Thank you NetGalley and Make Waves Press for the audiobook ARC.
To say I did not connect with this book would be an understatement. Unfortunately the story dragged for me and felt like it was never going to end. The main character, Katie, is in her late 40’s and makes the worst decisions she could possibly make, like literally has you yelling at your phone while listening because of her choices.
Also, there was nothing in the description that mentioned Covid and the entire story felt like it was based around Covid. Had the description mentioned this, I would not have bothered reading it at all. I just lived through Covid, I don’t want to read about it again.

Unfortunately this was just not enjoyable and I will not be continuing the series.

Thank you NetGalley and Make Waves Press for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Katie just got a whole new start to life – her daughter started her freshman year of college and, instead of having an empty nest, she’s starting life as a newly married woman in Florida with a new career! But when the newness starts to wear off, Katie finds herself wondering if there’s something lurking beneath the surface of her marriage and her workplace. When she has to return to Virginia to bury her mother, her so-called-perfect life comes unraveled at the edges and finds her reevaluating her future while stuck in her family home. Will she be able to overcome the challenges, or will she cave to everyone’s demands on her?

The Cicada Spring is Carolyn McBride’s debut novel and the start of a promised Potomac Shores series. Set on the water both in Florida and Virginia, this novel showcases the natural environment almost as an additional character, allowing the fauna and weather patterns to drive portions of the plot. This is a story of defining your own destiny and restarting after heartbreaking loss.

I give The Cicada Spring 4 out of 5 stars. The many romantic twists in this book and the girlfriend support system make this book feel like a Hallmark movie. I liked that the book is set in the recent past, with references to things like COVID lockdowns that we all dealt with. However, I felt like the characters were written below their implied ages – I fall into the age group with these women, yet it felt as thought the characters were 10-15 years younger than me, which made it hard to connect with them. I am interested in reading the next installment in this series and see how these characters develop over time.

This book would best be directed to more mature readers over 16. This would be a great girlfriend read along or book club choice – there’s a lot to unpack in these characters’ stories. With themes of financial fraud and toxic relationships, this may not be the best book for all readers. With that said, this would be a great light romance read for ladies in my generation who have the shared experience of COVID lockdown and natural disasters.

I was immediately drawn to The Cicada Spring when I noticed it on NetGalley simply for the cover. The beautiful lighting and water drew my eye! With that said, I was expecting something a little more cicada-driven and the cover doesn’t exactly match the scenes depicted in the book. With this being a debut novel, I am looking forward to seeing more by this author in the future!

I was excited to read this book as so much of it takes place where I grew up in Northern VA! The author references so many places in our area and that was pretty cool.

However, the story was not for me. The main character, Katie, was ridiculous. I found myself being so annoyed by her and her terrible decisions throughout the whole book. She’s 48 at the start of the book and spends a weekend with a man who proposes at the end of it. So she marries him despite her family and friends saying it might not be the best idea. It seemed like she was a teenager with the decisions she made.

It was interesting that so much of this took place during Covid and reliving the masking and social distancing was kind of fun.

I found this book very hard to get through.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in exchange for my review.

Katie is newly divorced and trying to find her way through life. She gets a job offer that seems too good to be true. While living in Florida she finds what she thinks is "the love of her life". (I HATED HIM) She ended up learning the hard way that he was not and that she just fell for the first person to give her attention. While Katie is going through everything with her husband, she finds out her mom passed away from COVID.

Carolyn did a really good job making us feel all of the emotions and heart break that COVID-19 caused. I didn't particularly enjoy the fact that Katie has no backbone and whined A LOT!
The narrator did an amazing job with this one.

Thank you Net Galley and Make Waves Press for an audio ARC of this book for an honest review.

This book really missed the mark for me. What originally drew me to this book was it being based in Northern Virginia. There were a lot of inaccuracies in describing the areas or landmarks, which was disappointing. For instance, the Suffragist Memorial is "across the street" from Occoquan, but that is not where the women were held prisoner (it was in Lorton Prison). The value of items she described were ridiculously low for Northern Virginia. It is the 2020s and referring to the Primary Bedroom as the Master Bedroom was off-putting. Having Covid play such a prominent role in the plot was not my cup of tea. It is still very fresh and real in many people's lives for it to be featured so demonstratively. My eyeballs received a lot of rolling exercises over most of the plot and dialogue and was hoping for more substance and maturity from a novel geared toward middle aged women.

