An emotionally charged story that left me broken. Make sure you grab the tissues before reading this captivating novel about Cara and Rose who are best friends that met at a mother's group . They have a tradition of a barbecue on Labor Day weekend but the two families have drifted apart. When they leave the kids at the park the unimaginable happens and from there it is one long roller-coaster of emotion, lies, deceit , anger and love. Once I started reading this gem of a story , I could not stop and stayed up until 3am to finish. The author writes a compelling story that grabs you and tugs at your heartstrings. The characters are developed seamlessly and the plot is engaging and thoughtful. I highly praise this heartrending novel.

With their friendship already fading, Rose, Cara and their families head off to their annual beach barbecue. The events of the evening result in relations between the two families changed forever. With two marriages seemingly headed for breakdown, it is difficult to get to the truth of the matter, as siblings keep secrets about what took place that night. This book will make you think about what constitutes sexual assault, how men and women are still treated differently, and the role played by social media in spreading misinformation and lies about both the victim and the assailant.

A beautifully written story of two families who have been best friends since their children were babies. They have an annual gathering at a local beach, but something goes terribly wrong at the last celebration. There are accusations and revelations, all coming out in time. Well done coverage of the serious issues plaguing teenagers and their parents in this day and age.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC!

This book absolutely blew me away! The first chapter pulls you in with a bang and makes you want to keep reading because you want to know what happened. This book is thought provoking and heartbreaking. It makes us ask “do we want to believe something so bad about one of our children” and “How far are we willing to go to protect our children?” The story is told from each other mother’s points of view. Hewitt wrote both of those characters as strong women in their own ways. Cara is the doting mother, Rose is the cool mother. As a mother myself, I had empathy for both women. I can’t even imagine coming home and having my son accused of something so awful. This was such a powerful book – one that everyone needs to read. It touches on peer pressure and the downfalls of social media. My hats off to Hewitt for such a successful novel.

She says your son did something terrible. He insists he is innocent. Who do you trust?

An absolutely heartbreaking story about friendship, parenting and betrayal. Perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, Jojo Moyes and Susan Lewis.

This book kept me up at all hours of the night several nights in a row, and when I finally did fall asleep, I would jump awake a couple of hours later to read more. I just could not get enough of this book, I was completely hooked and did not want to stop reading it. Being a mom is the most important role I have ever had and I always want to keep my children safe and do the right thing (and teach them to also do the same). I do not want them to ever be in any situation like these children faced, and I felt so emotional when reading what these children were going through and then wonder what I would do if it happened to my children (it makes me sick to even think that way even briefly). We read or hear horror stories that happen to other families, and though we sometimes will wonder what we would do if we were in the same scenario, there is really a part of us that just KNOWS it would never really happen to us, to our family. It just couldn’t or wouldn’t, right? But what if it could, what if it did? My heart ached for these moms, for these CHILDREN! I was so connected to these families and felt so anxious to read as much as I could to see what would happen to them all. I can’t say enough about this book - it was SO GOOD! I have read other books written by this author and enjoyed them just as much. She has such a talent at presenting such believable characters and scenarios, and her writing is just perfect. She nailed the thoughts and actions of the two moms perfectly, as well as the mannerisms and lingo of the children and teens. The writing just flowed, making the reading easy. I could picture every scene so easily in my mind. I hope this will be a movie one day, it would be a perfect one!

