This was a very silly, light, cozy fantasy where a mom going through divorce takes her kids to the beach to work on her novel and get away from her soon to be ex-husband who has a long list of her "underminstances" (aka his grievances after getting into some man's self help book) he doesn't let her forget about. Their trip gets uprooted by the appearance of the mom's childhood friend Timmy Caruso who disappeared at the beach 30 years ago... and somehow looks exactly the same as he did 30 years ago.

What unfolds is a sweet, nostalgic-feeling, childhood-magic summer story involving a sea monster, some "squidoodles", a sexy contractor who frequently comes to the rescue, natural disasters, and a cinematic, over-the-top climax. This was an easy breezy, light read that was entertaining, however I did wish we had a a stronger through line moving the plot forward.

Thank you to the publisher for granting me access to an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions remain my own.

It's very rare for me to select a Netgalley title that I then find so dull that I'm tempted not to finish it. This is one of those. I did finish it, though, and can report that it has all of the excitement and sophistication of Dick and Jane books, and while the premise sounds solid, the writing plods. And plods. And plods.

Thanks for the review copy. I love the cover. I liked the hint of science fiction, It is also whimsical.

This was fun and cute while I was reading but not that memorable. I would say middle of the road, didn't drive deep into any topics just kind of 2 dimensional.

Thank you, NetGalley and Hyperion Avenue for this ARC for review. I read this author’s previous book, On Earth As It is On Television, so I knew to expect a quirky read. I have say, I liked this book even better!! 10 year old, Timmy Caruso disappears one summer while vacationing on Pearl Island. 30 years later, he returns from the ocean the same age and he’s on a mission to save the world. He finds his friend Jenni from 30 years ago, who is now a mom of 2, a writer, and struggling with adult issues and her soon to be ex-husband. But weird things are happening on the island and Jenni and her kids believe Timmy and must try to save the world from a terror in the water. This book is weird in the bast way and laugh out loud funny and very relatable in parts.

This book has an interesting premise, and I was not sure what to think going into it, so I just went in with no intentions. It was unique, quirky, cute, and maybe a little whimsical. I really liked Jenni, her kids, and Timmy! Sure the kids could be annoying, but they were going through A LOT for being so young. As the story progressed, it got more and more intense. I was getting pretty stressed hoping everything was going to work out. Overall, it was really interesting and unlike most books I tend to read. I will definitely have to check out more by this author.

This book is so visually beautiful in its prose that just seeing the cover of it triggers incredibly lush memories for me of the plot, characters, and feelings I had as I read it. It's a weird one, but if the reader can suspend all disbelief and just take the ride, it is stunning and sad and ultimately, incredibly hopeful.

Octopuses seem to be hot topics these days in literature, and I have to say, I understand why. They are mysterious, adorable, and probably as close to an alien creature as we have ever been her eon Earth. I love this story.

Fun, silly, lighthearted, yet somehow also serious and poignant and deeply affecting. This book might make you roll your eyes, but it's secretly cracking your heart open at the same time.

This was a creative and fun read. This book is probably for adults, but I often stopped to wonder if it was better for younger readers. However, I liked the quirky, sci-fi, sea-monster at the seaside story.
Jenni and her friend Tommy meet as kids on the beach and spend the whole summer together. Then Tommy mysteriously just disappeared under the water and never came back.... until 30 years later. Jenni is now separated from her husband and with 2 kids in tow, she runs away to her childhood home on the beach. What follows is an imaginative story of Tommy's return, sea monsters, and saving the world. Fun, quick read that kept me entertained. I received a complimentary eBook from the publisher in exchange for a review.

Here Beside the Rising Tide is quite a strange and wonderful book. It’s difficult to describe without making it sound utterly ridiculous – because how could a book about time travel and sea monsters that includes words like “squidoodle” possibly be anything other than pure silliness? You’ll just have to trust me when I tell you that it’s actually quite poignant and meaningful (while yes, also being silly in the best way).

Thirty years after living there as a child, action-romance writer Jenn Lanaro returns to Pearl Island for the summer with her young children, in a desperate attempt to avoid both her writing deadline and her ex-husband. Shorty after Jenn and her children arrive at their beach house, a ten-year-old boy walks out of the ocean. He says his name is Timmy Caruso, and he’s on a mission to save the world. But Jenn knows he can’t possibly be who he claims – because she knew ten-year-old Timmy Caruso thirty years ago, before he disappeared from Pearl Island.

