This is a beautifully penned story, a story of loss, hope, the struggles of life and love when George Briggs passes away suddenly he leaves behind his wife Lila and two daughters Tracy and Meghan. Tracy is working in a bank and Meghan is just about to go off to college to become a journalist. Losing her father changes all of that as she decides to stay home and run the business that her father started. This is a story that will have you turning the pages to join this family on their new path in life.

Meghan was always very close to her father. She is the sensible daughter and Tracy can be a bit of a wild child and losing their father affects them differently. Lila worries that things will be hard for them all. Tracy falls in love with Dominic and goes against her mother’s wishes and moves to another state. Meghan supports Tracy saying that she must find her way in life. This ends in the birth of a little boy and Tracy struggling.

Meghan continues to write in her journals and run the Snip and Save magazine and does well but she does struggle. When she rescues a dog from a swollen lake her life takes on a new meaning, and Sox as she calls him seems to be a gift, but from who? And this leads her to the new local vet, Tom. Emotions and feeling blossom in such a gorgeous way between the two of them
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This is another beautiful and compelling story from Ms Crosby. She knows how to pull at the readers’ heartstrings, bring characters to life and to make the reader feel a part of the story. This one is moving and emotional and ticks all of the boxes for a story that I would highly recommend. And yay, it is the first in a series, so I look forward to more stories set in Magnolia Grove and keeping in touch with Meghan and Tom, Tracy, Lucas and Gabriel. Thank you Ms Crosby for another keeper.

A very touching story of 2 very different sisters who learn to deal with struggles of everyday life amidst the loss of a loved one. I felt like I knew the characters on a very personal level. Highly recommend!

This was my first book by Bette Lee Crosby and I loved it. This story was so sweet! Highly recommend it,

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5

The Summer of New Beginnings by Bette Lee Crosby has got to be one of the sweetest books I have ever read. There is so much Southern charm in this book, and Crosby takes some very heavy topics and tells them in an impeccably light manner.

The Summer of New Beginnings is the first installment in the Magnolia Grove series, and tells the story of a family that is going through a lot. After their father passes away suddenly, Meghan and her sister Tracy are left making some tough decisions, along with their mother Lila. After a few hurdles along the way, everything finally starts coming together for the family.

I feel in love with the characters in this book and their small town of Magnolia Grove, Georgia. There were a couple of things in the book that felt a little too rushed, but overall the story is just so sweet. I teared up multiple times, so you may want some tissus!

Final Thought: The Summer of New Beginnings read incredibly fast, and I found myself flying through the pages. You pretty much know what everyone's thinking in this book almost all the time, with some first-person chapters that feel like diary entries. I really enjoyed this style of writing, and I haven't actually come across it too often. This was my first time reading Crosby, but I cannot wait to read the next installment of this series!

The Summer of New Beginnings in 3 words: Hopeful, Fluid, & Candid

The Summer of New Beginnings is a sweet, gentle story of the loss three women experience when there is an unexpected death in the family. This event leads to change and some re arranging of plans and hopes.

Meghan to me seemed the most affected of the two girls, she was close to her father and had a good relationship with him. As the days go by it feels like her Dad is watching over her and leading her along in ways that will refill her sorrowing heart. When she was young she lost a very beloved pet, now a new dog comes into her life and with him comes both the fear of losing him and the excitement of new possibilities.

Tracy has always felt a little "less" than Meghan and has tended to rush into things that just aren't that good for her. When she returns home with a son who doesn't talk, she is a little prickly about it. However as she re finds her feet at home, she begins a deeper relationship with her sister and she can see that Meghan has a heart that cares deeply about her and little Lucas. Megan will go to great lengths to help them.

Lila their mother is a more in the shadows figure, she began the family off with their father years ago and has established a home that is caring and compassionate. And of course she is at first thrown by the loss of her husband. She is an accomplished cook and keen to be a grandma.

The family face real life situations, experience a range of conflicting emotions and are able to face together the challenges thrown at them. This is a heart warming and enjoyable story. A good read for a cosy read by the fire or beach. And a perfect cover to go with it. And the touch of romance just was the icing on the cake!

I fell in love with this family right from the start. Bette Lee Crosby does an excellent job of bringing these characters to life. I found this story to be both heartbreaking and heartwarming. I would like to thank Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this wonderful book. I highly recommend this wonderfully touching story.

REVIEW: Lee Crosby can pull you into the story with such grace and ease. She builds her characters in a way that they become part of you. You, as the reader, will experience everything they experience, which causes the reader to form a deep attachment with the characters. The Summer of New Beginnings will tug at your heart and give you hope. I think every reader will be able to relate to the characters in this book and the story will be one that will touch them. A spring read must.

At it’s core, this is a novel about family – the good times, hard times, triumphant times and sorrowful times. At the beginning of the book, the father, George, dies of a heart attack. His wife and two daughters seem to fall into a downward spiral in their own unique ways in the aftermath of his death.

Meghan becomes ultra-responsible, setting aside her long held dream of going to journalism school in order to run her father’s business (which she thinks he would want her to do, but likely he would have rather had her go to college.) Lila loses all control of her oldest daughter, Tracy, and doesn’t seem to know how to reclaim it…so she doesn’t. Tracy goes super rebellious, runs off with her boyfriend and is gone for years, until she shows back up with a baby that her mom and sister have never met.

The rest of this book is about how these three women try to pick up the pieces of their broken lives. There is a sweet dog that comes into the picture, a cute vet, the awful ex shows back up periodically, and a major medical problem for Tracy’s son, Lucas. All of this is thrown into the pot, and for me, it felt like it dragged…a lot. Every time it seemed like one of the storylines was picking up steam, the narrator would switch to one of the other characters. The pacing was way off, and it took me much longer than I would have liked for me to finish it.