This book packs a punch. There are so many levels, layers, and lessons in it. It can be about any two families with teens and the writing as well as the situations were totally believable.
One of the most profound parts is when Bella realizes others will use her situation to make a “stand” to merely gain attention for themselves. There are always 2 sides to every story and society is quick to judge, condemn, and then forget, without granting any absolutions or care about repercussions.
So many parts of this book made me angry and I was frustrated with Rose and Cara often, beginning with why would they think allowing four teens to remain alone on the beach with alcohol would be a good idea.
It’s a prodding read and one I won’t soon forget.

am ugly crying right now. That Night at the Beach by Kate Hewitt was not an easy read, but as the mom of a teenage girl, two teenage boys and a preteen teen boy, it was an important read.
I think it’s best if you go into this book with no preconceived notions. Trust me, your emotions will be all over the place. I went from loving Cara and hating Rose then hating Cara and loving Rose.
It’s so hard for teenagers today with social media. Their mistakes will always be remembered on Snapchat or Instagram. We were lucky that we didn’t have that as a child.
Many thanks to the author, Bookouture and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

That Night At The Beach was a new definition of emotional and heart-breaking read. The story entangled between two lifelong friends, Cara and Rose.

The tradition for Cara and Rose's families was spending a night at the beach at the Labour Day weekend. They barbecued, jumped into the sea and just relaxed there. The teenager sons of Cara, Finn and Henry, are family friends with Rose's daughters, Bella and Elspeth. On that night, the underage teenagers obviously were drunk. Bella accused Finn for sexual assaulted.

The two families were then drifted apart, especially for Cara and Rose.

However, Finn said he was innocent. But who was lying?

The writing style was addictive and leading you to certain emotional ways. The ups and downs of marital lives, the security of having lifelong family friends, and the trust issues of these created a multi-layered story.


Pub date: Jan 19, 2023

The parents and the kids go to the beach to have a good time
And then what happened was that a boy called Fin assaulted a girl called Bella
You have to read it
It was great
I had an ARC

A cautionary tale that pulls in lots of current issues but I ended up skimming through quite a lot of it. I was still easily able to follow the plot which makes me think there was quite a lot of unnecessary filling.
The ending and epilogue were disappointing because they seemed to change the direction of where the characters sympathies lay.

First, I want to thank Kate Hewitt, Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me with this book so I can bring you this review.

WOW!!! WOW!! WOW!! Kate Hewitt’s That Night At The Beach is an incredibly emotional, powerful, intense, heartbreaking, eye opening book that every parent of teenagers must read!! This is an unforgettable storyline that deserves more than 5 stars! It is actually my favorite book she has written!!!

Kate has a way of pulling on my heartstrings with her stories. I was hooked instantly with her emotionally driven prologue and I just knew I was going to fall in love with this story.

This story is so addictive that I read it in one night!!!

That Night At The Beach is a very powerful and eye opening book that will have everyone talking! Kate goes in depth in situations where other authors have not gone before!

I pride myself in honest and genuine reviews from the heart. If I may be blunt there were some scenes that were hard for me to read as I too was sexually assaulted and was not believed. My heart went out to many of the characters involved.

My mind was blown at the wicked curveballs Kate threw us!! I was left speechless!! My heart just ached!!

This is one book that as you kept reading it it kept getting deeper and more intense and more layers kept unfolding. I kept thinking this would be a great series for Netflix!

Kate is such a gifted storyteller and I would love to know where her inspiration for this story came from.

I’d like to thank Bookouture and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘That Night At The Beach’ by Kate Hewitt in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Cara and Rose have been friends for eighteen years since meeting when their children were babies. They’re at a beach barbecue when Rose’s daughter Bella claims that Cara’s son Finn has assaulted her and although Finn says he doesn’t think he did he can’t remember as they were all drunk. Cara and Rose’s friendship disintegrates as they fight for their respective children.

‘That Night At the Beach’ is an involving family drama that has a strong well-written plot and realistic character portrayals. The story deals with tough and emotional dilemmas that are handled with empathy and sensitivity and I found it really difficult to decide which of the two teenagers were being completely honest, Finn or Bella. Told through the eyes of Cara and Rose, we learn more about their relationships with their husbands and younger children. Although I already had an inkling of how the story was going to end I wasn’t expecting the final twist which was a big surprise. This is the fourteenth book I’ve read by this very talented author who writes the most wonderful novels and I can wholeheartedly recommend this latest one.

