Tourist Season by Brenda Novak ⭐⭐⭐⭐


I love reading Brenda books but this one surprised me what I thought was going to be a Beachy summer romance (which cover leads to believe, it turned dark. I guess I learned my lesson....Don't judge a book by its cover!
The book is still a great read and I recommend, but read with open mind. Lots of twists and turns.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read and review for you'all

The Tourist Season is a romance with a darker intrigue element. I could not put it down. I loved that Ismay was ethically and morally a strong female figure. It is scary how you think you know someone and really don't. Then you barely know someone but you really do. Ismay follows her intuition and makes all the wrong things right.

What appears to be a light-hearted beach read takes a darker turn. Brenda Novak's #TouristSeason provides choppy waters at Mariner's shore.

Ismay arrives for a relaxing vacation but a storm is raging Having completed her boards, Ismay's taking the summer off before opening her practice. Bo, the estate's caretaker swoops in to fix the cottage and they bond during the squalls. .

The meet-cute turns into an unexpected friendship that provides safe shores when her fiancé's actions appear sinister. Does Ismay really know the man she's about to marry? Filled with twists and turns, family relations and cold cases receiving their dues, this tourist season isn't the day at the beach the vacation promised.

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for the early edition in exchange for an honest review. When a cover up is revealed, readers will find themselves hunting for the truth. Curl up on the couch with a steaming cup of coffee or relaxing glass of wine as you won't leave your seat until the book ends.

I’ve read a couple books by the author before and I’ve always enjoyed them.
Tourist Season is a romance/mystery. I really liked the heroine, a sweet, kind farm girl from Utah that just passed the bar to become a lawyer. She heads out to her fiancé’s beach house on a small island where she meets Bo the caretaker. They start an unlikely friendship after she finds some disturbing evidence that makes her think her fiancé may not be who she thinks he is.
I enjoyed this book. I gave it 4 stars because I felt the ending was a little anticlimactic. We were told events instead of seeing them unfold first hand, but overall it was great.
Thank you to netgalley for the opportunity to read and voluntarily leave an honest review.

The cover on this one tricked me. I thought I was in for a nice, summery and beachy read with some romance. There is so much more to this one. There is an underlying mystery and darkness that is suspenseful and intriguing. I didn't know who to trust in this story. And while I enjoyed the plot, that's where it's also minus a star for me. Once the suspense started, my brain switched gears and expected a full on thriller and suspense. And while this did have undertones of that, it wasn't a true thriller. The ending was a little underwhelming. While there was a twist, there wasn't a jaw dropping twist like in a 5 star thriller. My brain just got a little confused with this one. Still a very enjoyable read that I would recommend!

Thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing, MIRA for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a different Novak book than what I’ve read in the past. Think Colleen Hoover. Think part gothic, part suspense, part soap opera.

A woman who recently earned her law degree travels ahead of her wealthy fiancée, straight into the path of a hurricane on a remote island. While searching for matches, she conducts a search that would make any police detective proud, and she finds some disturbing materials that immediately scream “red flag, red flag”.

What follows is an attempt at a pseudo- love triangle woven into a which-one-is-the-guilty-person plot. There was a lot the reader is asked to believe, which is often the failing of a Colleen Hoover book.

The ending comes as no surprise. Still, I enjoyed my time on the island with all the madness.

This well written book has many amazing characters each with their own unique story. Many twists and turns keep you guessing and engrossed until the very end. I could not put it down!

What a fun read! I can't recall if I have read Brenda Novak before, but I thoroughly enjoyed TOURIST SEASON.

This is one of those books where you get even more than what you expected. You go in expecting a cute summer romance and you get that plus a suspenseful page-turning mystery complete with some jaw-dropping twists. Secrets abound, and you'll have fun unraveling them.

Also, I want to visit Mariners Island now. The author did a great job with the setting.

I look froward to reading more from Brenda Novak.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of the book; all opinion in this review are completely my own.

Tourist Season by Brenda Novak is part mystery and intrigue with some romance tossed into the mix. I really wanted to enjoy this book more than I did. If you are looking for a relaxing beach read, this book is not it. The mystery and intrigue plot of this book I loved, but the characters were kind of blah in my opinion. The setting on Mariners Island sounds like a fabulous place to visit. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me the privilege of reading this ARC for my honest review.

