Mickey Campbell's new restaurant is a hit with everyone even the critics but she has let herself down by getting behind on bills. When she gets an unexpected phone call saying her grandmother is getting married she takes off hoping she'll be able to come up with a solution to her problems. While there with her mother and grandmother the three revisit history hoping to make things right between them. Each wants something to help them change the way things are but will they be able to trust themselves enough to move forward? Follow along on this heartfelt journey these women take its definitely worth the emotional ride.

I enjoyed parts of the story and found other parts just ok.
The food element along with the family dynamics was interesting.
Overall, a enjoyable and easy read.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Mothers and Daughters Reveal Secrets at a Summer Wedding

Three women, mothers and daughters, come together in their island home on Martha’s Vineyard. The occasion is the wedding of grandmother, Cora, to Max, a man she was rumored to have feeling for during her marriage. Hedy, her daughter, is still grief stricken by the death of her beloved father, three years ago. Mickey, Hedy’s daughter, is a chef. She and her partner, also a chef, have a restaurant earning rave reviews, but due to Mickey’s mismanagement, the restaurant is in the red.

Summer on the island is full of clambakes, parties on the beach and relaxed living. Since both Cora and Mickey love to cook, the summer is also full of delicious food and the delights of cooking with someone you love. The story is told in two timelines. Cora’s story, which holds the plot in place, begins in 1948 with her recent marriage to Henry and her attempt to fit into his circle of friends. The 1999 timeline belongs to Mickey and her problems with the restaurant and her desire to work things out with her partner.

The book is an excellent beach read. You can feel the sun, smell the salt air and feel the sand between your toes. I thought the author did a good job presenting the delights of Martha’s Vineyard without taking away from the stories of the three women.

I received this book from St. Martin’s Press for this review.

What an absolute surprise this book was reader friends! Grab Our Place On The Island, your best sunnies, a cool drink, a floppy hat, and settle into a comfortable chair in the shade! This is the weekend read you’re packing on your next vacay…or your backyard/park/pool! ☀️ I loved multigenerational, immersive romance with a touch of mystery set at Martha’s Vineyard. It’s the perfect summer read to take you away, even if you’re not on the water.

Mickey worked hard her entire life to make her dream of running and owning a restaurant come true. Working side by side with her partner and boyfriend Wes seemed a perfect fit. Somewhere something went wrong and now she’s no longer in the kitchen, and behind on the bills. She’s delayed telling him, not wanting to spoil the glowing reviews being published. Before she can she receives a call from her mother, Hedy. Her grandmother, Cora is getting married in SIX days at their family home, Beech House.

Told from multiple points of view, and going back in time, we learn the complicated history of these three women. This is the story of how people make sacrifices within their relationships, about social hierarchy, and the cost of choosing not to adhere to those norms. It’s the story of women connected by their love of cooking and food, a common language deeply rooted in a home and place, the salt, and earth. It’s about reconnecting, second chances, at any age.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press @stmartinspress Erika Montgomery @erikamontgomeryauthor and Netgalley @Netgalley for the advanced copy.

This book was the perfect summer read. First, it had 2 of my all time favorite things, a coastal New England setting and dual timelines. I cannot get enough of books with these elements and Our Place on the Island did both of these so well. The descriptions of Beech House and the surroundings of Martha’s Vineyard really transported me there. I also really loved how
The author wrote about inter generational relationships, blended families and best of all FOOD!!! Lovely book.

I couldn't finish this book fast enough!!!!! I loved this so much! Made me feel like I was at the Beech House with all of these characters. I loved how it went back and forth from 1948 from the grandmother's perspective and then back 1999 to the present. I also loved that it was a generational story, grandmother, mother and daughter. Just made my heart happy.

Three generations of women reunite at their beloved home to celebrate the marriage of the family’s matriarch. As wedding preparations progress secrets are revealed. And Cora, the family matriarch, may not be the only one looking at a new beginning.

Our Place on the Island is touching family drama that takes place on Martha’s Vineyard. It is a quick, easy read that is perfect for a day on the beach. The characters are perfectly flawed and very relatable.