First with the weird and wonderful On Earth as It Is on Television and now with Here Beside the Rising Tide, Emily Jane is creating quite the niche for herself in contemporary fiction – using fantastical, wacky plot elements to tell stories about the joys and pitfalls of modern life. Rising Tide is whimsical sci-fi, satire, magical realism, a coming-of-age story (in both childhood and midlife), and a fantasy adventure tale with hints of romance and the apocalypse all at the same time, and it just works. Jane’s characters and dialogue sparkle on the page, and her writing is so warm and life-affirming, full of just as many insightful moments as silly ones. This is a book that celebrates the magic of childhood and resists the banality of adulthood, showing that imagination has no expiration date and that it’s never too late to chart a new path. It’s so endearing, and it has so much heart.

Emily Jane stands alone in this wildly original subgenre she’s created, and I’m here for it – and eagerly awaiting her next book. Thank you to Hyperion Avenue for the complimentary reading opportunity.

A layered and complex story that will keep you turning the pages. Take a wild, fantastical ride through time with Jenn and her kids as she tries to run from the chaos of life.
Vastly entertaining but sometimes difficult to follow. You never quite know what to expect, but that makes for an interesting read.

Jenni grew up on the island and her mother was a waitress. Timmy came from a wealthy family but they weren't particularly loving and close. Everyone of his family members did their own thing at their summer rental, so Jenni and Timmy became friends one summer and had all kinds of adventures. Until the day that the ocean swallowed him up. His body was never found.

It's now 30 years later and Jenn is a famous writer with 2 children and an about-to-be-ex-husband. She's been forced to write very similar stories about the same character for years and she needs to get away. So she rents a house on the island she grew up on. Her mother has passed on and the family house that Jenn owns isn't in habitable shape. She brings the kids and ignores the calls and texts from her ex.

One day Timmy, the same Timmy comes out of the ocean. He's the same boy and he is the same age as he was when he disappeared. And then the really strange things happening.

So is this a not too scary horror story? Is it a sci-fi thriller? I'd say it's kind of a blend, but a lot of fun to read. Jenn has to dig into her reserves and her imagination and the kids' gaming skills prove critical in vanquishing the enemy from the sea. I laughed out loud at several points. I'm glad I read it.

What did I just read??

The first 10% started off pretty strong. It was well written, capturing my attention right away, and the concept (sea monsters and time travel aliens) was definitely intriguing but the execution fell flat.

While there were a lot of little things that I thought were annoying/poorly done, ultimately my low rating is mainly due to the absolute chaos this book was and how repetitive it was without much plot advancement. It felt like the author was just trying to get her word count up so she’d over elaborate some events (feeding the squidinox) or constantly repeat things (Chuck texting, how she wander the island as a kid, her job that needed to get done, etc). It all felt pretty superfluous and just like a space filler. The book could have literally been 250 pages shorter and I feel like I’d have gotten just as much out of it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hyperion Avenue for an advanced copy of Here Beside the Rising Tide.

A whimsical story of to-be single mom and her kids on a last minute vacation only to encounter past mysteries, sea monsters, and growing up. I really wanted to like this but the characters were a bit flat and the pacing seemed a bit off. Thank you to NetGalley for a chance to read and review this book.

Emily Jane’s latest novel is an intriguing blend of fantasy, family drama, and self-discovery that takes readers on a unique and unpredictable journey. The story follows Jenni, a romance-adventure writer stuck in a career rut, newly divorced, and navigating the challenges of single motherhood. Hoping to meet her book deadline and confront the emotional task of clearing out her late mother’s house, Jenni takes her kids to the beach for the summer. But her plans take a bizarre turn when a young boy, claiming to be her childhood best friend who disappeared over 30 years ago, suddenly appears. This strange encounter sets off a whirlwind of events involving mysterious sea monsters, Pokémon-like battles, and a surprising dash of romance.

While the premise is captivating and creative, the novel occasionally feels uneven. The romance subplot, for instance, didn’t quite land for me—it felt underdeveloped and somewhat out of place compared to the stronger, more cohesive elements of the story. That said, Jenni’s emotional journey as a mother and a woman in transition was deeply relatable. Her internal conflict, especially her reflections on parenting—wanting to control her kids but also questioning the need for that control—was authentic and resonant.

The fantasy elements were imaginative and added an unexpected depth, exploring the ways darkness can creep into our lives and how hope can shine through even in the strangest circumstances. At times, the narrative veered into moments where I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening, but the overarching themes of transformation and resilience kept me engaged.

Emily Jane has a knack for creating a story that’s both otherworldly and grounded in relatable truths about family, grief, and finding one’s way. Despite its uneven pacing, this novel was an enjoyable read it just was not my cup of tea.

Read to about 30%. Much stranger than the cover and description seems to imply. Just not for me!

