May's "Best Beach" Read!

Congrats to MKA for 30 years of fabulous books and hours of entertainment. The Homewreckers is making all the lists from @nytimes @publisherswkly @usatoday @wsj list @siba_books list, and many more. A HIT!

Summer would NOT be complete without a Mary Kay Andrews sizzling story for the perfect escape.

THE HOMEWRECKERS provides an intriguing, compelling cold-case murder, delicious beachside renovations, a design TV show, a tantalizing romance, vacation rentals, and MKA's signature wit, sass, style, and southern charm. Set in coastal Savannah and Tybee Island, Georgia.

No one does it better!

Hattie Kavanaugh, the protagonist— lost her husband seven years earlier after a motorcycle accident. She works with her father-in-law, Tug, and her best friend, Cassidy, Cass's mother, Zenobia. They are in the business of flipping houses in Savannah, GA.

However, after losing all her savings in her latest renovation, she accepts an offer to star in a TV show. However, they will be underfoot and she has to be onscreen and work with Mo Lopez, the producer, and good-looking designer.

During the renovation, things from the past keep popping up and all sorts of problems. A local schoolteacher went missing years ago, and the body was never round. Deadly secrets from the previous owners add even more intrigue and suspense.

Fans are going to LOVE this one!

I also recommend Ten Beach Road Novel Wendy Wax Beach Read Series (Florida) and Karen White's The Shop on Royal Street (New Orleans), which are both fun reads that I enjoyed. Renovations, old houses, TV, mystery murder from the past with added ghosts.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for a digital and print ARC to read, enjoy, and review.

Blog Review Posted@:
www.JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 Stars
Pub Date: 5/3/2022

#SMPINfluencers #jdcmustreadbooks #may2022books #mka #buymybookdammit #summerbeginswithmka #30YearsofMKA #bookstagrammer #bookblogger #summerreading #beachreads #topbooksof2022

There's just something about kicking off summer with a new MKA book! I love the combination of a little mystery and a little romance, and the home renovation/reality show aspect was something new and I loved it!

Romance. Suspense. Conflict. Heartbreak. Mystery. Murder.

This book has it all.

The Homewreckers, my first Mary Kay Andrews novel, was entertaining yet predictable at times.

It follows Hattie, a woman who has experienced a lot in her lifetime: a childhood shadowed by the actions of her father, the loss of her high school sweetheart, the debt from an unsuccessful flip, and then the pressure of being a star on reality TV. Not to mention, a handsome co-star just to make things more complicated and the findings that came with the 100-year-old beach house they're renovating for the show. Still, she proves she's a hardworking, strong woman. Beautifully, she eventually learns to let go and move on.

I enjoyed reading about the transformations of the old homes and the highs and lows that came with them. Throw in some romance and mix in some murder mystery and it had my interest.

The characters were likeable for the most part, except for one or two (in my opinion). I wish there were more "sparks" between the romantically involved characters but I think the ending to the book was adorable.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Homewreckers by Mary Kay Andrews is available now!

Hattie Kavanaugh loves to flip houses with her farther in law. She married his son at 18 and was a widow 7 years later. Hattie had ran into bad luck lately until one day she is offered to star in a reality beach house renovation show called The Homewreckers. Will Hattie find love again and will she find the right house to flip?

Hattie Kavanaugh loved her job restoring homes, and working for her father-in-law gave her a much-needed sense of family. When her parents divorced after her father’s term in prison for embezzlement, Hattie remained in Savannah with her best friend Cass’s family while she finished high school. She and her late husband Hank had been high school sweethearts, and she missed him terribly. As she was working on a house she loved, Mo Lopez, a television producer, offered her the opportunity to star in a reality show on flipping houses. With reservations, Hattie agreed, and even pawned her wedding ring for the purchase of the Tybee island tear-down, won at auction for essentially the price of the unpaid taxes on the property. Demolition quickly began, and surprisingly, a woman’s wallet was discovered in the bathroom wall, belonging to Lanier Ragan, a favorite teacher that had disappeared without a trace seventeen years earlier.

I really liked Hattie and Cass, and appreciated their energy, integrity and determination. The support from both the Kavanaughs and Cass and her mom that Hattie gets is truly what family is all about. The nonsense from the production company and the over-confident TV designer adds drama, and then the mystery of what really happened to Lanier Ragan, and why her wallet was found in the bathroom wall, definitely kept my interest and also kept me guessing. The Homewreckers is a fun read, perfect for a summer afternoon on the beach.

I love Mary Kay Andrews, and I quite enjoyed this book. You get a little mystery, a home improvement project, and a romance all in one. I liked that this book took place in Savannah, I have been there before and it brought back all the memories. This focuses more on the mystery than the relationships, which I found quite interesting. It turned out nearly exactly like I thought it would….but that didn’t take away from the ride. Loved all the side characters and I especially loved Detective Mak!

Thanks to NetGalley for my gifted copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Homewreckers is my first MKA book. They first 30% was super hard for me to get into. It sort of picked up in the middle and I definitely enjoyed the end. I almost dnf’d it about 40% in but am glad I stuck with it.
This is a story about Hattie, a young widow and restoration expert. She somehow gets mixed up with a guy named Mo and ends up on a reality tv show that’s profiling her current renovation. I’m not into reality tv shows so that hook just didn’t do it for me. Overall, this book was just ok.

