A nice, sweet, feel-good story with interwoven storylines. The characters are likable, which is just what you need as a reader sometimes. Themes of friendship, starting over, motherhood and romance.

There were just too many storylines and characters: 4 main and 5 secondary. There were also some predictability and believability issues. Who buys a bookstore and an out of business coffee shop and gets both up and running all in a matter of 2-3 weeks?

This is the story of two women who have been friends since childhood. Jess is a high profile lawyer in Charleston working with her husband who has an affair causing their marriage to break up.,
She heads to her childhood home on Cape Cod with her thirty-year-old daughter, Caitlin to regroup and figure out what she wants to do next. Her best friend Alison works for the local newspaper, but because so many things are going digital, her job is being cut back further and further, and she knows that it will just be a matter of time before it disappears altogether, so she starts thinking about her next step. The both have some tough decisions to make, but with each other's support, along with family and friends things begin to work out. They decide to purchase the local bookstore and become partners. Caitlin is also at loose ends and also needs to decide her next steps, so she also steps in to help. With the lovely setting, and great characters, this story of friendship and new beginnings is a winner.

Female friendships are showcased and also throwing in a family angle helps immensly. The author does a great job creating realistic and relatable characters and situations. I wanted to visit with these three women. The Bookshop sounds like a great place to find peace as well as grow and make decisions for the next chapter in their lives. All three women do find someone to care about, but the main theme of friendship, support, new beginnings and standing on your own two feet supersedes the love stories. The audiobook narration was wonderful. Stephanie Nemeth-Parke has a great voice to listen to. She brought the characters to life with her voices and expression. Her pacing was right on and I recommend listening to the audiobook for this one.

The cover and synopsis drew me in, but I loved this small town beach read!

WHAT TO EXPECT
-small town
-beach read
-second chances
-Cape Cod setting

I paired the book with the audiobook format and loved this way to read! The narration was great.

*many thanks to St Martins Press and Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the gifted copy

The Bookshop By The Bay is heartwarming like a Hallmark movie. The characters are all likeable, at least the women are. I like that this book is about two set of mothers and daughters and they're love lives. I like that we got to see each woman's love life. This is a type of book where you curl om the couch with a blanket and just read. This is similar to Susan Mallory and Mary Kay Andrews. If you love books by those two authors then I know you'll love this book like I do.

I love Pamela's work. She always hits right in the heart in the best way.
Friendships and family are always important to her characters and this book is no different.
Strength after change - good, bad, divorce, moving, lost jobs... this book has it all and I was captivated from the beginning. Even if it was a little predictable, I loved it.

This book was as sweet as it was charming, and I found it very difficult to stop reading! I really, really enjoyed this one

For a summer beach read (which ALWAYS makes me want to be butt deep im the sand) you can't go wrong with this multigenerational - book store buying story. I mean - build up drama (because people suck and they will take advantage of and disappoint you), the chance to make dreams come true AND a touch of happily ever after?? Sign me up sister!! A touch predictable - but in all the right ways!!

Digital copy supplied by St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

quick summer read. Hard to keep up with all the characters. but an easy plot to sort of mindlessly read on the beach or on a trip.

The Bookshop by the Bay is the story of two women who have been friends since childhood. Jess is a high profile lawyer in Charleston working with her husband. When he has an affair and their marriage breaks up, she heads to her childhood home on Cape Cod with her thirty-year-old daughter, Caitlin to regroup and figure out what she wants to do next. Her BFF, Alison works for the local newspaper, but with so many things going digital, her job is being cut back further and further. She knows that it will eventually disappear, so she needs to figure out what she will do. Both of these women have some tough decisions to make, but with each other's support, as well as family and friends things begin to work out. When the local bookstore is up for sale, they decide to purchase it and become partners. Caitlin also helps out, as she is also at loose ends and needs to decide her next steps as well. With the lovely setting, and great characters, this story of friendship and new beginnings is a winner.

I love stories where female friendships are showcased and they support and help one another. Throw in a family angle, and I am in. Pamela Kelley does a great job creating realistic and relatable characters and situations. I wanted to pop into this story and get to know these three women. The Bookshop is a great place to find peace as well as grow and make decisions for the next chapter in their lives. There is romance in the story, but that is not the main plot. All three women find someone to care about, but the theme of friendship, support, new beginnings and standing on your own two feet supersedes the love stories. This is a great summer read or listen that I highly recommend. The audiobook narration was wonderful. This is the first time that I have listened to Stephanie Nemeth-Parke and I will definitely look for more. She has a great voice to listen to. She brought the characters to life with her voices and expression. Her pacing was right on and I recommend listening to the audiobook for this one.