As for the narrator, she was very breathy in her manner of speaking. When I sped it up to 1.25x, it became more tolerable. At one point, the book put me to sleep for a couple of chapters while listening and I was perfectly able to continue the book without hearing those missing chapters to know what was happening. Overall, the book unfortunately was a disappointment.

This is a wonderful story of a woman starting the next stage of her life. Throwing caution to the wind, she moves to another state to start an amazing job that sounds to good to be true. While there she meets a man who just seems to check all of her boxes. The get married, she meets an awesome friend and then things start getting rocky. This book takes place during the COVID pandemic. When her mother dies from the dreaded disease, she moves back home to close out her mother's estate and close down the house. There are so many things in her mother's home that helps her relive some history. Her husband turns out to be a problem and she starts the proceedings to divorce him. All of the changes this woman goes through could cause some people to give up, but with the help of her friends she picks up and fights for what is right. A great story in a part of our country that I did not know much about. Thanks #NetGalley for the ARC and narrator is great too.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to review The Cicada Spring by Carolyn McBride. This review is purely my opinion of the title.

Katie thought she had life figured out in sunny Florida. Boy, was she wrong. I loved the storyline, but I was not fond of the pandemic spin it had. While I found it to be truthful, it was not an escape from everyday life and it also brought up a very dark time in history. The focus on social distancing and the vivid scenes she painted were amazing, but some of those scenes were not happy thoughts. Talked about businesses closing and the struggles people suffered during the pandemic.

What I did love was the focus on faith, but it was minimal. Also, the struggles she shared with the loss of her mother, daughter in college, going through a divorce and being right where she should be by the water. Additionally, I found the togetherness and helpfulness to be a great contribution, but it was due to the pandemic as well.

This was not my favorite book, but it was readable.

If you're looking for a book that takes you through the day to day of covid-19, back into the world of masks and social distancing then you have found it here. The book is a good read, but it was too deep for me.

I was so connected with this book, and the storyline from the very beginning. I adored the main characters, and just was so engulfed in this sweet story. Highly recommend! I did both the audio and book so I could get through it quicker. Highly recommend!

The narrator did an excellent job in bringing her characters to life. she made each characters voice recognizable and makes it a very enjoyable listen.

Katie is a single divorced mom who's life takes a change when her daughter goes off to collage and she takes a new job in Florida and leaves her mother behind.
On her new adventure life throws her some unexpected curves, she quickly gets remarried, starts a new job and is faced with challenges on both decisions she's made.
Then comes Covid and as we all know life changes.
She heads back to Virginia and reunites with her friends the bon fire babes..... where plans for the future commenses.
this book is about women supporting women. It gives you a bit of history of life on the Potomac Shores and the natives that lives there hundreds of years before us.
I loved this book and look forward to reading more from this author.

The Cicada Spring, by Carolyn McBride, is the first book in the Potomac Shores series. It's a fun, feel good story about friendship, 2nd chances and standing up for what's right, especially when it's not easy.
When I saw that this book takes place in the beautiful town of Occoquan, as a born & raised Northern Virginia girl, I had to get it! I'm so glad I did! I love how seamlessly she wove some of the most special places and things about Occoquan, ie: Mom's Apple Pie Shop, Dixie Bones, The Art Show and, of course, the river itself, into the story.
Maria Marquis does a wonderful job in narrating The Cicada Spring. She does a wonderful job of pulling you right in, making you feel as if you're practically right there, enjoying an art show or getting ready to take a ride on the river.

Katie Young, a single mother, embarks on a new chapter of her life after dropping her daughter off at college. Katie finds herself in Florida with a new job, new husband, and appears to be living the yacht life dream. Things abruptly change with the onset of the pandemic and the death of her mother, requiring Katie to move back to Virginia. With the help of rekindled friendships and the healing power of nature, Katie continues to battle challenges while searching for herself.

I anticipated this to be more of a feel-good story than it was for me. I was excited for the new chapter in Katie’s life, however, I quickly changed my mind once JC entered the story. I believe he was intended to be a cringeworthy character, but he was too much for me to handle. The pacing became too slow for me about 1/3 of the way in and once I reached that halfway point, I almost decided not to finish. I decided to increase the audiobook speed and read until the end. I also wasn’t sure how I would respond to the initial pandemic time period being incorporated into the story, but after reading, I decided, that for me personally, I am not quite ready to return to that time. The story was already getting to a depressing place, and that just brought it to another level.

