I enjoyed this book because it had 3 main women characters all in different stages in life in the same family. I thought they all were very strong women though I believe they didn't think so. Meghan the youngest daughter on the cusp of going to journalism school has to put it on hold to run the business Snip and Save that her father created after he suddenly passed. Tracy the wild child up and moves to Philadelphia with her boyfriend wanting nothing to do with the business. Lila (Mom) who has to figure out how to help her daughters while she too is struggling. The author does a great job in showing the strength they have in tough situations.
I was provided with an ARC by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I have to thank NetGalley and Lake Union for the honor of reading this awesome book.

I never expect anything but the best from Bette Lee Crosby and she has never let me down.
This is a very sweet, emotional story of loss, love, laughter and family.
It starts out a bit on the sad part then it gets better and better all the way through.
Meghan has plans to go to college to be a writer/journalist but when her father dies she puts her plans on hold to continue running his small business, Snip N Save. It’s a way to keep her father alive. She works hard and is a very capable and dependable daughter.
Tracy, Meghan’s sister, is a bit unreliable. She up and moves away with her boyfriend, Dominic who is really just a big jerk. She ends up coming back home after several years with her baby boy, Lucas.
Lila, the mother of the girls and widow of George. She just wants her girls to be home, happy and get along.
Sox, a dog that Meghan rescues from the lake is one very smart dog. He loves Meghan and Lucas dearly. He has ways that made me fall in love with him. We should all have such a good dog. Smart, loving and has a way of getting Meghan to see things that she might not have seen without him.
Will these young ladies find love and happiness. Will Tracy stay home and make a good life for herself and her son?
Bette outdid herself with this book. It was wonderful from start to finish. I truly loved it so so much. I always know I’m in for a good read when Bette writes a new book. Look forward to hearing more about this family.

What a refreshingly, sweet book! I loved all of the characters. Especially Meghan and Tracy, the sisters, and their mom Lila. You can’t help but love Lucas, Tom and Gabriel either. Of course Sox was a big hit too! Needless to say I loved this book. It made me tear up a little, and smile a lot. Bette did a great job in helping us to know and fall in love with the people of Magnolia Grove. I was lucky enough to get to read this book before release through Netgalley.

#TheSummerOfNewBeginnings #NetGalley

Bette Lee Crosby writes such wonderful stories and I think this is my new favorite! It tells the story of the Briggs family and the many things that each family member has to deal with. The story immediately drew me in, I felt like I knew them all personally. I felt their love, happiness, sadness and fears. I hated to see the story end. I do hope that Bette Lee writes more stories with these characters. I want to follow them some more and see where life takes them all.

Thank you Bette Lee Crosby, Lake Union Publishing and #NetGalley for the advanced ebook to review.

I would like to say thank you to Bette Lee Crosby, BFF Clubhouse, Lake Union and Netgalley for allowing me to read the ARC of this awesome book! This book just like the author’s other books that I’ve read is a very enjoyable read. Bette has a way that makes you feel a real connection. Even though the book starts out very sad, Bette’s wonderful way of writing changes that very quickly. It is a story of loss, love and hope. It touches on death of a family member, giving up dreams to keep that person close, it is about coming to grips with a disability and a family sticking together. Many life lessons to be learned in this book. I loved how this book showed me that even though things look bad there is always something around the corner to change it. I absolutely loved this book and highly recommend it.

I received this book "Summer of New Beginnings" from Netgalley for my honest review.
Awesome Book! I love the way the book sounds like someone is telling the story "to me". I feel like someone's voice is just telling me a great story. I do love the cover but I don't picture the dog on the cover as "SOX". I must have a different image in my mind of the dog. The story flows smoothly and the characters are interesting and likeable. I have loved all the books that I have read so far by Bette Lee Crosby, she is a wonderful storyteller. This story is about what happens after the father of the family dies suddenly. No ones life goes as they have planned. One daughter, Meghan was about to go off to college, this was a dream come true. Tracy is the other sister who really doesn't have any plans. She is very rebellious and doesn't have a care in the world. Tracy's life is turned upside down when the man she was with isn't who she thought he was. He doesn't care much for their son, Lucas. This book has me wondering if some outside force is involved in our lives. Was it the father who passed? Things started to change when Meghan rescued sox. Lots of things to think about. Loved Lucas! so precious.

This book talks about some very important issues like the loss of a spouse/parent, a child born with a disability, domestic abuse, and being true to your own talents.

