This is a great summer mystery with a dash of romance. I was really compelled by the mystery, which drives the plot. Compared to other books by this author, I felt the character development wasn’t as strong, and the relationship between Traci and Whelan progressed very quickly.

First Mary Kay Andrews book I've had the pleasure of reading...but not the last! If your looking for a easy summer breezy book, this is not it! This story flows well, with intresting characters, mystery and plot twists, with a little romace tossed in for good measure. Definitely worth reading.

Thank you NetGalley and the author and publisher for a copy of this ARC.

The Saints is an exclusive resort on a small, private island called St. Cecelia off the coast of Georgia. There's multiple POVs going on including Traci who is struggling to keep the Saint running after her late husband unexpectedly past away. Whelan who is trying to figure how his younger brother drowned in the pool. Parrish who put her European vacation on hold to help her family's resort and so many more.

One thing that everyone has in common are secrets and some are much deeper than others. Each having their own reason to be working at the Saint this summer. The timeline occasionally bounces back to 20 years early while some of the characters figure out the truth behind a death at the resort.

Summers at the Saint is women's fiction with a touch of romantic suspense. It starts off slow in order to really build the foundation of the plot. A lot happens at the end and all the pieces finally start to make sense in the last 100 pages or so. Don't let the cover fool you thinking it's a cute summer read because there's a lot more to it.

This one is going to be the perfect beach read for summer!

I absolutely loved reading about Traci and the Saint. I felt like I was able to envision this upscale beach club and its motley crew of employees.

This one bordered on a cozy mystery vibe for me, and I really can't overstate how much I loved it. Mary Kay Andrews pulled at the heartstrings while also managing to pull off murder mystery, and romance. It was so many genres wrapped into one book.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

🐚☀️🌊⛱️
Summer breezes, ocean waters, and sunny skies create a backdrop for great storylines created by @ Mary Kay Andrews in her latest NY Times best selling novel Summers at THE SAINT. That same background of sun, sand and water views will provide a reader in a lounge chair a great spot to read Summers at THE SAINT. But you can read this book in any season, any time of day or night because Mary Kay Andrews displays her talent of creating characters whose lives and interactions draw us into the story immediately and keep us turning the pages.
What can happen to marriages, friendships, family ties and businesses over time? As we all know: plenty! If we add the tensions created by stereotypical views of the upper class “Saints “ and the working-class “aint’s”, we have the ingredients of another great book by Mary Kay Andrews. She creates a story of interest and intrigue when she takes us behind the scenes at The Saint. Going behind the scenes leads to revelations that stun the characters as well as the reader. A story not to be missed !
I enjoyed this book so much, I urge you to get it as soon as possible if you don’t already have it.
So, if MKA’s readers are in their beach lounge chairs, they won’t be dozing, they will be alert and curious as they turn the pages of Summers at the Saint. Don’t forget to wear your sunhat 👒 and sunglasses 😎 while reading! 📖☀️🕶️🌅
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a great surprise! I've read a few other books by Andrews before and they're always great beach reads. I tend to stick with just thrillers and romance books. What a great surprise when I discovered that this book had a murder mystery as a main plot point!

I really loved the backdrop of this story set in a cool resort hotel, the St. Cecelia. The main character, Traci, started working at the Saint as a young teen. She lived in the nearby town putting her on "wrong side of the track," and making her one of the "ain'ts" versus the Saints, the rich clientele at the hotel. But, a few years later she ends up engaged to one of the sons of the hotel. Traci was never fully embraced by the owners, her new in-laws, but she continued to work at the hotel and is now grown, a widow, and manager of the Saint.

At the start of summer, Traci realizes they need new staff and decides that a way to allure them is to convert an old building into a dorm setting. Now, a new mix of characters enter the story and are all woven together in more ways than just as co-workers. I don't want to give any spoilers, but I really enjoyed how the characters were all developed and how the mystery was unraveled. I didn't see the ending coming!