Thanks again Net Galley. This is a great summer read. It is romance, mystery and supense rolled into one and just when you think you have it figured out it changes. I loved the way the characters evolved and how the book ended. It was perfect. Not sure thought how the title "Tourist Season" fits.

‘Tourist Season’’, by Brenda Novak is a perfect beach read. Romance, mystery and of course a coastal setting makes this a great book to add to this summers beach bag.

Loved loved this novel especially the opening scene. This author sure knows how to write an interesting novel and give her characters interesting names.
The cover will fool you. It did me.
Novak kept me turning the pages of this delightful novel and wow! There were some scenes that I did not see coming.
Yes, secrets do have a way of coming out no matter how hard you try to keep them hidden.
I will be reading and catching up.more on this authors novels in the future.
I just simply couldn't put this adventure down. I had to see what Ismay did next!
There wasn't one thing that I didn't like.
I loved it all!
5 stars for a well written novel. I highly recommend.
My thanks for a copy of this book. I was NOT required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I was expecting a romance, which I got, but there was also suspense. The ending was predictable but the journey there was still interesting. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
This was a good one. You go into this kind of expecting a light beach read and then you realize you’ve been thrown into a tension filled mystery.
I love Brenda Novak’s novels and this one threw me for a loop. A good loop!

This book is a real page turner. You think it is going to be a lovely beach read only to find out some dark and twisted things that are happening on the peaceful island of Mariners. It has lots of emotions running through the entire story and it deals with guilt, redemption and innocence. A good read from start to finish.

Not what I was expecting at all!
Guilty of judging a book by its cover, I thought this was going to be a beachy, romantic, fun, summertime read. The notion that it was going to have a darker undertone was revealed quickly. I wouldn’t say it kept me guessing, it was pretty obvious where it was leading, but I still enjoyed it.

Thank you NetGalley & Harlequin Trade Publishing for sending this book for review consideration.

How I love a book that grabs your attention from the very beginning. Ismay is spending her first night (alone) at a beach that belongs to her intended's family. Suddenly a voracious storm hits the area, terrifying her. When the lights go out, she hunts for a flashlight and discovers a bag of incriminating things like women's panties in various sizes.

Now you see why I was interested at the start. Well, another reason I wanted to keep reading is that Ismay's family lives in a small town in Utah, not far from my own home, so it was fun to be reminded of the way we live here and the things we believe in.

Very grateful to NetGalley for the chance to enjoy it early!

An interesting take on a romance mystery book. I wasn’t expecting the mystery part.
Ismay is expecting to go to Mariners island for a relaxing vacation after finishing law school. But things quickly begin going sideways due to the secrets of the island and the people around her. As the story unfurls it’s clear her fiancés family has been keeping secrets but they aren’t the only ones.
I found myself picking this book up throughout the day to see what happens next. and enjoyed how it all came together in the end.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

I went into this book thinking it was a romance - there were some romance elements, but the best way I can describe the feeling of this book is “tension.” There were so many things that just didn’t seem like good choices, or you knew they were not going to turn out well…it wasn’t particularly suspenseful, just uncomfortable. And the ‘mystery’ wrapped up pretty quickly.

Despite being “engaged,” Ismay and Remy don’t seem to be particularly close, or know much about each other’s families. Remy isn’t particularly close to, or fond of, his twin brother. All of the relationships seem ‘off’ with the exception of Ismay’s family.

I normally enjoy Brenda Novak’s books, but this one is not one of my favorites.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley; all opinions are my own.

From page one of this novel, Brenda Novak delivers a story filled with suspense, drama, hidden family secrets and coverups. Ismay Chalmers is pretty much left to her own devices at her soon-to-be-family’s island beach cottage, alone in the middle of a monstrous storm, while her self-absorbed fiancé who is across the country doesn’t seem to really care, and a caretaker for the property who does seem to care, and who is drawn to protect her even though he has his own secret past. Ismay must decide who to trust with her life and her heart. Terrific story! Kept me guessing until the end!