Member Reviews
I just loved this book! Mary Kay Andrews has true gift, as each new book is even better than the last. HOMEWRECKERS is a perfect mix of murder mystery, romance, intrigue, and comedy. When Hattie is approached by a home improvement network to star in a home renovation show, she thinks it will be a good opportunity to dig herself out a hole financially and prove to the world she's worth her grits as a contractor. But it's not as easy as it seems... a dreamy west-coast designer costar, an all-business producer, a quirky showrunner, Hattie's BFF foreman, a friendly detective, among others, all create a story that is ONE WILD RIDE! I couldn't put it down, and highly recommend HOMEWRECKERS!
My day was absolutely made with the approval from NetGalley and the publisher to read and review Mary Kay Andrew's latest book prior to publication. She is without a doubt one of my favorite authors and her latest book is such a fun read. Savannah has always been one of my favorite vacation spots and because of that we recently decided to build a home there so I really enjoyed all the Savannah references (As I patiently wait for my home to be built) This book has it all - A little romance, some drama, a DIY TV show, and a murder all which lead to one of the best books I've read in a long time. As you head outside or to the beach make sure to take this along with you to pass the day. It is SO worth it! :) Keep the fun stories coming MKA.
A new book by Mary Kay Andrews means that summer is just around the corner. She is one of the few authors that I pre-order her new book without knowing anything about it and she's never let me down. The amount of heart and humor she puts into her book. I just love it!
One of the more interesting and entertaining aspects of the book is the storyline of the almost two decades old missing persons case that develops as the missing woman’s (she just vanished and no one knew what happened to her) wallet is mysteriously found inside one of the walls of the TV show restoration project. This leads to speculation on how the person is connected to the house and what happened to her and with whom did it happen. As Hattie gets deeper into the mystery, things start happening at the house that seem like an attempt to keep Hattie and team from completing the project.
Highly recommend for a light, fun read. Mary Kay Andrews never fails to deliver an entertaining book.
Really fun story about making a home renovation tv show. Good characters. both good and bad. a little bit of mystery and romance. Really nice read!
The Homewreckers by Mary Kay Andrews shows the behind the scenes drama behind of a DIY reality show. Set in Savannah, the show is a mix of house fixing, flipping and contrived romance with sabotage, arson and a dead body thrown in for good measure. Another fun summer read by Mary Kay Andrews.
Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.
Hattie Kavanaugh has made a career of locating and rehabbing old historic houses in Savannah, Georgia alongside her father-in-law Tug, and best friend Cass. However, she bit off more than she can chew and is forced to sell a property at a loss, forcing her to the brink of financial ruin. Not sure what to do, Hattie is approached by Mo, a television producer looking to develop a new reality show on rehabbing old houses in Savannah. The idea is Hattie will buy another house, fix it up and flip it. At first Hattie refuses but once she finds herself without options, she agrees and locates a house in desperate need of repair on Tybee Island. Rehabbing an old historic house and filming the process, she thinks, what could potentially go wrong? It turns out, quite a lot.
Murder, arson, code violations, sabotage, betrayal, jealousy, embezzlement, mystery, love, and new beginnings are just a few of the themes that are showcased in this novel. I found this book intriguing and it hooked my attention as the challenges continued to mount for Hattie. Would she succeed and while at the same time solve a seventeen-year-old murder mystery?
While I enjoyed the novel, the character development could have been better as the characters felt very one dimensional. I didn’t feel the connection between the characters especially as to the romance triangle of Hattie, Trae, and Mo. The relationships fell a little flat for me as there was not much character development or evolution of the budding relationships to really convince the reader of the feelings. It felt like perhaps there were moments or developments that occurred but somehow never got conveyed to the reader so that when certain interactions did occur, they felt forced and unnatural. The murder mystery and home renovation were intriguing, and I would have preferred if more attention was focused on those storylines as opposed to the romantic interactions of the characters.
Overall, the novel was a quick and easy read. There were a lot of storylines going which keeps the reader engaged and wanting to turn the page and continue reading. This novel would be a nice compliment to a day at the beach.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.