Definitely a must read!

Another hit for Mary Kay Andrews. Romance with a murder mystery? Set on an island resort? Yes, please! Go in knowing just that and enjoy!

Summers at the Saint is a great beach read. I thought it was going to be light hearted but it actually got pretty intense. The Saint is an exclusive beach resort. Traci is the manager trying to keep the Saint afloat after the pandemic finds them struggling with money and staffing. Traci decides to offer free housing and soon has a new chef and 3 young employees ready to work the summer. But somebody seems to be working against them and visitors are complaining about their drinks, their mattresses, their seafood. One night an employee dies on the hotel grounds. Suddenly Traci doesn't know who she can trust to figure out what is happening but everybody thinks they are a detective. Just when I thought I knew who was responsible, Mary Kay Andrews throws the reader a twist. And there was some romance too! Definitely kept me turning the pages.

Thank you to NewGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy.

Summers at the Saint was filled with drama. It takes place at a resort off the coast of Georgia - there are secrets that date back 20 years and there are new secrets. Who can you really trust?

This is by far the best MKA book I have read. It had mystery, love, rekindling of friendship, family dysfunction all wrapped into one. The St. Cecelia is run by Traci Eddings and it is a exclusive, posh hotel for the wealthy-they are referred to as the Saints. The employees and people that live on the other side of the river are referred to as the Aint's. Traci was left the hotel from her husband that had died several years ago. She has many struggles with getting back on her feet after the pandemic. She is trying to turn the hotel around as an unexpected death occurs on the property. There are many twists and turns and characters that are memorable. I am going to have a book hangover after reading this one.

This was such a fun and light hearted summer read that I really enjoyed. The setting was beautiful and the characters were relatable.

The cover is a bit misleading, suggesting a fun beach read when you really get a darker murder mystery. That's okay with me as I get tired of the cookie cutter beach reads sometimes. Quite a few characters are introduced which means you have to put some effort into keeping up with how each one plays into the story. There was enough happening throughout the book that boredom did not sink in and it was an enjoyable read. I would recommend it with the disclaimer that it's more of a murder mystery than the typical beach read. My thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Loved this one! It’s the perfect beach/pool read. A bit of mystery kept me intrigued even if I guessed some of it. A few parts were far-fetched, but I honestly couldn’t put it down! Looking forward to reading more from this author. 4.5 stars rounded up.

It took several tries to get interested in this book. Mainly because the cover art and the story are totally different. This is a decent murder/mystery. This isn’t a sexy, funny beach read which is what the cover implies. I’ve enjoyed Andrews’ books in the past but this is not a signature Andrews beach read. It’s worth reading though. *Spoiler* I think it was totally unnecessary to kill Parrish. Couldn’t she just have fallen into a comma for a while?! Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC

This may be my favorite #MKA book yet! Dare I say?

I was honored to have read an early copy.

I love the creative cast Mary Kay created for what’s another of her five star reads!
The character development & introduction of the key players individually at the beginning is really great! As the story further unraveled, pieces of each character were peeled back to learn more than we originally knew in the beginning.

I adored the characters, Parrish & Olivia. I especially loved the bond I share with Parrish of watching Friends episodes at night trying to fall asleep.

Thrown into this enchanting summer read is a murder that rocked me.

I must admit, I’d be an “ain’t!”

Told with #MaryKayAndrew’s warmth, humor, knack for twists, & eye for delicious detail about human nature, #SummersattheSaint is a #beachread with depth & heart.

Thank you so much to Mary Kay Andrews, St Martins Press, Macmillan audio and NetGalley for my advance copy & audiobook! All opinions are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley & St. Martin’s Press for a digital advance reader's copy. All comments and opinions are my own.

This was another summer page-turner from Mary Kay Andrews. It starts out by introducing one character after another, and at first, I couldn’t see where the story was going. But suddenly it was all about the layers of relationships, a long-ago drowning accident, questions, secrets, and scandals. I couldn’t put it down.

