Our Place on the Island

I received this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The setting makes it a perfect beach which will please readers of the authors previous debut. Mystery, love, family all in an amazing setting.

This was my first Erika Montgomery book and it certainly won’t be the last. Such a great, comfort read. It reminded me of my favorite beach read author, Elin Hilderbrand.

I was given the opportunity to read this advanced copy by NetGalley in exchange for my honest feedback, all opinions are my own.

I love this authors work and i will forever read more. This was a good book to read dhring the summer. And its a good bookto get lost in and honestly thats what i needed in a book. The characters were well developed and the premise was great and it was fast paced cant wait to read more. I love the cover as well

I really enjoyed Erika Montgomery's first book and was thrilled to read an early release copy here. Fans of Elin Hildebrand will enjoy this family beach romance.

Three generations of women, family drama, the one that got away, and second chances? This book has it all.

This book makes me want to learn how to cook properly and to also plan a summer trip to Martha’s Vineyard. The way the author described the food and the location made me daydream of vacationing on the island. Thanks Erika Montgomery for writing such an inspiring book.

So happy I was given an ARC of this amazing book. Just what I needed to help me get out of my mid-winter funk.

This is a sweet well written novel about 3 generations of women and their personal connections to a family home. It goes back and forth from past to present day. Very well written with characters that are well developed, not too much information and not too little. I would read more books by this author.

I chose a cold New England afternoon to begin reading “Our Place on the Island” and I was quickly warmed up by the gentle ocean breezes, the happiness in Cora’s eyes as she prepared for her wedding, and her hope that her daughter and granddaughter would find peace during their stay on the island.

I loved Mickey’s relationship with her grandmother, Cora. Mickey spent many summers on the island, where her love for cooking was born. She helped her grandmother plant her herb garden and prepared delicious meals under her watchful eye. The house itself had many stories to tell, especially about Cora’s kitchen, which was renovated to her specifications many years ago. Hedy, Cora’s daughter, had a love/hate relationship with the family home, the Beech House, because she missed her late father terribly and was afraid to be in the house without him.

Erika Montgomery’s writing is visually enticing, eloquent and lyrically beautiful. The Beech House was a cozy and loving place for everyone that was lucky to have spent time there. Over the years couples fell in love, parties were given and dreams were made. The family drama between Cora, Hedy and Mickey took a backseat to the love they had for each other. They all realized that life was precious and that this time together on the island was a gift they would cherish forever

Mickey has a secret that she hasn't told even her boyfriend, the chef in her restaurant. Although Piquant earned a feature in Gourmet Magazine with a high rating, Mickey owes money to all of her suppliers and can't imagine how she can save the Baltimore hot spot. But when she learns that her adored grandmother, Cora, is getting married in her seventies, she agrees to spend a weekend on Martha's Vineyard to attend the wedding. Little does she know that she will learn more about her family--and herself--over the course of a few days in a location she discovers she has sorely missed. Present-day scenes are interspersed with insights into her grandmother's life 51 years earlier (1948), when Cora was a new wife trying to be accepted by the Martha's Vineyard community while maintaining her own individuality and sense of self.

The characters of Mickey, her mother, Hedy, and Cora are sensitively drawn. Supporting characters are also memorable, though some are not necessarily likeable. Montgomery has successfully combined them with an absorbing, emotional plot to make a satisfying stew with a delicious aftertaste.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.

A moving and marvelous story told in two time periods. The tale of struggling to fit into the Martha’s Vineyard society troubles newlywed Cora in 1948. She is not of the elite set and feels oftimes below her friends. Her present day wedding brings her daughter, Hedy, and Hedy’s daughter, Mickey, to the island for the ceremony and for good-bye to the home Cora has lived in since her first marriage. The individual personalities and problems weave with memories of the house to create a wonderful novel.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

"Our Place on the Island" by Erika Montgomery will put you in the mood for a getaway to your favorite beach. Mickey has just achieved her dreams and launched an award winning restaurant in Baltimore Md. It has a waiting list every night and she is in love with the chef, but her management skills are leaving her extremely stressed. It is not a good time for a break but her grandmother Cora is getting married and she has to be there. So she leaves for Martha's Vineyard without solving anything and prays it will get better. Beech House is where she spent her childhood, summers of swimming, clambakes, and cooking with her grandma, friends and family. It is where she was molded and became who she is. This is a great story of family, love & friends across the generations.
This book is sure to be on the summer 2023 to read list.

