading it on a plane.

Holy moly, this was a wild ride!! Julianne MacLean is an incredible writer and this was another total winner.

The book takes place as a young couple begins to try for a baby, but the husband Dean isn’t quite sure about it. He agrees to try when he gets back from his work trip- he’s a private jet pilot for the rich and famous. He’s flying back to Florida after dropping his rockstar client off in the Bahamas when his plane goes missing off the coast of Puerto Rico, right in the Bermuda Triangle.

His poor wife Olivia is expecting him home, but she gets a call from his boss about the missing plane. Months go by and she moved home to NYC to be closer to family and eventually Dean is declared legally dead. The book then jumps to a flashback where Dean was a therapist who gets involved with a patient that he knows is a bad situation, but he can’t help himself. He’s trying to get out of this when he meets his future wife Olivia.

Olivia lives her life after Dean and remarries. She and her new husband Gabriel have a beautiful family, which includes a baby with Dean. She didn’t find out she was pregnant until after Dean was missing. Her daughter wonders whatever happened to her father and decides to try out a DNA database.

There are so many twists and turns in this book! Several I was in total shock over. I loved all the talk about the Bermuda Triangle and that was a fun plot device. The book had great pacing and I liked that the book went back and told the story of Dean and Olivia in its entirety. Julianne is an author that’s just getting better and better. Her last novel These Tangled Vines was also excellent and I would recommend both of these books!

Interesting Case of Storytelling Excellence. This is one of those books where had the author chosen to tell this very same story in a more typical fashion, with just a single narrator that we follow over several decades of her life, it wouldn’t have been near as engaging or near as engrossing as the tale becomes by telling it the way she instead chose to tell it. As a singular narrative, the story is a solid tale of a woman struggling to find herself in her twenties and thirties, both as she finishes college and a bit later in the aftermath of a tragedy, who then has to deal with the repercussions of these events throughout her life. With the particular perspectives that MacLean adds – which do add extra length to the text that wouldn’t be present without them – we get a much more fleshed out tale that actually adds extra depth both to certain characters and to the overall story, and thus the extra length is absolutely warranted in this case. Ultimately a satisfying tale in a vein somewhat reminiscent of the great Robin Williams movie Bicentennial Man, without its length in years. 🙂 Very much recommended.