As someone who enjoys more suspense, or more shifts in the tone throughout the book, I found that this book was not for me. I think I would have appreciated it more if there was a bit of humor or levity incorporated into the middle section of the book, while still maintaining the darker tone. I also tend to gravitate more towards FMC with stronger intuitions.

I did think narrator had a pleasant voice and did a great job. I felt transported to the Potomac Shores area by the author’s descriptions and found myself wishing I was there while reading this book. I think this book is great for someone looking for a more serious, coming-of-middle age story, and who doesn’t get easily frustrated with a FMC who takes a longer amount of time to find her footing.

Thank you NetGalley and Makes Waves Press for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in return for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

#CicadaSpring is an unedited audiobook I received in advance and will be giving my own honest opinion. The novel begins with the protagonist, Katie, dropping her daughter, Belle, off at college for the first time. She is pursuing a degree in the arts emphasis in dance. It seems her mom has been a helicopter mom for the past 18 years, a constant figure in the lives of her brother, Ben, a consummate bachelor, which Katy hopes to rectify and her mother the owner of Heritage travel agency, who loves to travel herself. Katie always watched her mother’s house plants and cats while her mother traveled. Katie loves boats of all sizes and is a very capable captain in her own right on the Potomac inner coastal waterways knows every crook and stream along the way, the father of Katy and Ben passed his obsession of boats and boating to his children, the family attending yearly the Annapolis boat show. Ben owning a 45’ yacht that he lives in. So when Katy moves to Miami to begin a new job in a new city, she finds herself a little out of sorts because she doesn’t have all the responsibilities like she was used to and could live her own life now after 18 years. Katy took a job that would put her in the IT leadership team, Director of technology for the largest cruise lines in the world. When feeling exuberant after aceing her interview where she received an offer and signing bonus on the spot. Upon leaving the meeting she ran into the yacht The Cake and Eat it Too. The captain, J.E. she had previously met years ago, said he was going to Key West tonight if she wanted to tag along. She could have the master suite and he would take the guest bunk. He professes his love for her and wants to go on down to the Caribbean to be married. In a small ceremony that won’t even be large enough for her family to attend. But she has Belle stand up with her and meet her husband. Belle doesn’t get the same vibe as her mom at any rate, it makes for the perfect summer read. I would like to thank the following for allowing me to review early:


#NetGalley
#Publisher
Title #CicadaSpring
Author: #CarolynMcBride
Narrator: #MariaMarquis
Publication Date: 04/24/2024
Again, A perfect summer read

Part 1 moved so fast it made it unbelievable.
Part 2 was emotional & authentic.
Part 3 needed more details on the law side of things.
But overall, a sweet love story.

The narrator of this audiobook was great. I would listen to other books she narrates without hesitation.

There was a lot going on in this book and it sometimes felt like too much. I wasn’t crazy about the references to the pandemic and the main character drove me a little crazy with her poor decisions. It had the potential to be a really good book with a few changes, but fell a little short for me.

The Cicada Spring is a lovely feel good story. It begins pre-covid which is different. It also is a coming of age story if you’re into that. It will be an awesome summer read!

The narrator has a lovely tone and reads this with great care.

I have to admit that I felt a little sceptical about going into a novel which begins just as Covid 19 is hitting, lockdowns are beginning and everything is a little uncertain. To be fair I’ve only read a few which have referenced the pandemic so it wasn’t overuse of the time that put me off it was just meh! Don’t worry I was a silly little sceptic, because this novel played like a beautiful daydream after a bit of a bumpy start and I found myself longing for long empty days fresh air and the way nature rebuilt itself so much.

So, the book opens with a lovely snippet about cicadas (hands up I thought they were crickets) there’s a bit of a mess brewing as Katie is left adrift when her daughter leaves for college. Feeling hopeless she quickly falls in love and marries this no good guy (no judgement here) her marriage is quickly on the rocks, but when Katie loses her mother to the virus early on she returns home to Occoquan Virginia, to the house she grew up in, her fathers boat and her old friends the Bonfire Beach Babes.

