The New York Times bestselling author and “skilled storyteller who never lets her readers down” (Huffington Post) returns to her beloved Beach House series with this ”authentic, generous, and heartfelt” (Mary Kay Andrews, New York Times bestselling author) tale of new beginnings, resilience, and one family’s enduring love. Cara Rutledge returns to her Southern home on the idyllic Isle of Palms. … her Southern home on the idyllic Isle of Palms. Comforting in its familiarity, it is still rife with painful memories. Only through reconnecting with family, friends, and the rhythms of the lowcountry can Cara let go of the past and open herself to the possibility of a new career and love.
Meanwhile, her niece Linnea, a recent college graduate with an uncertain future, leaves her historic home in Charleston, with all its entitlement and expectations, and heads to her aunt’s beach house. On the island, she is free to join the turtle team, learn to surf, and fall in love. Remembering the lessons of her beloved grandmother, Lovie, the original “turtle lady,” Linnea rediscovers a meaningful purpose to her life and finds the courage she needs to break from tradition.
In “this tender and openhearted novel of familial expectations, new boundaries, and the power of forgiveness” (Booklist), three generations of the Rutledge family gather together to find the strength, love, and commitment to break destructive family patterns and to forge new bonds that will endure long beyond one summer reunion.
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Not as good as her previous books.
Great beach read
Great summer reading, it is a series , five books and the characters are wonderful . They appear in every book, Mary Alice Monroe’s writing is superb, great development of plot and character ,plus her love for wildlife in the Carolinas come through in every book. Would highly recommend this series for the summer. I don’t read fiction too much, but got hooked on this series!
I really enjoyed this book in the Beach House series. Even though I have not read any of the previous books from this series, it did not affect my enjoyment of this one.
Lots of wonderful beach activities and family relationships abound. I am a huge beach fan and wanted to move in with Cara and Hope in the beach cottage. And one of my favorite aspects was the turtle team activities. I enjoyed the information before each chapter about turtles…especially the loggerhead turtle. What wonderful details and it continued throughout the story with part the story surrounding the family and turtle nests and rescues.
This was a delightful read for curling up in a chair on a porch feeling the ocean breeze and smelling the salty air as you get lost in the story of Isle of Palms and Charleston. Delightful characters and some family dynamics and exciting weather will keep you turning the pages.
Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Wonderful book. One of my favorite authors. Makes me want to good back and read the other books in this series. Great book that touches on family and relationships set in the low country. Nobody does it better than Mary Alice Monroe.
It is always nice to catch up with Cara and the rest of the Rutledge family. I enjoyed this book. I’m probably in the minority here but to me it felt like there was something missing this time. The story didn’t grab and keep my attention as well as in the previous books.
One of the best by Mary Alice Monroe…..
I love beach house the sequel is just as good
This was just as enjoyable and engrossing as the other books in the series. I finished it in 2 days. If you liked the others, this is a must read.
Two women coming home for two different reasons to the place they loved and the place with many memories.
Linnea had finished college, and Cara was coming home to be with family.
Linnea came home from college and had no choice but to return, and really didn’t want to be in her childhood home with all the drama and the rules.
Cara came home because her husband had passed away a few years earlier, she adopted a friend’s baby, and she wanted to have her daughter grow up where she grew up with family and summer beach memories.
Both women needed something, and with Linnea being Cara’s niece, the problem was solved because Linnea was going to be Cara’s nanny. That would save Linnea from staying with her parents all summer and would be a warm remembrance of her childhood times at the beach house, Primrose Cottage. Cara would get to spend time with her niece to catch up and have someone to finally help her so she wasn’t alone.
BEACH HOUSE REUNION was a very pleasant, heartwarming read that made you want to for the most part be in the Rutledge family and in Primrose Cottage as well as Sullivan’s Island.
Everything about the book was comfy and inviting.
The characters and the beachy setting were quite pleasant.
Learning about loggerheads, surfing, seeing the love between family members and others, and joining in the family fun are some of the reasons you will want to read this book.
I actually want to learn more about the sea turtles (loggerheads). It sounded fascinating, and the excitement the characters had about them had me wanting to learn more.
BEACH HOUSE REUNION is an easy, sweet read that will be a perfect addition to your summer reading list. 5/5
This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher and NetGalley in return for an honest review.
We begin this tale with the return of Cara to the beach house where it really all began for her. Cara has a baby now that she adopted named Hope and now Cara is struggling with the demands of motherhood verses career and her guilt at enjoying work while struggling with adjusting to motherhood. Meanwhile things are going downhill fast for Cara’s brother Palmer’s family. Linnea, Cara’s niece, cannot leave the her family’s beautiful and historic house in Charleston fast enough, she takes the nanny position for Hope and moves in with Cara for the summer. I enjoyed how this installment of the Beach House series continued to deal with the environment. I have really learned so much about turtles and birds from this series. We also deal with issues such as alcohol, drugs and verbal abuse. This book gets heavy at times in some places then becomes light and romantic in all the right places. We learn more about what Lovey, Cara’s mom, had to endure from a verbally abusive and controlling husband. We see the effects that it has on Palmer and how he tries to control his family as well. Meanwhile Cara has found romance in the most unlikely of places.