Thank you to Erika Montgomery, St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin, and Netgalley for the Oporto read and review this ARC.

I thought the dual timelines of the book set the stage and told the story of the Campbell women very well. I loved the inclusion of food in each timeline and with each character. I am a big fan of books set in and around Martha's Vineyard. This is a great book to sit and read on any beach!

Our Place on the Island by Erika Montgomery is a story of three women finding home and a new future on a familiar island. Many occasions have been celebrated at the Campbell family’s seaside cottage. The beloved matriarch, Cora, is getting remarried and the town gossip whispers that he was the one that got away. Her granddaughter, Michelle “Mickey,” is a renowned chef with a popular, successful restaurant with her boyfriend, Wes. However, she is hiding a secret. She has mismanaged the restaurant into the red. Cora’s wedding gives her an excuse to hide. She comes to the island to regroup and figure out a solution. Mickey’s mother, Hedy, is still mourning the passing of her beloved father and is having a hard time welcoming this new man in her mother’s life. Everyone knows a woman’s heart holds many secrets and Cora is about to reveal a story that will have the three women reevaluating their views on marriage, motherhood and the joys of following one’s heart.
Two years ago, I read Ms. Montgomery’s debut novel A Summer to Remember and when I was offered a chance to read her newest novel, I took it! Our Place on the Island is a story of second chances, discovering your true passions and finding home again. It is a story that did not disappoint. I thought I had figured it out; however, as the story unfolded, it took a surprising, heartwarming turn. I enjoyed every character. However, my favorite character was Cora. Her words of wisdom and insights were spot on. Word of warning: DO NOT read this book on an empty stomach! Cooking and food is an important aspect as the women bond over food and you will be craving every delicious dish as you read! Even the descriptions of the ingredients made me wish I had them in front of me! Ms. Montgomery describes Cora’s garden so well, I swear I could smell the fresh herbs and produce. I highly recommend Our Place on the Island.

Our Place on the Island is available in paperback, eBook, and audiobook

Well, I started a new pre-summer tradition when I read and truly enjoyed A Summer To Remember by this author. So this year it is her latest book Our Place on the Island, that was my last read for May.
Mickey Campbell heads to Martha’s Vineyard for her grandmother’s wedding. She was rather shocked, since she is struggling to make her restaurant profitable and had no idea Cora was seeing someone after the death of her husband. But, this will give her a chance to catch her breath, and figure out how to tell her partner about the financial hole they are in.
Told in the now and in the past, when Cora was a young bride, secrets are revealed that surprise, and bring the Campbell women closer together.
This was a perfect backyard Memorial Day weekend read. Three generations of Campbell women( Cora, Hedy, and Mickey) will each learn things that will allow them to move forward. What’s not to love about an elderly woman getting a second chance at romance? A family that learns a lot before this wedding and just an enjoyable story on a sunny day.

4.25 stars!

Happy Publishing Day to Our Place on the Island, the second novel by Erika Montgomery! It’s exactly what I want in a beach read: an atmospheric setting in the summer at the beach, characters who jump off the page, food references that have me salivating, and love stories I root for with each new chapter.

I adored the author’s first book, A Summer to Remember, so I was excited to pick up her newest historical fiction novel. Sometimes with historical fiction, I find myself favoring one time period over another, but that wasn’t the case with Our Place on the Island. Jumping between 1999 and 1948, I was eager to to return to each storyline.

In 1999, the “present” storyline for the book, we meet Mickey Campbell who is struggling with the secret that she’s kept from her chef boyfriend that she’s done a poor job of managing their restaurant, and she isn’t ready to face the fact that it’s time to make some hard decisions. So when she receives a call from her mother that Mickey’s beloved grandmother Cora is getting remarried, she can’t say no to the invitation to return to Beech House, the seaside cottage in Martha’s Vineyard that the family has always called home, for the wedding.

It’s been three years since Mickey’s grandfather passed away, but she and her mother, Hedy, are having a hard time accepting their matriarch’s remarriage. Especially when they discover the groom is someone from the bride’s past.