There’s lots of personal life story, and love and friendship and heartbreak, even a new love interest, I don’t want to be dismissive of that part of the story it’s lovely and all. What captivated my heart though, was the love of the land, the call of the water and the history of the town, I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to be right there in a place and time so much, I loved learning about the eagles, the testing of the water, the 17 year cicadas, and the history that quite literally washes up. I just wish I’d have been sat round the bonfire in a family quilt to listen. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, it only really missed the 5 🌟 as there were a few superficial holes in the story.

The narration was really fitting, it added that day dreamy feel.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and IBPA members audiobooks for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in return for an honest review.

Unfortunately this one did not resonate well with me. The premise of the book seemed good at first, but the execution fell flat. I found myself groaning inwardly (and sometimes out loud) over Katie's lack of spine both at work and in her personal life. I was hoping for a much stronger female protagonist, with less pining and whining about finding the perfect man. The narrator of the audio version did an excellent job.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for a review!

The narration for this audiobook was fantastically done by Maria Marquis. I don’t read much romance but this is a great read if you’re looking for a feel-good novel set in a gorgeous location in Virginia. It follows Katie’s (mis)adventures after becoming an empty-nested when her daughter goes to college. She gets a new seemingly perfect job and gets together with who she thinks may be Mr. Right in a whirlwind “romance.”

I cringed at the parade of red flags that she ignored and continued to ignore, but I did find myself rooting for her anyway and liked that she learned more about herself and grew stronger in the process.

I loved the main character’s group of supportive friends it made me want to go hang out with the Bonfire Babes. The author also did a great job depicting life during the thick of the pandemic. 3.5 stars rounded to 4 — I needed a cheerier book after some of my recent reads and this fit that well.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC copy of the audiobook from NetGalley in exchange for my review.

I absolutely loved this book. It is the exact type of women’s fiction that I’m typically drawn to: strong female characters, slow burn romance, plenty of drama, and a scenic backdrop (Potomac Shores).

The main character, Katie, is embarking on a new chapter of her life after her daughter leaves for college. She quickly marries and realizes she may have jumped the gun and moved on too quick. This novel sees Katie hitting the “re-set button” on her life more than once in the span of just over a year.

The friendships Katie has are wonderful and provide a lot meat for this story. I wanted to joint their friend group!

Another thing I unexpectedly loved about this novel was that it takes place during the beginning of the Covid 19 pandemic and wraps up around the time people are starting to get their first vaccines. I think a lot of writers for books and other media have completely bypassed this important chapter of our lives, but it was real, it happened and the stores deserve to be told. I loved how it was realistically woven into the book.

Lastly, I chose to listen to this audiobook because I’m in IL where the 17 year cicadas are just now making their appearance in May 2024. So I thought the cicada intro as well as the cicada tie-ins later on in the book were particularly relevant for me.

I have to mention that the audiobook was read by Maria Marquis and she did a fantastic job.

I have no idea what author Carolyn McBride has in mind for upcoming novels, but I’d love more Potomac Shores books based on all of Katie’s friends.

Book Title: Thr Cicada Spring: A Potomac Shores Novel
Author: Carolyn McBride
Format: 🎧
Narrator: Maria Marques
Publisher: Make Waved Press- Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA),
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Pub Date was: April 24, 2024
My Rating: 3.4 Stars
Pages: 356

I was drawn to this story because of the cicadas. Living near the Ocean in California we do not have cicadas – well not the ones that emerge every seventeen years. However born and raised in West Virginia experience their rise from being buried. The sound is something one never forgets. Moved to the Chicago area in my late twenties and guess what? – Got to experience the cicadas again. I figured this story was going to be a hopeful one about creating a new live after being somewhat in the dark for years.

This story protagonist is Katie Young, who is divorced and although share custody of Belle, their daughter is with Katie more, Now Belle is a college freshman. Katie is experiencing empty-nest and then finds the job of her dreams in sunny Miami, and even meets Mr. Right the weekend she accepts the job offer.
Nope story isn’t over!

Their relationship was fun at first but has ended. Katie finds herself back in her hometown, to heal her broken heart and pick of the pieces.

Katie has the support of long time friends, Clara, Belle, Rhiannon ‘the Beach Bonfire Babes’


Thank You NetGalley and Make Waves Press- Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), for this audiobook.
Publishing Release Date was April 24, 2024