Book Review
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 stars
𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓑𝓸𝓸𝓴𝓼𝓱𝓸𝓹 𝓑𝔂 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓑𝓪𝔂
Author:
Pub date: June 6, 2023
Publisher: St Martin’s Press
Genre: 𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝙰𝚍𝚞𝚕𝚝 𝙵𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗/𝚆𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚜 𝙵𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗

What a great book to review for Mother’s Day!

This is a novel about Mothers and daughters and how they move through some tough life challenges.

Jess, a lawyer at her father in laws firm, and Allison, an editor, are lifelong friends. After Jess discovers her husband cheating she decides to spend the summer at home, with her Mom, in Cape Cod to decide what she wants in life. Her daughter, Caitlin, having not much luck with her boyfriend or career is spending the summer as well.

Allison, divorced for years but good friends with her ex, always dreamed of owning a bookstore. Her daughter, Julia, owns an eclectic jewelry shop and is in a relationship, although there’s something not quite right about it.

Caitlin and Julia become friends, they haven’t always been, and build their relationship making their Mothers happy.

Jess and Allison decide to purchase a well known bookshop and coffee shop. They both explore dating and navigating obstacles and joys in life.

This was a cute happy novel with many characters and relationships. It was a good easy read.

Thank you @netgalley @pamelamkelley @stmartinspress for an electronic book ARC (Advanced Readers Copy) in exchange for an honest review.

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#womensfiction
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This is a solid beach read. The characters are 2 mothers who are best friends and their daughters. It’s a book of discovery in some ways, but there’s not much plot or character development. It was a fun quick read though.

A woman finds out her husband is cheating on her with the secretary in their law office. She decides to take a break and with her out of work daughter heads to the beach to visit her mother and best friend. This is a story about her decision making process, what she ultimately decides to do, how it works out and how it affects her family and friends.

I was so excited when I was approved to read this novel. Pamela M. Kelly is one of my favourite authors. Perfect novel for the summer! Definitely recommend.

I found this book to be ok. Overall I liked the story but it just felt flat. One reason is that there were too many characters and they all seemed like the same person. Another reason is that there was nothing exciting in the story.

I found this story to be charming and heartwarming. While this story doesn't contain a ton of depth, it would make a lovely beach read.

This story showcases two moms who are best friends along with their grown daughters as they navigate changes they weren't expecting. At its core, this book is about friendship and family, and how important close relationships can be, especially when life throws you curveballs.

Read if you enjoy:
✔️ Female friendships
✔️ Idyllic coastal settings
✔️ Bookshops
✔️ Light, easy reads

3.5
This was a great, heading into Summer, read. I loved the idea of heading off to rest and recharge after experiencing a life changing event. Realistic? Definitely not; but that’s what sometimes makes a good story.

I did struggle with keeping the names and storylines of all of the straight in my head. Now, that could be a me problem, but I did want to mention it. It felt a bit like the Who’s Who of Cape Cod with all of the names that I had to keep straight.

Ehhh this one was not really for me. As other reviewers have noted, it's very PG and lacks the kind of small-town drama one would relish in a beach read. It also bothered me throughout the book that Jess's mom was just "Jess's mom" and didn't have a name of her own.
I probably would not recommend this to others.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC!

This is a great summer beach read.

Two long time best friends and their daughters all just trying to find their true place in life.

Author did a great job of describing the characters and their time in Chatham. I felt like I was there with them and picturing how the bookstore and coffee shop looked.

I found each persons situation a little predictable and I would have preferred a little more drama, but overall I enjoyed this and would recommend it to everyone to pick up this summer!

loved this romance and finding oneself and the how the couple worked out their problems . loved all of the side characters and the friendships. Good book.

Such a delightful and wonderful story about mothers and daughters; along with friends, love, lifestyle changes and glorious friendships. I adored this lovely story, it takes you away and sets to dream. Excellent story in a book about books! Thank you @NewGally@StMartinsGriffin@TheBookshopbytheBay

The Book Shop by the Bay by Pamela Kelley is the story of two lifelong friends and their adult daughters as they navigate divorce, being single, finding love again, while pursuing their career dreams in a charming little coastal town. It's a story of friendship and family, and coming home again. The Book Shop by the Bay was a sweet read, and thoroughly enjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. This book is the perfect beach read for the forthcoming summer season. The story of good friends Jess, Allison and their daughters Caitlin and Julia is a delightful read, the women are all going through personal and or professional problems. Jess and Caitlin return to Chatham, Massachusetts for the summer from Charleston where they both encountered problems. Jess and Allison reignite their friendship while their daughters Caitlin and Julia become friends. All the women have issues to resolve, but through the friendship , love, and support they help each other to a satisfying, happy ending. This was a easy, breezy read, great for summer, relaxing reading.