What I did read seemed jumbled and a little confusing. I'm curious to see where it goes, but just don't feel like now is the right time for this read.

They say don't judge a book by its cover, yet I continue to do just that. To me, I thought I was getting a cute, summery read when I picked up the ARC for this book. I was not expecting apocalypse style battle against squid-like sea monsters, and instead of a coming-of-age story, that's what I got.

When Jenni was ten, her best friend Timmy disappears into the ocean. Her small beach town assumes he drowned and his family moves away. Now, thirty years later, Jenni is back in town, grappling with her husband filing for divorce, cleaning out her mother's home, and dealing with children who she has lost touch with. One day, a young boy emerges out of the water, claiming to be Timmy, and claiming that he is back on a mission to save the world.

This is definitely heavy on the sci-fi side of things. I can't decide if I enjoyed it or hated it, it came and went in waves. The writing style is definitely unique, and the story was entertaining, but basically the entire final 40% is an epic battle scene that felt like it could've been taken care of in two chapters. That is why I struggled so much with writing a review for this.

I might recommend this if you're looking for something unique or different, but it's not jumping to the top of my must read list by any means.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this early review copy.

This was awesome and absolutely unhinged in the very best way

I usually have several books going at once, and I switch between them depending on where I am or the time of day. But once I started this book, I did not want to read anything else. I can't even explain why it drew me in so thoroughly. (Of course then I dumped a bowl of soup on my phone, which is my only Kindle device, so then I was FORCED to stop reading this for two days. The agony!)

It's hard to define what this book is. Is it humorous, or serious? Is it chick lit, or literature? Real or fantasy? It is all of those things at once, and it balances perfectly between each of those domains; the tension of watching this book walk that tightrope is somehow also the tension that pulled me right in. (I know that sounds like a mixed metaphor ,but it's not, because tension is literally caused by pulling on something. In this case, it was pulling on ME!)


Told from multiple POVs:
Jenn, the main protagonist
Eve - Jenn's daughter
Mason - Jenn's son
Betsy Rankleman - Jenn's editor
and there might have been a few others in there that I missed.

This absurd story is what you'd get if you gave a bunch of 6 yos crayons and markers and glitter glue and asked them to draw a sea monster battle, and then took their story and imbedded it in a story of a middle aged couple dealing with their crumbling marriage and wondering if this is all life has to offer and if they've done the best they could with it and if they are doing the best they can for their kids. It's sort of like a cozy Mona Awad. It is absolutely ludicrous, completely batshit insane, and yet it is filled with pathos and meaning and depth.


A note for dog lovers: Barry, the goofy Airedale, disappears for a while, but he shows up again unscathed. Do not worry!

I’m not sure what I just read. But I liked it. Jenn and Timmy were best friends in the way only kids who meet over the summer can be. Their weirds match. They find a strange creature and release it back to the ocean. That bonds you. It’s practically instant.

And then in another instance, Timmy is gone. Assumed drowned. Just disappeared. For a few decades. He returns, still 1o, with the strange creature and its friends. And something else. Then everything goes upside down.

The feel of the entire book brought me back to 80s movies where kids understood all of the things most adults didn’t and were left to save us all. Nostalgia aside, the relationship between Jenn and Timmy, both as children and with one as an adult was still magical. Your best friend is your best friend.

My favorite, though, must have been grandma. The few adults who would listen went forward with everything they had. The time travel stuff got pretty messy. But it always does. And if you are feeling twisted around by what I just wrote, you are ready to read this one.

I got this book as an ARC from Netgalley. The book starts us off with Jenni, a ten year old girl who lives on Pearle Island with her mom who is always working to be able to able to maintain their bills. Jenni fills her days with trips to the beach where she meets Timmy, a boy in town for the summer. But a tragedy cuts their adventures short.

Fast forward 30 years and Jenn is now a very famous author with her adventure series Philipia Bay. But her personal life is falling apart as her husband is leaving her and her kids seem disinterested. She decides to take her kids for a summer at her childhood town of Pearle Island only for things to take a very weird turn.

To me, this book did too much and it didn't always fit together. I'm still having trouble understanding how an author would be so busy always writing to never see her family as that's one of those jobs you can do a little more flexibly. She's also a successful author with tons of money so surely her deadlines could wait a little bit.

The mix of a contemporary story of divorce and family seems at odds with the sea monster aspect of it. You also have the kids always talking about Pokemon which killed me because sometimes the Pokemon were real (like Eevee and Pikachu) but mostly she made up Pokemon names. I felt like she should have just committed to it or has it be completely made up. That really took me out of the story.

The climax of the story is definitely interesting but the resolution seemed a little too easy for how intense the conflict got. It all felt much too sudden.