The story takes place at “The Saint,” an upscale resort officially known as “St. Cecillia,” located on the Georgia coast. Family-owned and operated, the hotel is in the midst of financial troubles and staff shortages. The newest staff members, fans of true-life murder podcasts, begin investigating a suspicious death as well as questionable product issues on the hotel property. The plot thickens and kept me on the edge of my seat.

Andrews offers clues, twists, and suspense, a variety of bad guys and dangerous situations as well as revealing secrets from over 20 years ago. All the puzzle pieces fit together by the last page, and there’s even a nice bit of romance, too.

This is a summer mystery/thriller that’s a perfect beach read.

Looking for a drama, scandal, murder, detective type vibes?

This one checks all those boxes.

Initially I requested this one because I thought it would be an easy light beach read, but it is heavy and packed full of drama.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my E-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/ 5 Stars
Happy pub day to Mary Kay Andrews and Summers at the Saints! Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read 📖 this book for an honest review!

📅 Tuesday, May 7, 2024 was the pub date for Summers at the Saint. 📅

I do love a good Mary Kay Andrews read. She is on my auto-buy and auto-read lists. From a girl born and raised in the south, I can confirm that she captures southern flare beautifully in each and every work!

Summers at the Saint did not disappoint in any capacity. I loved the typical southern appeal with Mary Kay’s splash of mystery and whodunnit. It’s the perfect summer read. As a matter of fact, I suggest that you read it poolside with your favorite cocktail!

Everyone in Georgia knows The Saint Cecelia as “The Saint”. It draws the wealthiest clientele and historically has had a highly competitive hiring process. However, The Saint has struggled financially over the past few years and they are faced with offering enhanced employee benefits such as onsite housing. The Saint is the best place to vacation and work. Every summer is sinfully sweet except the two in which deaths happened on the property. It’s amazing to see who knows what and who is connected to one another. What other shady happenings can be happening right under the owner’s nose? Pick up the book to find out. It’s definitely worth the read and may even surprise you a time or two!

Summers, secrets, and...golf carts make for quite the page turning, mystery set at a resort steeped in tradition. Not the rom com I was expecting from Mary Kay Andrews, BUT I loved it! Suspense is a main theme in this fun read but not the dark and scary kind. A light summer mystery that'll keep you guessing till the end!

Summary: “Everyone refers to the St. Cecelia as “the Saint.” If you grew up coming here, you were “a Saint.” If you came from the wrong side of the river, you were “an Ain’t.” Traci Eddings was one of those outsiders whose family wasn’t rich enough or connected enough to vacation here. But she could work here. One fateful summer she did, and married the boss’s son. Now, she’s the widowed owner of the hotel, determined to see it return to its glory days, even as staff shortages and financial troubles threaten to ruin it. Plus, her greedy and unscrupulous brother-in-law wants to make sure she fails. Enlisting a motley crew of recently hired summer help―including the daughter of her estranged best friend―Traci has one summer season to turn it around. But new information about a long-ago drowning at the hotel threatens to come to light, and the tragic death of one of their own brings Traci to the brink of despair.
Traci Eddings has her back against the pink-painted wall of this beloved institution. And it will take all the wits and guts she has to see wrongs put to right, to see guilty parties put in their place, and maybe even to find a new romance along the way. Told with Mary Kay Andrew’s warmth, humor, a knack for twists, and eye for delicious detail about human nature, Summers at the Saint is a beach read with depth and heart.
This story is more than just a summer escape. This is a story of empowerment, healing, and community spirit. It’s perfect for those who love their beach reads with a side of danger and soul. Mary Kay Andrews has once again proven her ability to blend humor, mystery, and emotion into a story that resonates well after the last page is turned. I always think I don’t want to read any more of her books, I’ve read so many, but then I pick it up and am so glad I did. They are just fun and easy and she writes a great story every time.