The High Tide Club by Mary Kay Andrews is a 2018 St. Martin’s Press publication.

A Southern style beach read-

When ninety-nine- year old Josephine Bettendorf Warrick commissions Brooke Trappnell to gather her old friends from the ‘High Tide Club’ together before she passes away, Brooke is taken aback by her request. Josephine wants to make amends with her old friends and intends to bequeath them her estate on Talisa Island. Brooke is stunned to discover her own grandmother had once been a charter member of Josephine’s club, which could also present a conflict of interest on her part. However, she immediately begins to search for the ladies who will inherit the island, bringing together an eclectic group of women all harboring an explosive secret.

Meanwhile, Brooke asks an old colleague to help with the Josephine’s estate, bringing up a few unrequited feelings, while she also struggles to raise her three- year old son on her own.

Once all the ladies are gathered on the island, mostly descendants of the original High Tide Club, Josephine loosens up enough to begin weaving tale of intrigue and mystery directly involving Brooke’s grandmother.

The revelations continue to pile up, one on top of another as more people come forward claiming to be relatives of Josephine, all wanting a piece of the pie. Is it possible for Brooke to determine who the rightful heirs are? Could a long- ago mystery have any bearing on the case?

Believe it or not, this is my first Mary Kay Andrews novel. I’ve been dying to sample her work for a long time and am so glad I finally took the plunge. I see why this author is so popular and will certainly be adding more of her books to my TBR pile.

I love southern fiction and beach reads and find the two often make a terrific combo. I also love old secrets and mysteries, and especially love it when a group of ladies all work in tandem to get something accomplished.

There is a large cast of characters, which usually causes problems for me, but I didn’t have a bit of trouble keeping up with who was who, and never got confused at any time along the way. The pacing is just a tiny bit slow at times, but I never got bored or tempted to skip ahead. There are some reveals I saw coming, while others completely blindsided me.

While the mystery is quite compelling, it is the friendship and bonding of strong female characters, some quirky, some hard to like, some difficult to figure out, but all united in a common cause, that is what makes this story special. The last few chapters, which wrapped up some personal issues Brooke was dealing with was a little bit rushed through, but the epilogue was simply outstanding!
This is my last ‘beach read’ of the summer. I don’t think I could have chosen a better story than this one to close out my summer reading season.

4 stars

I loved this book far more than I expected. The cover makes it look like a light fluffy romance. It hides the fact that it is an intriguing mystery and a fascinating family drama.

This lovely story is about an old woman's property (an entire island) and who will inherit it. Mixed in with that modern drama, you get bits and pieces of the lives of the old woman and the girls she grew up with. I am a sucker for stories that take place both in the past and the present, so this book was perfect for me. Loved it. Will definitely re read it. Can hardly wait to get my hands on more of Mary Kay Andrews books.

Josephine Bettendorf Warrick is a ninety-nine year old recluse who lives on Talisa Island in Georgia. She contacts Brooke Trappnell a local attorney of St. Ann to come do some legal work for her. Brooke is raising her three year old son, Henry alone so not always easy to get to the island. Josephine is dying of cancer and wants the heirs of her best friends to come to the island. Among those friends was Brooke's grandmother, Millie. The story of what happened to the four young ladies back in 1941 is interesting and life changing for most of them. There is a true mystery here that needs to be solved by the heirs. Can they figure it all out? The story takes many twists and really holds your interest.

A great story of friendship throughout the years. I enjoyed how this book told us the story from the perspective of the younger girls plus their grandmothers back in the 1940’s. It was a great quick read!

4.5

In 1941, four young girls form a very strong friendship. When something tragic occurs, they promise to never tell anyone. Fast forward to present day. One of the women, Josephine, is ailing. She has lost touch with two of her friends and has minimal contact with the fourth. She hires Brooke Trappnell, a lawyer, to track down the two women she has not seen for many years. She also wants Brooke's help with some other legal matters. Brooke has her own issues to deal with.

This was a delightful story. Told in alternating chapters, we slowly learn about what happened back in 1941 and how it impacted the women in current day. I loved the characters this author created. They are determined, funny and end up forming a strong friendship themselves. There were some interesting developments throughout the whole story. I've not read this author before, but I will now!