That Night at the Beach is the emotional intense read that I have come to expect from Kate Hewitt. She does not pull any punches as families struggle with marital problems, secrets, and teenagers who suffer from their own worst-case problems. I found it to be a hard to put down book even when the content was disturbing. Disturbing because it reads so realistically, everything that happens could happen to someone you know.

Flawed characters that were authentic and genuine are strong in this story. Also, actions and events that seem so believable and heartbreaking. This story serves as a warning to all of us who are parents or have young people in our care and in our hearts. Yet it is a reminder not to give up so it is inspiring too.

An ARC of the book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley which I voluntarily chose to read and reviewed. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Two families have been friends since their children were babies. While they live in the same area, they are different in many aspects-socially, financially and even in the way they operate as a family. Despite all these things, they’ve remained close through the years and they have a tradition of a barbecue on the beach on Labor Day weekend and have been doing it for as long as they can all remember.
This year, events lead to a he said, she said turn of events and no one is budging on their version of the story and then because of social media, the story takes on a life of its own.
This is a heavy topic and in today’s #metoo culture a lot of people will find it relatable.
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

I love Kate Hewitt books and this was no different! It's an absolute page turner. The story is relevant in today's scenario and put across brilliantly! I enjoyed the ups and downs of love, friendship, teen psyche and family equations in a wonderful narrative!
A definite read for sure. Thanks to Bookouture and Net galley for the ARC !

I'm a big fan of Kate Hewitt.. While I thoroughly enjoyed the story, I did feel it could've been shorter as it felt like they were just going over the same thing again and again, until it got to 70% - then, thinking I still had loads left to read, it finished at 83%!

“What is this world?…That these things can happen? That we let them?’

Four teenagers, friends since infancy, are left alone at the beach after the annual cookout with their two families ends in an argument between their fathers. When Cara returns to bring them home, she finds her sons Finn and Henry and her friend Rose’s daughter Bella very drunk, sick and confused. Bella’s sister Elspeth is uncharacteristically silent. Cara is upset with their behavior but things turn worse in the morning when Rose comes to tell her that seventeen year old Bella has accused Finn of sexual assault. He denies it, setting up a classic and disturbing “he said, she said” situation.

That Night at the Beach is a multilayered, emotional, heart breaking story. Themes of sexual assault, addiction and adultery are treated with emotional depth. Kate Hewitt describes the teenagers’ experiences with sex, underage drinking and social media bullying with understanding. This is an intense read that will stay with you after you read the final page. 5 Stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and Kate Hewitt for this ARC

This heart-wrenching novel tells of the fractured relationships between two families. Cara met Rose at a Mother & baby class when they were both new first time mothers. They immediately became firm friends even though they were like chalk and cheese. As their families grow the friendships within the two families drifts until it is only the occasional text messages and annual beach BBQ.
Cara and Rose’s husbands never really see eye to eye as they have a much more competitive and hostile relationship.
Now that the kids are teenagers the closeness between then has changed and the yearly trip to the beach is not so attractive. When a serious incident occurs at the beach after their parents have gone home it leaves both families with a dilemma that has them fighting for the protection of their children.

My thanks to Bookouture and Net Galley for the ARC of this book.

Cara and Rose met at a mom group when their first born children were babies. Now they each have two children that are teenagers.

Each year the families have a picnic together on the beach. Some are reluctant to attend this year. When a disagreement happens between the fathers the picnic ends abruptly. The teenagers are left at beach to be picked up later.

This book definitely tackles some tough subjects. It was interesting how each person involved had different view points on the same topic. This made each adult really think about their lives and what they would change if they could. The characters were realistic, and in some cases made then not very likeable.

This is my second book by Hewitt. I will look for more books by this author.

Thanks to netgalley and Bookouture for the arc.

This author never fails to write a book about a social issue and give the reader both sides of the story. The reader is left feeling empathy for each of the characters and realizing that everything in the world is not black and white even over issues that are so life changing. This book will leave you thinking for quite some time!


Thanks so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc. The opinions are my own.