If you are expecting that light chick lit beach read this is not that story. Yet quite enjoyable reading is this romance with a big mystery at its center. A small town with an upscale resort taking center stage (the members the Saints and the townspeople the Aints). There are a lot of secrets and plenty of crime to keep everyone engaged here, MaryKay Andrews continues to surprise with her twists and turns . Thank you netgalley and St Martins Press for this read

The St. Cecelia Hotel is a luxurious hotel in Georgia. If you and your family have enough money to stay there, you’re “a Saint” but if you live on the other side of town, you’re “an Ain’t.” Traci grew up as an Ain’t, but married into the family who runs the Saint. After her husband passed, Traci finds herself running the hotel and doing her best to keep it afloat during difficult financial times. She hires a group of new staff for the summer who live onsite, and mysterious and tragic events start occurring.

This book was unexpectedly dark and twisty. The cover gives off a summer vibe, and while the synopsis does indicate there is mystery at play, it also references it being a beach read with humor and warmth. I personally didn’t find those elements in this book. Instead, it’s deep and dark, filled with tragedy and mystery, with just a hint of romance sprinkled in. There are a lot of characters to keep up with and so many things happening. It definitely kept me on my toes, but also felt longer than necessary.

Thank you to and NetGalley for the ARC.

If you are still experiencing colder temps where you live, but itching to hit the beach like me, you might want to pick up Summers at The Saint by Mary Kay Andrews. It is the perfect escape for armchair travellers — a murder mystery with a second chance romance and found family, all in the setting of a beach resort! I cannot believe this is only my first novel from this author! I really like the straightforward story and the relatable characters. Reading this is akin to snuggling inside a warm fuzzy blanket. Love how comfy and at home it made me feel afterwards. Definitely checking out other Mary Kay Andrews books!

First I’d like to thank Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC. This was a very fun summer read. I thought it would be more of a romance novel but there was a good mystery involved and the romance was just a side plot. There were actually a few different mysteries to be solved in this book and keeping track of who was involved with which one kept me guessing and kept the story light and fun.

It was a little long and I think it could have been 59-75 pages shorter but overall I really enjoyed it. The three main female characters were great and I loved their friendship and them all being strong women in the novel.

Overall it was a solid 4/5 stars and I would definitely recommend as a good summer read.
#netgalley #summeratthesaint #marykayandrews

This was my first book by the author, Mary K Andrews, and she did not disappoint, it makes a perfect beachy/summer read. Summers at the Saint captivated my attention from start to finish. The narrative of this story was a mixture of murder mystery, rich family drama, and a hint of romance. It is told in different point of views and a few flashbacks that pieces the plot together in a profound way. I did not expect the turns thrown at me in this book, Mary knows how to spin a tale. I’ll definitely be reading more by this author.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review this advanced reader copy.

At the St. Cecelia (better known as "The Saint"), a landmark hotel on the coast of Georgia, traditions run deep and scandals run even deeper.. 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 "the Aint's" , but she got a job as a lifeguard there as a teenager, along with her best friend, and they spent their summers there every year. Then Traci met and fell in love with the owner's son, and they ran The Saint together for years until her husband died in a plane crash. Now, The Saint isn't doing so well financially. Traci has one season to turn things around, Between her unscrupulous brother-in-law pulling out all the stops to try to make sure she fails, the tragic death of one of their employees, and someone showing up to revisit a drowning at the hotel back when Traci was a lifeguard, Traci has her work cut out for her. Welcome to The Saint.... I hope you enjoy your stay!

I am a huge fan of this author's books and this may be my new favorite. This is the perfect beach read. There is the beach/pool setting, there is romance, there is a mystery, characters to love and hate, & plenty of suspense. This is definitely one you are going to want to add to your beach bag this year. You are going to love it..... I guarantee it!

This was my first Mary Kay Andrews book and it definitely won't be my last. To be completely honest, I picked this book because I liked the cover, so I went into it completely blind. I was surprised by how interesting this book was - part beach read, part mystery, which is absolutely up my alley! If I had one thing to criticize, I'd say that I liked the beginning chapters where each part was narrated by a different character. I would have liked to hear more from the individual voices (KJ especially). Overall, I found this very enjoyable and devoured it while sitting in my pool.
I would recommend this to others looking for a fun beach read this summer.