I received this book from St. Martin's Press via Netgalley.

This book seemed to take me forever to read. I liked the story and the characters, but I felt it was all over the place and too long.

I read this book as an ARC, thank you Netgalley, Mary Kay Andrews, and publisher St. Martins Press.
I had originally started this book and posted I was not giving feedback on it. But it became our book club selection and so I started it again. To my surprise, I ended up really liking it ! There were so many characters, and storylines, I found myself not being able to put it down as I wanted to see what happened with all the dynamics and back and forth of eras. I shall read another book by this author, as others have given me a few they really liked.. so I guess “never say never” .

Lawyer and single mother Brooke Trappnell has left her well-off life in the city to start over with her son in a coastal Georgia town. She is just trying to get by at this point when she receives a mysterious phone call from an elderly woman named Josephine. But this isn't any old lady. She is a millionaire! Why is she calling Brooke? Well, Josephine wants Brooke to meet her on Talisa Island to talk about how Brooke, as a lawyer, can help Josephine. The more she learns about Josephine, the more complex and complicated things become. For starters, Josephine wants Brooke to help her make sure that her house doesn't get torn down and turned into some ridiculous conference center. She also wants to make sure that her money, (and the island!), get left to her three best friends, Millie Ruth and Varina. She calls them members of the High Tide Club. But there's a problem. Josephine hasn't talked to them in ages; in fact, they are estranged. Josephine, at this point in her life, wants to make things right, but she needs Brooke to help her get the women to Talisa Island. Plus, there's secrets that Josephine is hiding and lots of them!

Josephine is a complex woman in The High Tide Club. Of course I didn't enjoy her character at first; she's really rather crotchety, but once Andrews explained more about her background and we flashback to Josephine as a younger woman, I really started to enjoy her more. Through the flashbacks, we get to see Josephine and the High Tide Club girls as young ladies enjoying life. I truly loved these flashbacks; they were, for me, the best parts of the book along with the coastal setting of Talisa Island.

But The High Tide Club is so much more than your regular beach read. There's secrets, romance, and......a murder mystery. I have to say a few events in the novel took me by surprise. Andrews does a good job with some plot twists! Also, I loved the setting of Talisa Island. Andrews made me feel like I was down South, on the beach with a good drink and contemplating skinny dipping with the High Tide Club gals. The parties, the beautiful homes, the private beaches and star filled skies were all so vivid and memorable.

I ended up giving The High Tide Club 3.5 stars instead of 4 due to some slow parts as well as the character of Brooke. While I liked her, her romance in the story left me feeling a bit flat and I didn't feel as drawn to her character as much as the other aspects of the story, such as Josephine's secret.

Nonetheless, if you like your beach reads with not just romance and a gorgeous Southern setting, but also historical details and a side of intrigue, then check out The High Tide Club before the summer is over.

The High Tide Club by Mary Kay Andrews was a bit of a shock to me. Shock is probably a bit much, but it was not what I was expecting and I am not saying that in a bad way. I have always put MKA books in the chicklit/contemporary genre, I would put this one in mystery/contemporary. It is not all light and fluffy, but the cover and title do not reflect this. So, I do think those are a bit misleading. The story is solid, but did take me a little bit of time to become fully immersed. Once I did, I thoroughly enjoyed it and savored my reading time.

I fell in love with all of the characters. This is a story of friendships spanning 90+ years. the secrets they kept, and the love they passed down through generations. These women met adversity head on and became stronger for it. The twists and turns kept me reading. I honestly didn't want this story to end.

The High Tide Club by Mary Kay Andrews is the perfect summer beach read. It is based a the sea, which is fun. But it is full of friendships that span years and buried secrets that come to light many years later. Ms Andrews wrote really interesting characters whose actions will keep you reading late at night. This is a book with great depth of emotion and some surprises, too. I highly recommend it! I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher. These opinions are entirely my own.