I want to start by saying that this is the first book I have read/listened to by Pamela Kelley. I usually form a pretty quick opinion of a new author that I try. This author does appear to be very good at creating.good characters with nice depth. She does seem to have a good imagination. However, I just had a very hard time drawing into this storyline. I'm not entirely sure why, as it was the sort of story that would usually capture me quickly. Anything that is created around a bookstore and reading usually grabs me quickly. However, this story just felt a bit flat to me, and I was unable to connect with any of the characters. I had a hard time at first connecting the two sets of mothers and daughters. I think that the differences between them was just too great for me to draw in and connect. I am giving a 3 star for this book mostly because I do see talent with this author. I just don't think this author is one that I will be able to connect with the style of.

I won't be publishing this to my blog found at https://thefinalwordbooks.blogspot.com because it just doesn't meet the criteria that I have established for those I recommend to my audience.

I want to thank Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for this opportunity to listen to this book in exchange for an honest review. I greatly value this gift!

This is a quick summer read that you can finish while at the beach! It is a romance that is typical--I liked it but it was not great. I give it 3.5 stars. It is the story of two life long friends that lose touch when they marry and find themselves both having husband problems later in life. They get back in touch and end up running a book store together. It is a fun, summer read that is light and breezy for the most part.

Mindless read. Not that much plot going on. Lots of characters to keep up with. It’s a simple and cute story but I wasn’t really into the story line.

Cape Cod, a bookstore and family! What's not to like! When Jess finds out her husband is cheating, she escapes to her hometown on the Cape and decides to reopen a beloved bookstore with her best friend, Alison. Life changes for Tess, Allison and both their daughters abound. Perfect read for a weekend getaway.

This was an absolutely adorable beach read, perfect for summer.

This is the woven story of two woman's lives, their daughters and love life's as well. The only draw back I had from giving this 5 stars was the multiple character plot lines and they did get a tag confusing in the first half of the book.

Otherwise, the plot line was delightful and was full of the anticipated happy ending where love prevails.

Narration was spot on and I was able to listen at a 2x speed.

This is a must read for anyone summer reading list.

Great for summer reading, a beach book even.
My favorite books are about Beaches and the people that visit them but decide to stay and make a new life there.This book hits all of it and more.
Coming back home to Cape Cod we follow Jess who is trying to regroup. She gets to do this while hanging out with family and her bestie Allison who is also trying to find what’s next. Such fun following them on their journey to the next thing and how the local bookstore plays into their lives and the communities.
I have already recommended this book to a few people. I will for sure be re-reading it this winter when I am sick of the upstate Ny weather and need a beach getaway!

'Bookshop by the Bay' is a feel-good story of a group of women at individual crossroads who come together for fresh starts and second chances. The main characters are Jess (Jessica), Caitlin, Alison, and Julia. They are all a little lost about where they are headed in life. But with the help from each other and their family/friends they get to where they belong in a small town named Chatham with a bookshop and coffee shop.
Great summer vacay beach read!!!
Many Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillian
Audio for my gifted copy.

Absolutely charming book. I have never been to this area, but could picture it so easily. These are characters that you will be wondering about months from now.

The narration was excellent and even though there were different characters it was written in a way that flowed very easily and wasn’t confusing.

Great quick summer read about chasing your dreams and surrounding yourself with a support system.

This was such an enjoyable audiobook. I absolutely loved the narrator and I hope I get to listen to her more often. I fell in love with all the characters and loved the mother and daughter stories. This book made me want to go there so I could grab a coffee at there shop and meet them. I HIGHLY recommend this audiobook. I think this is a great audiobook to listen to at the beach. You can just sit back and take it in.


Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen to this ARC in advance for my honest opinion.

Two lifelong friends, Jess and Allison, are at different points of their lives and ready for change. They turn to each other, and their daughters, for a fresh start and new beginnings.

📚 What worked:
• Small town storyline
• Friendships
• second chances
• book about books
• audiobook

What didn’t work - This was a really slow-paced book with multiple POV’s, that were a bit confusing, and an ending that was too predictable for my liking.

Although this one wasn’t for me, it does make for a light beach read with feel-good vibes and the audiobook was great! I really did enjoy the narrator and she did a great job narrating multiple characters.

Thank you to @netgalley, @stmartinspress & @macmillan.audio for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.