In 1948 we meet Cora as a young bride arriving to Beech House for the first time, meeting her husband’s life-long friends, unsure of how she’ll fit in. It’s in the remodeling of the kitchen, as she makes the changes that she wants, where she finds the place she’s most at-home, a place where her love of cooking can shine.

Cora’s kitchen is the heart of the story, uniting the past and present, bringing three generations of women together to share new and old secrets. Our Place on the Island really is a love letter to cooking, and I could picture the Campbell family gathering in the kitchen throughout the years.

I especially enjoyed that it’s Cora’s love story bringing the family together, reminding readers it’s never too late for a second chance at love. Add Our Place on the Island to your summer reading stack, and be prepared to grow wistful for the warm sand and thirsty for a Lobster Daiquiri while you read!

Loved the setting, Martha's Vineyard and the well developed characters in this story. A great beach read, which reminds me of the annual Elin Hilderbrand novels. Definitely an author to watch. Loved the relationship between the grandmother, daughter, and granddaughter. Their connection to their family home and their memories and experiences there were heartwarming. A great story about family and second chances.

This engrossing story wove together the lives of three very different women, matriarch, daughter, and granddaughter for a wedding on their beloved island. As the wedding date approaches, the complexities of family, love, history, and long-held secrets twine into knots that can be untangled for a new reality and celebration of one another or simply remain closed and limited and sad. As Montgomery does so well, the knots are untangled, secrets revealed and absorbed with each individual coming to peace with the marriage to come, the past they lived, and the future they will make together and for themselves. I received a copy of this book and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts

Our Place on the Island by Erika Montgomery is a wonderful book of women's fiction.

Second chance romance is my favorite trope. This book is set in Martha's Vineyard and an ode to cooking.

Family, romance, a workplace romance were all incredible elements in thus story.

I felt the breeze on my face as I recalled my own memories of Martha's Vineyard.

This is my first book by Montgomery, but it certainly won’t be my last. What a delight this one was. It’s definitely the perfect summer read. Definitely recommend

Erika Montgomery is an author to follow. Her books always make you feel so good. Such well-constructed stories, likeable characters, interesting history and situations, a plot that captures your interest and draws you in. Just enough suspense to keep you hooked but not enough to keep you seriously worried.

Our Place On the Island is a story about the three Campbell women and their family seaside cottage Beech House. There’s Mickey, who left home years ago to make her mark in the culinary world. Hedy, Mickey’s mother, whose marriage didn’t take so she never put herself out there again, and the matriarch, Cora, Hedy’s mother and Mickey’s grandmother.

Everyone’s coming to Beech House on Martha’s Vineyard because Cora is getting remarried. What? Who? How did this happen? Gossip has always had a life of its own in their community, and now Hedy is hearing that Max, the man Cora is going to marry, is the one who got away, Cora’s one true love. Hedy doesn’t know if that is true or not, but her relationship with her mother has always been fractious and Hedy’s father has only been dead three years. She’s not ready for this wedding. Mickey is close to her grandmother but hasn’t been home in a while and had no clue, but since she’s just run her restaurant into the ground – hey, she’s a chef, not a finance major – and is afraid to tell her head chef/partner/boyfriend Wes about it maybe it’s a good time to return to Beech House after all. She loves him and is afraid she’ll lose him because of this. As for Cora, she’s that head-of-the-family older woman character we all love to read about. Feisty, opinionated, maybe hasn’t always gotten her way or the life she wanted but knows her own mind. She may or may not explain: Why Max? Why now? But she’s not going to apologize. Her marriage to Harry was good and she’s not going to diminish it, but she’s going to live the rest of her life.

Cora has been on the Vineyard since 1948 and the early days of her marriage to Harry. Beech House was their seaside summer home. She was an outsider with a background that didn’t fit in with Harry’s family and friends and that ever present snobbery and gossip, but he loved her and knew she would “come around.” Well, maybe she did and maybe she didn’t but after all these years, she and Beech House are fixtures on Martha’s Vineyard. She loves it. And she loves Max.