This is your typical beach read, where they all decide to create a new life for themselves in the end. It's very PG and would share with my mom.

Do you trust yourself and your own judgment? That is basically the premise of this book. The journey to fulfillment was an interesting one.

Jess finds that her husband of 30 years has had an affair with his assistant and now that assistant is pregnant. She takes a trip with her adult daughter, Caitlin, to her home town of Chatham.

Her mother lives there. So does her best friend Allison along with Allison’s daughter, Julia.

These 4 women all are facing changes in their lives. Jobs lost, or changing, relationships that not longer work and major choices which can change lives.

First I liked the mother daughter and friend relationships in this book. It was nice to see people supporting their loved ones. I liked the four leading characters. Each of them were nice women who were intelligent, humorous and strong. At times they felt ambivalent, but in reality we knew where things were going.

In reality, at times there was not much reality. Everything worked out easily for each of them. Businesses opened up and were nearly immediately successful. Solutions to problems appeared. Perfect men were right there when needed.

I was not fond of the descriptions of food. It seemed that the food was more important than the interactions with the characters eating the food. I wanted a little more personality of the person they were sharing a meal with rather than what the meal was.

I know this is just me, but I really wanted more emotional activity.

Ms Kelley is a new to me author. I will look for some of her other books to read. She is talented and her female characters drew me into the story. I just wanted something more and I believe I will find it with Ms Kelley.

I received this book from the publisher through NetGalley. I am voluntarily writing this review and all opinions are complete

This one was tough for me because the actual storyline was good, had enough sub plots and side characters, and did keep me wondering how it was all going to turn out.
However, a few things made me rate this lower -
1- The character names were really tough for me.. the younger girls were all Sue, Nancy, and Beth. Which to me are older names, and not something I would associate with 20/30 somethings, so I had a hard time with their association. Then Jess was an older character, which is also a younger name, and threw me off a lot.
2-The dialogue fell really flat and felt unrealistic. A lot of times when I'm reading I can really see and hear the fluctuation of people's voices and how that goes along with their personality, and all the characters in this book were flat and had no personality. Alison, Jess, Caitlin, and Julia all had somewhat unique qualities but their conversations never showed me who they truly were. For example when Julia was leaving for Nashville, Caitlin said "I hope it’s a fun trip for you. Take lots of pictures.” Most girls that age would say something more like "Have so much fun in Nashville! I neeed to see pictures when you're back."


Overall I would not recommend but if the characters had more personality, especially in their dialogue, I could have gotten behind it more. Really appreciate the advanced copy and opportunity to review!

“The Bookshop by the Bay” by Pamela M. Kelley
A Choice: the Catalyst of Change
Yes, there was one really big surprise that changed several lives, but ultimately everything turns out for the best. After all it is fiction, and why we love to read it. I really did enjoy this story and its twists and turns. A story about life and choices, with a touch of romance, and all sweet and clean too. A worthwhile read. Happy Reading ! !
NOTE: This review expresses my honest opinion.
I received an ARC of this story from the publisher via NetGalley.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of this book. The book's plot seemed to have a lot of potential to begin with, but then it all got jumbled together. There were so many characters that the author bounced around to that it was difficult to keep track of who was who. It also seemed like each character had a love interest or two and that got confusing as well. It seemed like it was necessary for every female character to be on the prowl. The outcome was very lackluster as well, I think anyone could have predicted it. This was not for me.

The Bookshop by the Bay
by Pamela Kelley
I have read a number of books by this author and my favorites are the books in the Beach Plum Cove Inn series. That said, this book was good but maybe a little too long. Most of the books I have read or listened to by this author are pretty short, seven hours or less and I think that’s a good length for this kind of story. However, it was enjoyable and I liked the main characters and as always in a Pamela Kelly book, the talk about food and wine. And of course, the location.
Thanks to Netgalley.

🌞Book Review🌞

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a free digital copy for an honest review.

Pub date: June 6, 2023

Read this if you like:

❤️ Mother/daughter stories
👭 Friendships
🌴 Beachy scenes
⛪ Small town vs city
😊 Feel-good story

This book was a wholesome, feel-good story with a "you can change your life no matter what your age" theme.

Jess and her daughter, Caitlin, move to Cape Cod for the summer after a secret changes the direction of their lives.

Jess's best friend, Alison, has always dreamed of owning a bookstore. When the opportunity arises, Jess and Alison take it.

A bookstore and coffee shop near the beach, what's not to love!

The ending of this book is predictable, but I needed something light-hearted and sweet. This was my first Pamela Kelley book and I look forward to trying more of her books.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4!