Love Triangle.
Murder Mystery.
Low Country.
I Mean...tell me what more you want for your summer beach bag of essential reads! Is it even summer without a Mary Kay Andrews book to go along with it?
I adored this - it was quick, light, sweet, saucy and just a smidge mysterious. Grab a sweet tea and hit the pool with this book in tow!
Hattie, the main character, renovates and restores houses for a living. When she catches the eye of a Hollywood producer, she has to decide if she just wants to stay the same or risk everything to make a tv show. Hattie buys a run down house on Tybee Island to use as she stars in the show and things start to fall apart from the beginning. When body of Hattie's favorite teacher, who has been missing for 18 years, turns up, Hattie has to decide if it is worth holding on to or just letting go of this house.
I received this as an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book is more cozy mystery than romance, and MKA did really well with both storylines! I will admit I was more intrigued by the murder mystery than the romance, it seemed more thought out and the romance didn't have as much oomph as I would normally expect from MKA.
I finished the book with warm fuzzies and a strong urge to visit the beach (which I hate) so she did a great job setting the scene!
If you love home renovation shows and murder mysteries you're going to enjoy this book.
Who doesn’t love a disaster that isn’t happening to you? In an HGTV-alike world, you have Hattie trying to prove herself as a worthy heir to her contractor father-in-law. After a bad decision leads to financial difficulty, it’s all or nothing on a last chance of a beach house in desperate need of renovation. Too bad there might be a skeleton involved, nastily nosey neighbors, and an uppity boss who keeps changing the game to make “good tv”. (Who doesn’t want to strangle Rebecca?) For anyone who loves HGTV and a bit of a who-dun-it, this book is for you!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
This is the perfect summer beach read. I love Mary Kay Andrews books. She combines humor and romance usually on the beautiful setting of Tybee Island or some place close by.
This story is about Hattie and Cass but mainly Hattie and the home renovation business they have with Hattie's father in law. She has dreams of taking a run down falling down house and restore it to it's once pristine condition. But through no fault of her own the one house that she has been wanting for years turned out to not be the one. She and her father in law lose a lot of money on the deal and she feels she needs to redeem herself. That is where Saving Savannah/Homewreackers comes in. She is approached about doing a reality show on house remodels. Two women remodeling houses is a novelty. She really doesn't want to do it but Cass said it would be good for business. They find the house a 100 year old house in foreclosure that the city has condemned. Nothing can go wrong can it? It seems that the universe is fighting against them. They do solve a 15 year missing person case and they may have found love. You will have to check it out because I don't want to spoil it for you.
Oh my goodness, I did not want this story to end! Usually I can speed through a book wanting to get to the ending. This one, I wanted to read slowly and savor all the action and the characters. Hattie is a young widow working as a building contractor in her father-in-law’s company. She ends up as host of a reality show restoring an historic beach house in Savanna. The story is full of mystery, fun, romance, even murder! It’s a delight!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
This was such an easy read! It was fun to read about Savannah and a home improvement show, I love both! Romance, mystery and murder, what more could you want!
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for my advanced copy! I could not put it down!
I absolutely love Mary Kay Andrews’ novels and truly find such joy in diving into her books! Her latest novel The Homewreckers not only lived up to my high expectations, but exceeded them! I found the cast of characters immediately endearing and was glued to my kindle to see how their stories would play out! I enjoyed the characters so much I would LOVE to read a whole series based on them! In saying that, Mary Kay Andrews created a storyline that has a perfect mix of romance and mystery/suspense! I was completely entertained the entire way through! Mary Kay Andrews is always a sure thing for me and this 5 star read is a wonderful example of that! I highly recommend everyone put this must read on the top of your summer reading list!
I always look forward to this time every year, Mary Kay Andrews summer book is released. I've come to depend on her for a great guilty pleasure, a good story with a bit of romance, a bit of mystery, a good book that I can lose myself in for a while.