The Briggs Family. Meghan Briggs had her heart set on being a Journalists but, the untimely death of her father happened. Her dad had an at risk business and Meghan didn't want to see the business be lost/closed. Meghan decided to save the business Snip N' Save and she put her career on hold. Then you have Tracy Briggs who was the rebellious one. She was dating a guy named Dominic and decides to move to Philadelphia with him and one day she calls her sister announces she's pregnant. Then one day she shows up at her mother's house with her baby and says that she left Dominic. Things get to be a bit much for Meghan and she goes for a walk to her special place where she ends up saving a dog that was drowning during a storm. Lucas and the puppy Sox [that is what Meghan decided to name him] become quick friends. One day when Meghan, Tracy and Lucas were at McDonald's Meghan realized that Lucas might be deaf. Dominic tries to make life for Tracy and Lucas' as difficult as he possibly can. They get Lucas tested and find that he is deaf and are told of a surgery that could help Lucas and end up talking to a friend they went to school with who has a school to help children to talk that had the surgery. In the mean time Meghan decides to get Sox checked for a chip [which would help locate the owner of a lost dog] but, Sox didn't have one. Meghan really likes the new vet. If you want to know how this books turns out, you truly need to read it!! I truly loved this book.

I would like to say thank you to Bette Lee Crosby and to Lake Union for allowing me to get an advance copy of this awesome book to read!! #TheSummerOfNewBeginnings #NetGalley

The Summer of New Beginnings is the best book I've read in ages! Not a typical romance or mystery, this story is about a family and how they deal with the loss of their husband/father, career choices and raising a child who has hearing loss..
Meghan always wanted to be a journalist, and is about to start college to begin a career when her father suddenly dies. Her father had a business called Snip "N' Save. When he passes away, she puts off college to keep his businesss running. Her sister Tracy is more of a free spirit. She doesn't really have any goals except to marry her boyfriend Dominic.
Tracy & Dominic decide to move away, later discovering she is pregnant.
bIn the meantime Meghan saves a dog one day in a lake during a storm. When no owner comes forward, she goes to the loval vet to have him checked out & immediately is smitten with the new vet.
As the story continues, Lila is dealing with the loss of her husband and concern for her daughters.
Meghan struggles with continuing her dad's business while giving up her dream of becoming a journalist. She also has her new dog Sox to comfort her and the new vet, Tom, holds her interest also.
Bette Lee Crosby weaves a story filled with the love and concerns we have for family members, our pets, our choices we make and our relationships.. The characters are so realistic, they remind you of people you've known. The situations they find themselves in are normal everyday occurrences, yet they hold your interest because you become to care for the people and want things to work out for everyone.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a good story about family relationships and decisions we all have made in our own lives.

I really enjoyed the book. Bette is a wonderful storyteller. Loved the characters and the addition of the dog in the story. Great education about hearing therapy.

I want to thank Bette and the BFF Clubhouse for the opportunity to read this fantastic book! It's another great story by a truly gifted storyteller and author, Bette Lee Crosby. She has a beautiful gift of putting words on pages that bring them to life and make you feel the emotions of the characters. The book started out so sad and heartbreaking. It broke my heart. But true to the way Bette writes, she brought the story around to how things that happen can bring good things. One of the quotes I liked is this one, "Fate isn't controlled by wishes. It just is what it is, and it happens whether you want it to or not." I really liked the way Sox, the dog, was in the story. I am a huge dog lover and her way of weaving him into the book is exactly how I feel about my dogs. It made me feel so good that Sox "picked" his person and he was so vital in the story. The other quote that stood out to me was this one, "That's what love is-wanting something good for some body more than what you want for yourself." I so enjoy Bette's books because she has such great wisdom and life lessons in them. I truly loved this book and highly recommend it.

I had the pleasure of being asked to read an ARC of The Summer of New Beginnings by Bette Lee Crosby in exchange for an honest review. I’d like to thank both Lake Union Publishing and author, Bette Lee Crosby for this. Just like every other book that I’ve read by this author, I found this to be a very enjoyable read. Bette has a magical way with words that somehow make you feel a real connection to the characters. This is a story about a family and the love that they have for each other. It depicts how they stick together in good times and in bad after the sudden death of their father who was the true patriarch of the family. What I really liked was that there was an essence of the father’s spirit who seemed to be looking out for his family from beyond. I like to believe that such things are truly possible. I found that this book leaves you feeling very optimistic about life. It’s a heartwarming, uplifting story that I would recommend to other readers who enjoy women’s fiction.

I really enjoyed The Summer of New Beginnings. I thought the characters were interesting and realistic. I really liked that the idea of sometimes what you think you want may not be what you thought they were. I hope there will be more Magnolia Grove books.