Thanks to NetGalley, Erika Montgomery, and St Martin's Griffin for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

What a treat. I got this ARC from NetGalley. I loved it. Mickey’s grandmother, Cora, is getting remarried, and Mickey heads out to the family home on Martha’s Vineyard. Mickey heads to the island with some secrets and when she arrives, she learns there are some secrets being kept from her.

This book takes us back and forth between Cora in 1948, starting out as a new bride and present day in 1999. Three generations of Campbell women have stories to be told and Erika Montgomery is an expert storyteller.

I always know that I like a book a lot because when it ends, I want more, and I want more!

A totally charming, feel-good book. Reading a new author is always a surprise and this was a pleasant one.

Mickey owns a failing restaurant in Baltimore when she is called to return to Martha’s Vineyard for the wedding of her 72 year old grandmother. So, this unlikely story alternates between 1948 and 1999, as we learn about Grandma’s history with the groom as well as how Mickey can repair her future.

Despite turmoil, the family triumphs and gives the reader a lovely bit of closure.

The author does a good job involving the reader in grams’ life in post-WWII, depicting the struggles of women when the solders returned home.

Obviously, I enjoyed the book and will certainly recommend it to my readers. Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

This is my first Erika Montgomery book but it won’t be my last. I loved the dual timelines. It was easy to follow and really helped to develop all the characters. I would of liked a longer story of Cora’s past and a bit more of Hedys childhood. Cora yearns for Max at the end of the 1948 timeline but it would of been nice to hear more about her life after that encounter.

This book has many relationship aspects that are intertwined within it. Mothers, daughters, granddaughters and Mickey and Wes’s romantic relationship. They all were very relatable in my opinion. The description of Martha’s Vineyard was exceptionally done, it made me want to take a summer trip there. Overall a great book and I would love to read a follow up book with maybe Hedy as the main character.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for an ARC copy of this book.

Another great book from Erika Montgomery. This book follows Mickey, her mother Hedy and her Grandmother Cora. Cora came to Martha's Vineyard in 1948 as a young bride. The story alternates between Cora's adjusting to married life on the Vineyard in 1948 and 1999 when Mickey returns to Beech House for her Grandmother's second wedding. This is all about falling in love and the love of cooking and feeding loved ones. This was a super sweet, comforting read for me. I really enjoyed it. Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for a copy of this book for review.

A beautiful story, heartwarming, captivating, all about family and love. Cora, in her seventies, is getting married for the second time. She is marrying Max who she met for the first time when arriving to the island as a new bride. The story is told in two timelines so we learn about Cora’s younger days. The present day timeline starts the day before the wedding. Cora’s daughter Hedy is there and Mickey, Cora’s granddaughter. We learn about the tension in the family over this wedding, the close relationship between Cora and Mickey, financial struggles and taking a risk. This is a terrific story, a family saga.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A wonderful novel to read on a cold winter's day. Three generations of women reunite at the family home on the Cape to celebrate the second marriage of the family's matriarch.. Each woman will have a story to tell ; the grandmother's first marriage and her life on the island; her daughter's experience growing up there and her closeness to her father but not her mother and lastly, the granddaughter who has left and started her own restaurant business. Cooking is a main theme in the story (made me hungry when I was reading it!) and will tie the story together. I enjoyed this book immensely and plan to read the author's previous book.

Our Place on the Island will be on my list of best books of 2023. An absolutely fabulous read that I absolutely adored. I loved Mickey, Hedy, and Cora and how their stories unfolded in the dual timelines. Family, food, and a lot of heart made this novel a great read.

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy of this book. This is my honest review.