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

Sadly a DNF for me. I'm typically drawn in by storyline like this but it just seemed like each new chapter was the introduction of a new character or a whole set of new characters. It was more than I could handle in my reading life right now. Seemed like it would be entertaining to chip away at the reasons Livvy's mom doesn't want her to work at The Saint. Unfortunately, there just wasn't enough to keep me hanging around at the moment.

Summers at The Saint by Mary Kay Andrews

This fun story offered by St Martin’s Press has good characters which you will love and hate; the best situation for a good, solid read. The hate doesn’t build until the end, but it’s worth the wait.

This family saga which entails some mystery, has some nice twists and turns. Tracie, as CEO of The Saint-a fashionable hotel/resort-works hard to keep all the wheels turning. Charlie Burroughs is the GM and some new hires are needed.

Well-heeled guests stay or visit, and some are problematic. There may be problems with the help. There also may be murder and attempted murder, theft, arson and…I’ll say no more.

Read for yourself and enjoy this book I’ll rate a high four stars, and bet that you, too, will wish you could spend a summer at this beautiful resort hotel in Georgia.

The Saint is a hotel where the who’s who of Georgia go to spend their summers. You’re either in, or you’re out. As summers pass, scandals seem to follow the members of The Saint’s staff….and this summer is no different.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. There were quite a few twists that I didn’t see coming which made me want to keep reading. I loved the characters, the setting, and the drama that was happening at the hotel. This is a perfect read as the weather is getting warmer and we’re heading towards summer. I definitely recommend this book if you enjoy summer reads with a mixture of romance, drama, crime, and mystery!

Thank you St. Martin's Press and Mary Kay Andrews for the gifted digital ARC!

Like many other early readers, I was surprised this wasn't a fun summer read, but that's definitely not a bad thing! At the heart of this story is a murder mystery and I couldn't stop turning pages until I got to the end.

This was somehow my first book by Andrews but after really enjoying this one I think I'm going to need to add more of her backlist to my TBR.

For anyone who happens to see this review and thinks it'll be just a fun beach read, please know it's quite a bit darker than that!

Summers at the Saint is out tomorrow, and I highly recommend picking up a copy for yourself!

This one wasn't for me. The mystery itself was intriguing but I really didn't like most of the characters. On top of that, this is being marketed as a romance or at least mystery with romance and there is very little romance in it. The romance that is there is not very compelling and feels like it was stuck in there so it could be labeled the perfect beach read.

Another thing that bothered me is that there were a bunch of parts of this story that felt a bit outdated. We have a situation where a man storms out annoyed because a woman doesn't want to sleep with him and this is treated as appropriate behavior. Another character in his early twenties is blackmailed for being gay while some of the other characters seem more like stereotypes than fleshed-out characters (entitled rich boy, shallow gold digger, etc).

Mary Kay Andrews is a talented writer but this story felt a bit out of touch and needs to be marketed more accurately. I think plot-driven readers will tend to enjoy this one more than character-driven readers as the plot is the strength here.

Wow, this was not at all what I expected from a Mary Kay Andrew's book. It starts out as her usual beach read, but it takes a dark turn into a murder mystery. We do get a romance in a very slow way, which I really enjoyed.
The Saint is a resort, and the prologue sets apart the resort from the Townies. Tracy is a lifeguard and somehow catches the eye of the son of the resort owner.
Then we are 20 years later and a lot has happened. Tracy is now running the resort, and we meet a huge cast of characters. The reader catches on to some of the nefarious doings way faster than Tracy. Then there is a murder and the plot speeds up.
I was very nervous for a while as I read this, worrying something was going to happen to Tracy. There are some surprises and twists, but of course, at least one, if not several, happy endings. I was well entertained.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the EARC. This is my honest review.