The Homewreckers fits into the category of decrepit home do-overs, the DIY shows that are so popular on HGTV these days. The network has been changed to HPTV but the format is one that many of us are familiar with. The star Hattie was already renovating homes before she was cast on the show. A down-to-earth, down-home girl. Her co-star is Trae, such a corny name in a chick lit book. He is already an established star. Right away, the stage is set, will Hattie hate him or fall madly in love?
A little mystery develops pretty early in the renovation when the wallet of a young woman who had gone missing over a decade earlier. The mystery deepens quickly.
And, as can be expected, almost everything goes wrong right from the start. There's an overzealous by-law enforcer slapping fines as fast as he can. There's a dumpster fire (arson?) that could have been serious. The replacement dumpster ends up falling into the septic tank as it’s being delivered. Basically, Murphy's Law had been activated.
My one complaint is the name of a character. The name is LANIER and I need to know how to pronounce it. IS it the French way, Lahn-yay? Is it the Anglo version, Lahn-yer! Or perhaps it’s Lane-yer? I even Googled, trying to find a pronunciation. I found several different ways.
The Homewreckers is a fun and entertaining book. It’s a typical MKA story, not quite my favourite but a great beach/vacation read.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an Advance Readers Copy to me.
The Homewreckers is a book that truly has something for everyone. A grieving widow, historic home renovations, Hollywood drama, romance, murder, mystery, family betrayal-I don't think there is a theme that isn't covered in this book! Yet, somehow it all comes together in a way that isn't too overwhelming and makes for a delightful beach read. This book is made even better when you learn about Andrew's own experience with renovating a cottage on Tybee Island (that you can now rent for a pretty penny).
I recieved this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.
Oh my goodness, I absolutely loved this story!! Mary Kay Andrews is such a wonderful writer and definitely struck gold with this novel. The characters were so great to read about and you felt as if you knew them!
MKA does it again! Summer is not complete without a beach read from Mary Kay Andrews. I was thrilled to follow her latest book back to Savannah and Tybee (though it would have been fun to have a cameo from a character or two from previous books!). As always, there's a mystery to be solved and a love story to follow. Classic Mary Kay Andrews and it doesn't get any better.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Steam Level: 🔥🔥 (kissing and closed door sex scenes)
Trigger Warning: cheating, statutory rape, murder, fatal motorcycle crash, death of a loved one, abandonment, incarcerated parent
Hattie Kavanaugh has just been recruited as the star of Mo Lopez's newest HPTV home renovation show in Savannah. After losing everything when her last house flip was a bust, she needs this to work despite her uneasiness about being a tv personality. While filming, Hattie's crew stumbles across clues related to the disappearance of beloved teacher Lanier Ragan 17 years earlier. Soon they find themselves in the middle of a fresh investigation and by the time their renovation is complete, secrets will be revealed that will rock everyone's world.
This was my first Mary Kay Andrews book, and I really enjoyed it. I found the mystery surrounding Lanier's disappearance to be intriguing, and I was guessing what happened until the very end. The plot never felt predictable to me. Even though I'm not a huge HGTV fan, I did enjoy the storyline about Hattie being part of a home renovation show. It was interesting to see the inner workings of that and how they faced the different challenges that came up. This story did have a minor storyline involving a love triangle between Hattie, Mo, and designer Trae, but that part fell a bit flat for me. I just never felt like there was much development of the chemistry between Hattie and the person she ended up with. It just seemed kind of rushed. The real star of the book was Officer Mak! He had great character development and was so likable as he worked to solve Lanier's case and help everyone get closure. If you love HGTV and a good mystery, then I highly recommend checking this one out!
Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an ARC of this book!
"Don't love something that can't love you back"
Hattie Kavanaugh has been renovating old houses in Savannah since the age of 18. She and her best friend Cass work for a company owned by Hattie's father in law Tug.
While working on a money pit of a house she is approached by Mo, who produces home improvement reality shows. He wants to create a show with them on their next renovation.
I love that the story took place on Tybee Island. After reading this book I now want to visit the Island to see it first hand.
This was a fascinating and gripping story..
The story had me captivated from the very first page and I found it awfully difficult to put down.
Thank you NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this book.