It was just lacking in several ways. The pacing was the worst offender, with character arcs taking forever to come to fruition. I did enjoy all of the characters, and the basic idea behind how everything tied together, it was just in execution that it fell a bit short. All in all, I thought that the premise of the story was really great. I liked moments of the book very much, but as a whole, it was not all that I was hoping it would be.



Rating:
2.5/5.0

Overall, I give The Summer of New Beginnings 2.5 STARS. It’s right on the cusp of 3 stars, but just not quite there for me.

*A big thank you to NetGalley for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!*

George and Lila live in the small town of Magnolia Grove and have two daughters ... Tracy is the oldest and bit of a wild one and Meghan is the good daughter. When George passes away suddenly, Meghan postpones her dream of going to journalism school to run his small-town magazine. Rather than letting it go, she sees it as a way of keeping a piece of her father. Tracy, on the other hand, heads off to Philadelphia where Dominic, her boyfriend, has gotten a job. The relationship doesn't work out and Tracy moves back home with her infant son. As Tracy tries to get her life together, Meghan finds a stray pup who she names Sox and hopes his owner doesn't turn up to claim him.

I thought this book was okay. It is written in third person perspective, though some chapters are in first person perspective ... they are short and italicized and the name of the person is at the beginning of these chapters so you know who the focus is. This style worked for me as it let me get into their heads and know what they were thinking and feeling.

I wasn't crazy about Lila. Considering all that Meghan had given up and taken on, she didn't seem very grateful and still treated her like a child (for example, initially forbidding her to keep Sox). Dominic was a jerk who hadn't treated Tracy or their son very well yet she still waffled for years about going back to him.

If you are looking for a nice clean wholesome story, you will enjoy it. It is the first in the Magnolia Grove series.

This is a wonderful story with all the feels that will leave you wanting more when the last page is read. Heartwarming and full of hope, I can't wait for the next book in this series. Also, if you love dogs, wait till you meet Sox!

Megan and Traceys story is full of heartwarming laughter and sadness both. If you have a sibling you know the struggles that you go through growing up and starting over and Ms. Crosby did a great job at portraying that in this book. I would highly recommend this as a read for a day when you need a pick me up or when you’re just feeling a little bit down

This is such a heartwarming book that I just loved it. Of course there are conflicts, a book wouldn’t be a book without them, but this book just makes me happy. It deals with real world, real life problems with a family coming together to conquer them with strength and love. I especially love that a dog was one of the main characters!

This is a story of life, responsibility and family. Not wanted to let your family down with their choices and actions. Two sisters who have very different paths in life and very different personalities come together to find that they have more things in common then they thought. They also have an unmoving respect for each other and their mother.

Bette’s books are always enjoyable and this is no exception! When you want to read a feel-good book, then check this one out.

This is a new series about the Briggs family. George, Lila, Meghan, and Tracy. A typical family in a small town, but they are not without their own struggles. George dies suddenly and leaves Lila to finish raising their two daughters.

What I enjoy most about books like this, is that they are real life. What happens to the Briggs family could happen to you or me. Parents pass away, children rebel, and others retreat into a world where they feel safe. But as with real life, each character grows in many different ways and becomes a better person. Many times that growth comes from within, but sometimes it comes from outside sources – new friends, a cute vet (like in this book), old friends, and even outside family members.

I also could relate to the passing of George. While my father died just a few years ago, we all felt the loss of his spirit. I could understand what Lila, Meghan, and Tracy were all feeling and perhaps why they acted as they did with each other. However, they adjusted and eventually accepted that life would not be the same and they must forge new paths for themselves.

I cannot wait to see how future books play out and the focus of those books. I have some situations in mind based on this book, but we’ll see what the author has in store for us.

Lovely old fashioned women's fiction. Sisters Tracey and Meghan and mom Lila find their ways back to each other in this nicely written story of family. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is a good read.

If you're looking for a sweet, down to earth family story, look no further than THE SUMMER OF NEW BEGINNINGS. When patriarch George passes away suddenly, mother/wife Lila and sisters Meghan and Tracy are reeling. This novel, first in a new series, is the story of how they deal with -- and ultimately move past - their loss. From Tracy's boyfriend to Meghan's new love interest, the secondary characters are nicely drawn as well and I enjoyed how people came together to help the baby, Lucas. I think the only thing that keeps this from being a five-star read for me is that the chapters narrated by Lila felt a bit repetitive. At times, she seemed to merely re-hash events we already know about without adding much of value. However, overall, this novel is sweet and has a nice, wholesome (almost timeless) quality. Kudos to Crosby for this heart-warming look at relationships in all their richness.

Bette has a way of pulling you into her books from the first page and this one isn't any different. It was beautifully written. A story about a family that pulls together after they lose their father and husband. Giving up her dreams Meghan keeps her fathers business alive but, when her sister needs her she's there for her. Together they find a their way through the heartaches and ups and downs. Love and sacrifice, accepting and learning how to fly and let go when they need to. Three very strong woman coming together the way that only Bette knows how to write.

Such a wonderful book about the strength of sisters, love and family support. #SummerofNewBeginnings #Netgalley

I really enjoyed reading this book whilst on holiday. It was light and perfect to read whilst sitting out in the sun. I read it in one day and loved the family/friends relationships

Healing. The Book is about healing of three women. One a mother and her two daughters. Each in different stages in life. Each of them becomes a helping hand for the other.

The book started with the death of George, Husband and Father. From there, the story shows them coping and bringing themselves together and up. The story is realistic, especially with the addition of Meghan and Tracy.