I can always count on a Mary Kay Andrews book to take me away and give me a book that is completely unputdownable!
Summers at the Saint by Mary Kay Andrews was fun, exciting and as usual very well written.
I think anything written by Mary Kay Andrews will keep you on your toes.
Wonderfully written, great character development and an easy to follow story.
A perfect summer novel.
This book was such a delightful surprise! A Beachy Read with an engrossing mystery and a dash of romance! Kudos to MKA for writing such a captivating story!
This book is not to be missed on your summer reading list!

Thank You NetGalley and Publisher for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

This is the first book I've read by Mary Kay Andrews and I really enjoyed it. The setting was great and the plot was very intriguing. I loved seeing Traci navigate the trials of running the Saint. Doing her best to keep it afloat while being actively worked against by her nasty brother-in-law. The family drama was top-notch.
A cute developing romance and someone close to Traci is killed and we spend most of the book trying to figure out who the killer is, why it happened, and how it connects to the hotel.

While it is a bit long, and has a lot of characters I still found this story really enjoyable, along with a great setting that was super atmospheric. I will definitely be checking out other Mary Kay Andrews books.

This cover is gorgeous but boy did it mislead me. I thought this was a lighthearted summer read and it was far more mysterious and dark than I expected.

Traci Eddings worked as a teen at The Saint as a lifeguard. Later she met and married one of the ons of the original owners. When he dies unexpectedly in a plane crash, she ends up running the Saint. But boy did she end up with more than she expected.

Also the rest of the family, aside from the niece, are really pieces of work and do not do anything to make her life easier.

Besides all the family drama, this one has murder, fire, untrustworthy employees, and finally a little romance!

The audio was well done and made it feel a bit like a TV drama!

Many thanks to NetGalley, MacMillan Audio for an ALC and St. Martin's Press for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up
The St. Cecelia is an old resort in Georgia known as “the Saint.” People that grew up going to the resort were called a “Saint”, but if you were a townie then you were an “Ain’t.” Sort of like the Have and the Have Nots. Traci Eddings grew up as an Ain’t, but during her first summer working at the Saint, she fell in love with the owners son, Hoke Eddings. They married and had a wonderful life until his plane went down 4 years ago. Traci took over Hoke’s duties of running the Saint, but she is lost without Hoke. Now, it’s coming up on the busy summer season, and she is working with the hotel GM to find enough staff. She hires a new chef, Felice, and a new waitress, Livvy. However, Livvy, is the daughter of her ex-best friend, Shannon, which causes some friction. Once the summer season starts, there is a murder, a possible new romance, and some serious family dysfunction. I found the beginning of the story, up to about 50-60% quite slow. There are lots of characters being introduced, which seems confusing at first, but it does come together in the end. The last half of the book went really fast with investigation of the murder and some nefarious dealings at the hotel. I give the first half of the book 3 stars and the last half 4 stars. Since I liked how things came together in the end, I’m rounding up to 4 stars.

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advance readers copy.

A perfect summer beach read, or in my case, a Sunday afternoon porch read that I devoured start to finish in one afternoon. Summer season is almost starting. Traci Eddings, now the CEO of the five-star resort, St. Cecilia (known as the Saint), was once the townie who married into family business. After her beloved husband died in an air crash a few years before, she's carried on in his memory without her normal focus. But staffing becomes a major concern and she steps up with an innovative solution that ends up riling others. You're drawn in quickly to the story and into respect for Traci and dislike for the other family members. As you go along for the ride, the story twists and leads you down unexpected paths until the totally satisfying conclusion.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martins Press, for the opportunity to review this book. At first glance, I hesitated to dive into the large novel. When there are multiple characters, it can be hard to keep all the details correct. I am so glad I kept reading. The story swept me away at the dramas at a family business and more. This is not your easy, breezy beach read, but one that kept me guessing right up until the last page!

Have you ever read a book that you expected one outcome from and then it took a completely different turn in the best way possible? This was that book for me.
This book had it all and I absolutely loved it! I was completely engrossed in the dreamy setting, the family drama, the scandals and the suspense. It was fast-paced and edgy with both fun and questionable characters along with a little romance sprinkled in. I highly recommend for a great summer read that checks all of the boxes!

Thank you NetGalley & St. Martin’s Press for a #gifted eARC of this book I exchange for my honest review.