I really enjoyed this book - especially Meghan Briggs, the youngest daughter of George and Lila Briggs. She seemed mature beyond her years - while her older sister, Tracy, ran off with her boyfriend, she gave up her dream of attending college to run her father's business, the Snip 'N Save. When her sister returned home with a baby who displayed some evidence of having challenges with learning, it was Meghan who advocated to bring him to a doctor and, when she suspected what was wrong, researched what could be done to help him (which, in the process, introduced Tracy to Gabriel which will hopefully be another story!). The author did a great job with character development as well as with the story line - the Briggs women really came together to triumph over adversity.

Bette Lee Crosby once again shows what well-written women's literature is all about. A story about life...and how it can throw a curveball that changes the direction of family futures. The strength of three women, mom Lila and her daughter's Meghan and Tracy, in dealing with their challenges was a good focus point of this book. But we can't forget the father, who although is no longer living, is still a vital influencer in the family in many ways. A quote attributed to him was so good...and insightful for the characters. "There are very absolute things in this world. The years between birth and death are filled with possibility and probability. What you make of those years is up to you." I also appreciated the thoughtful and informational way the topic of hearing impairment was brought into the story and dealt with. Another aspect I appreciated was the "journal entry" pages for each character with their thoughts of current situations...especially since a big part of Meghan's story was about journal entries. I received an ARC copy of this book but the opinions are my own.

First, I want to say thank you to Bette Lee Crosby and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book. Full disclosure - Bette is a good friend and I have read and reviewed most if not all of her novels. There has not been one that I did not love.

All that being said, The Summer of New Beginnings is another beautifully written novel crafted by this amazing author. Bette has continued to write in the Southern tradition of her previous books, but has added a more dynamic plot line with a few more twists to it. Her characters seem to come alive in the pages and the dog, I love dogs, reminds me of my own best friend! I’m a sucker for books with dogs in them!

Other reviewers will go further into the plot. I simply want to say that this is an amazingly readable book. It’s perfect for reading in front of the fire with the snow falling or on a beach drinking an iced tea! I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a great, well developed story with characters you will want to know. I’m looking forward to more in this new series.

This is a heartwarming story of love and loss for Meghan Briggs and her mother and sister. The loss of her father hits them all very hard as they try to put their lives back together. When her sister Tracy returns home alone with her new baby they must get past their differences to help her with Lucas.
Faith and a twist of fate brings the family together and has you believing that anything is possible.

"They say that after a person goes to his maker, a part of them stays behind with those they've loved."
This is the thesis of this wonderful heartwarming story.
A family who each has to find their own vocations in life, as they move forward after the sudden loss of the patriarch in the household. A man who had the answers to most questions and yet was gentle and kind in his ways.;whose favorite words were "Possibly" and "Probably".
This book will touch your heart and soul!
It gave me renewed faith to believe that things do happen for a reason and our loved ones do watch over us.
I enjoyed the writing, the family, and most especially Sox, who is more than a dog!
PS- You will possibly or probably need tissues while reading at times!
Thank you to Bette Lee Crosby and to Lake Union for allowing me to read this terrific novel!

I received an ARC of this book. I have read other books by Bette Lee Crosby and enjoyed every one very much. I believe this is her best one yet! It is a story of family, love and survival. Once I started it I couldn't put it down. The characters are so well-developed that I felt I knew them personally. The story touched my heart I felt the love, joy, fears and sadness right along with the characters. I didn't want the book to end, it was like saying goodbye to family. For me, that is what makes a good book a great one!

I love the way Bette Lee Crosby writes ! The reader is woven into the story, I feel like I'm at the dining room table with the family, or curled up on the couch with the sisters. This book is about family, the good times and the bad and getting through it together! If you are already a fan, you will love this book and if you haven t read a book by this author, this is a good place to start as this is the beginning of a new series!
I cannot wait for the next book!!

This book is so well-written and engaging I literally did not move from my chair until I finished it. From the moment George Briggs unexpectedly dies, it is clear the impact his absence will have on a family for which he was so present. Daughter Meghan immediately shoulders the responsibility of guiding the family forward by maintaining the business her father started in order to spend more time with his wife and daughters. Setting her dream aside for her family, Meghan still understands the pull of her sister's desire to strike out on her own. Even though Tracy's choice of men is not the best, Meghan helps their mother accept that she must let her go in order to hold onto her. Lila comes to appreciate Meghan's wisdom when Tracy returns home months later with a baby in tow and the boyfriend left behind. With George guiding them from above and within, the three women learn to help build each other up and reach for the future they deserve. Crosby has a real talent for smoothly telling a story of dreams and disappointments intertwining over time. While hope and happiness prevail, it is because Crosby has realistically shown that, like many of us, Meghan and Tracy chose to look beyond themselves to build a life of contentment.