Always a treat to read the latest Mary Kay Andrews book. Homewreckers is her 30th book and it is a winner. Loved the setting, storyline, and range of characters. Thanks to #NetGalley and #TheHomewreckers for an advanced digital copy.

I loved this!! It’s my first MKA book and i loved the concept - historical home renovations in Savannah, Ga plus a historical mystery along the way. Aaahh it’s just so good!! Perfect for summer, perfect for anyone who loves a mystery, perfect for someone who loves home renovations, perfect for someone who loves enemies to lovers, perfect for someone who loves southern fiction!! I was captivated immediately and felt like i was in Savannah watching everything happen in real life.

Savannah ~ Flipping houses ~ Reality show ~ Murder ~ Friends ~ Disasters ~ Tybee Island ~ Mystery ~ Love ~ Faulty wiring ~ Romance ~ Beach read ~ Contemporary fiction ~ Fun read

🌟 My favorite fiction read of April 2022.

This ARC was given to me to review from the publishers and NetGalley. My thoughts and comments are solely my own.

This is a great summer beach read. It’s light, not hard to follow, and has a little mix of romance, whodunit and suspense. The plot is far-fetched and the characters are very lightly developed, but it kept me entertained.

Hattie has had a difficult time with the loss of her husband. She continues to do what she loves though; restoring old homes in Savannah with her friend, Cass. Unfortunately, she lost some money and has no money to purchase and flip a home. Much to her dismay, she puts her wedding ring up for loan so that she can have money to buy the old Creedmore beach front property.

A home and garden network approaches her about filming her restoration of the house. Hattie has reservations about being on tv in THE HOMEWRECKERS. Reluctantly, she agrees because the money, fame, and recognition may help her get out of the hole with the house. As they are renovating the house, they find a wallet of a local beloved teacher that has been missing for 17 years. The local police department gets involved as other secrets turn up at the house while restoring the Creedmore property.

In this southern fiction, you will be pleased with the story line of restoring the old house. The cast involved in filming and producing the reality show bring their own set of problems. It also has a mystery appeal to it as the police uncover the mysteries held in the Creedmore house.

Mary Kay Andrews is one of my favorite authors and I never tire of reading her novels. I highly recommend this book!

Another solid summer beach read from MKA! She is a master at writing catchy novels with romance, suspense, and mystery all wrapped up into one book! I really enjoyed the setting and the story line was a lot of fun! I would highly recommend adding this one to your summer reading list! Thank you netgalley and St. Martin’s for my free review copy.

Reading “The Homewreckers” was my first experience with author Mary Kay Andrews but it will not be my last! This book is filled with a few of my favorite things: mystery, romance, humor, and a great storyline to keep the pages turning.

Hattie, a young widow, is busy renovating and flipping old Southern homes with her father-in-law and best friend when a TV producer talks her into doing a reality home renovation show called The Homewreckers. Hattie quickly learns that there is more to reality TV than she cares to know about and that just as in life, there are always unexpected surprises; and in this case, they show up as murder and realizing people are not always the person you expect or hope them to be.

I am looking forward to my next MKA read!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

I look forward to Mary Kay Andrews books every year! She's definitely one of my favorite authors. Everything she writes feels so fun and cozy with their own storylines and lovable characters. I love that Hallmark/Lifetime feel good community vibe. "The Homewreckers" is set as a reality TV show about house flipping in Georgia until their find a break in a cold case of a missing local teacher from decades ago. What I love about Andrews' books is the ability to have a good blend of romance and mystery; it doesn't read as a romance either.

These are the type of books that are perfect for the beach. I would highly recommend it to those who love an easy feel good summer read.

Highly recommend if you enjoy:
Beach Reads
The Honey Don't List
Chip & Joanna Gaines

Mary Kay Andrews is always a sure thing for me and this book is no exception. It has a little bit of everything from romance to drama to comedy and even murder mystery! The characters become like good friends and the story is a relaxing, delightful yet entertaining read nonetheless. I think this will appear on multiple "best of" lists for this year. I highly recommend it!

I can always count on Mary Kay Andrew’s for a great summer read. This one hits the romcom and thriller boxes for me! Another great read. Looking forward to the next one!

This book was an absolute pleasure to read. Anything by Mary Kay Andrews is actually. I highly recommend this book.

An entertaining, relatively light read. Hattie is a young widow who works construction for her father in law. When she is approached about starting in a reality tv show about flipping a home in Savannah, she takes on a lot more than she bargained for. This story had it all, love, friendship, mystery and murder. The plot moved along at a good pace and the characters were well developed and easy to relate to. I love strong female characters!

Thank you, Mary Kay Andrew’s, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley, for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Mary Kay Andrews always writes a fun summer read and this year is no different! I thoroughly enjoyed reading Hattie and Mo's story. I'm a sucker for a good house renovation so I always find books like this fun to read. Plus it's neat to read about Savannah and Tybee Island since I've visited there and things are somewhat familiar.

Cheers to Mary Kay on her 30th book in 30 years! Looking forward to many more!

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Published 3 May 2022.