The action shifts back and forth between 1948 and 1999, remembering people and events from the past, facing what is the reality of now and accepting what the future might bring. Cora is happy and for some reason has invited everyone to attend the wedding, even those long-time gossips and possible enemies from the old days. Hedy doesn’t understand, but maybe it’s time she unravels herself a bit and live her own life, not the one she thought would please, or at least not disappoint, her father. And Mickey, she needs to come to terms with what she really wants, who she is really meant to be, why she left and why maybe it’s good to be home.
Our Place On the Island is delightful, full of love – lost, found, new, in jeopardy – and disappointments and wishes and dreams. And most of all family. And a custom-built kitchen island that is very, very special. Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for providing an advance copy of Our Place On the Island for my reading pleasure and honest opinion. I loved this story and Erika Montgomery is an author I always want to read. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own.

The one that got away I love second chance romance and throw in three generations of woman and you have got a wonderful, feel good beach read. I loved the clambakes, all the food it just makes it feel like summer.

Always a pleasure getting to read this author's work

My thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review


Grab this one on June 13th 2023

This was a cute one ya'll. It brought me back home to New England beach life. It was a mix of a beach read with romance and family drama turned happy. It was a feel-good, happy ending, type of read.

Mickey is a chef in Baltimore who owns her own restaurant but is in some of her own hot water. She finds out that her grandmother, Cora, is getting married to Max Dempsey. Mickey travels back to Martha's Vineyard for the nuptials even though she has not told her boyfriend Wes about her restaurant financial troubles, and knows she needs to.

Mickey is not the only one with a secret though; Cora has decided to sell the Beech House that has been in the family for generations but hasn't been able to tell Mickey yet. We move through their wedding weekend preparations with Cora urging Mickey to reveal her secret to Wes; when Cora sees the angst it caused Mickey, she secretly calls Wes to come. The caterer bails last minute which allows Mickey and Wes to show their craft.

The ending is a sweet one and you should read it! It came out June 13, so snag it quickly! This is your next best beach read!!

#NetGalley

Three generations of women gather at their home in Martha’s Vineyard for this heartwarming story. The home - Beech House - has been in their family for generations and they are gathering one more time to celebrate the wedding of Cora, the matriarch. Cora and her daughter Hedy have a tempestuous relationship and Hedy’s daughter Mickey has always been closest to Cora. As the women reconcile with the changes in their lives and the changes yet to come they each gain a greater understanding of one another.. Secrets slowly come to light during the book and attitudes change. This is an uplifting story set in an idyllic setting. If you like a character driven plot this one is for you. From the mouthwatering recipes to the beautiful landscape and the various interesting characters you will find this is a perfect summer read.

OUR PLACE ON THE ISLAND by Erika Montgomery is a moving and engaging novel about family and their enduring ties to the place they call home. Set on Martha’s Vineyard and told over two timelines, the 1940s and 1999, the story transported me to the beach setting, island vibes and all the drama unfolding as three generations of Campbell women come together for life-changing event. It is also a testament to the power of food to bring family and friends together. Mickey Campbell is a celebrated chef in Baltimore, owning a highly-acclaimed restaurant with her head chef and boyfriend. Learning to cook with her grandmother, Cora, from childhood was what led to her passion for cooking. Despite the restaurant’s success, the pile-up of late bills threatens to take away the one thing Mickey’s ever dreamed of. When Mickey’s mother, Hedy, calls her home to their family home on Martha’s Vineyard for Cora’s upcoming wedding, it is with mixed feelings that she returns to Beech House where she hasn’t visited for more than ten years. The story also steps back to 1948 when Cora first arrived on the scene of Beech House as a newlywed and outsider. As they prepare for Cora’s second wedding, secrets will be revealed that will change the lives of all three women. I enjoyed how the author skillfully developed each character and showed how they grew and changed with time. It is a story of love, loss and second chances that kept me enchanted from beginning to end. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read and review an early copy.