Sit back, sip wine or lemonade and savor this installment of the Beach House Series.
Rarely am I so moved by a story that I cry but it happened several times reading this book. The story drew me in completely. The characters were “real” and relatable. My highest compliment relates to the fascinating information shared by the author about loggerhead turtles. I would like nothing more than to experience the whole nesting process of the loggerheads.
I received this eBook copy of Beach House Reunion as an advanced reading copy from Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review, I would like to thank them for this opportunity.
This is the fifth book in Mary Alice Monroe’s Beach House series, however; all of the books can be read on their own. But believe me, once you read one, you will want to read them all. MAM has never disappointed me with any of her books that I’ve read. This one was no exception. It is not necessarily a light-hearted, cloying beach read but deals with a few complex issues involving family dynamics and tragedies. But it is a very enjoyable read. We are introduced to a few new characters as well as some old sometimes mysterious friends and as always they all become our friends too. The beach house is as much a character in the story as the people. It would be wonderful to have such a sweet touchstone in our lives as Cara has in hers. Cara learns what the house means to her; a strong foundation, grace under pressure, continuance, resilience. Also, each of the books in the Beach House series informs us on a subject dealing with our environment, this one gives us insight into the lives of sea turtles. Just like all Mary Alice Monroe’s other books, I didn’t want this one to end
Mary Alice Monroe’s stories never disappoint, whether it is a new novel or a continuation of a series. However, new readers should realize each novel in a series can be stand alone – never worry about feeling like you are intruding. Beach House Reunion happens to be another novel in the Beach House series. And this one delivers more than any reader could expect.
All of Monroe’s novels have an environmental connection and in this series, it is the loggerhead turtles (classified as a threatened species and likely to changed to endangered). They nest on ocean beaches, including along the coast of South Carolina. The loggerheads are intricately woven into the Beach House novels, and each chapter of this novel starts with interesting educational facts about loggerheads. I so enjoyed learning more about these magnificent creatures that inspire such passion in Mary Alice Monroe.
“All roads lead home.” So begins the next story of the reunion of our beloved Beach House friends. I needed this book to bring closure to several areas in Cara’s life. There were many sad tears followed by more and more happy tears. This was a powerful ending to an amazing series. I hope to meet my Beach House friends again one day- even if it’s only by re-reading these books.
Beach House Reunion (Beach House #5) by author Mary Alice Monroe is about family drama, love, and family forgiveness. I have enjoyed reading each book Mary Alice Monroe has written. This book has more family drama for the three Rutledge women. Cara comes back to Primrose Cottage with a baby, Palmer and Julia are having serious problems, Linnea and Cooper each have distress about their futures, and even Big Girl makes an appearance.
The story is about reunions as family members and friends from previous books appear as older characters in this story. I won’t post spoilers, but there is a lot of family drama, hurtful words, and later acts of kindness and forgiveness. This book exposes the escalating problem of Palmer’s alcohol dependency and Cooper’s drug use. The story touches on how devastating verbal abuse can be for family members. Just like families today: we love, we disagree, we forgive, we accept, and then we carry on!
It is always a pleasure to learn more about the sea turtles and beach conservation in each of the author’s books.
Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.
I have no doubt that anyone who loves the south, beach and sea turtles will quickly be absorbed in this wonderful novel of hope, despair, family, friends and love.
Mary Alice Monroe does an amazing job of bringing all the feelings of summer and the ocean smells to you throughout each walk on the beach.
Every chapter had a snippet of info on sea turtles and I truly learned from these.
A beautiful summer read!
It was a chilly grey Saturday in my part of NC but I spent the weekend at the beach and never left home! Reading a Mary Alice Monroe book is like taking a vacation at the beach – her love of the lowcounty shines through in her books and her descriptions of the area make you feel like you’re there.
This is book 5 in the Beach House series. It can be read as a stand-alone but all of the books in the series are so good that you need to read them all! In this book, Cara Rutledge returns to Primrose Cottage on Isle of Palms. She left three years earlier after her husband died but felt like it was time to go home to raise the new baby that she’s adopted. When she tries to work from home, she finds out that it’s difficult so asks her niece Linnea to move to the cottage to take care of the baby while she’s job hunting. They both lead a more relaxed life style at the beach with lots of friends and a bit of romance for both of them. Through their time together and the beauty of the island, the Rutledge family is about to become even closer despite issues that have been passed down from previous generations.
This is a beautiful story of love and family, new beginnings and learning to live in the future instead of the past. As with all of Mary Alice’s books, her love of the environment shines through her novel. In this book, its the loggerhead turtle and every chapter starts with a fact about sea turtles. There is also a lot of information about how pollution in the ocean hurts the turtles and other sea animals. So along with my mental trip to the beach, I was able to learn more about sea turtles! I highly recommend this book!
Thanks to the author for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.