Brooke Trappnell is a single mother struggling to make ends meet in southern Georgia. As the newest lawyer in the small town, Brooke is forced to take all of the odds and ends cases in order to make ends meet. And even then, getting her clients to pay her requires a toughness that she just doesn't have. She is surprised to receive a call from a wealthy, eccentric ninety-nine-year-old Josephine Bettendorf Warrick. Josephine's days are coming to an end and she wants to make amends with her childhood friends. Friends that were part of the "High Tide Club." Except most of them have already passed, leaving behind heirs that Josephine would like to see instead. Josephine wants Brooke to track them down and she is shocked to discover that her grandmother, Millie, was a member of the High Tide Club. To avoid a conflict of interest, Brooke calls on an old friend for help. But there are other secrets that Josephine was keeping. And when she suddenly dies, those secrets go to the grave with her. Brooke and her new friends are left to seek out those secrets and discover some truths about themselves along the way.

It just isn't "Beach Read" season without Mary Kay Andrews. This year's installment takes us to an island off of the Georgia coast. The element of mystery was somewhat new for Mary Kay's summer books, but it really made things fun. You know how I love a good mystery. Brooke Trappnell is a character that is to be admired. She has made a lot of tough choices in her life, like leaving her fiance at the altar, leaving Savannah, and raising a child by herself. The thought of having a wealthy client was too good for Brook to pass up, but she is willing to make tough choices to avoid the conflict of interest. Brooke's old friend, Gabe, seemed like a good guy, but I kept getting a sleazeball vibe from him. After Josephine's death, there were a lot of twists and turns, but I really enjoyed watching how Brooke became friends with Lizzie and Felicia. Brooke needed some girlfriends in her life and Josephine delivered. In the end, the twists and turns are revealed and none of it was really a surprise, but the end was perfect. - CLICK HERE FOR SPOILERS

Bottom Line - While The High Tide Club was not my favorite MKA book, it was certainly one that is not to be missed.

Details:



The High Tide Club by Mary Kay Andrews
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Pages: 464
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: 5/8/2018
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It took quite a while to get into this beachy women's fiction/mystery mash up.I felt like the past story in the dual timeline had trouble keeping up with the present. I spent a lot of time wondering what Josephine knew and when she knew it. In her 90's, when the island owning millionaire Josephine Warrick hires lawyer Brooke Trappnell to find her oldest friends to become her heirs, time is of the essence.

Mary Kay Andrews books are often one of my go-to beaches reads for the summer. The cover portrayed it as another great summer read but as I got into the story I realized that it was definitely not one of her normal beachy reads. This story became more of a mystery and I was not invested in it because I was expecting something different.

The High Tide Club is only the second book that I've read so far by Mary Kay Andrews, even though I have almost all of her books on my TBR right now, and I was super excited to read the book! I read The Weekenders last year and really enjoyed that story, so I was curious to see how this was going to compare. I definitely wasn't disappointed!

I went into this book kind of expecting a summer type read, (I'm ALL about the summer books right now), but that's not all that this book was. The High Tide Club is a story about friendship and love, and the secrets that are only shared between the best of friends.

One thing that I really enjoyed about this book was its interesting group of characters. There are so many unique and independent women in this story, and I really enjoyed the bond that was between the older friends and the one formed with the new friends as well. These bonds are the best, and they seriously make the best stories to read.

The storyline for this book was definitely interesting as well. I like that the story is told in alternative time periods, between the past and the present. I think I adored the setting for the book the most. Beaches are my thing, and this was set on a pretty secluded island, which was awesome. As with the previous book I read by Andrews, there was quite a bit of mystery in the story as well, and I enjoyed that. I figured out pretty early on in the book what was going to happen, but there were still a few twists and turns along the way that caught me by surprise. It was definitely an interesting read!

Overall; I really enjoyed The High Tide Club! As I mentioned above, this is only the second book that I've read by Mary Kay Andrews, but it definitely won't be the last. I'm really looking forward to diving into a few of her previous books now, and the first I'm hoping to get to is Ladies' Night, which sounds like a lot of fun! If you like a good beach read, do check out The High Tide Club!

Happy Reading!

I enjoyed reading this book and would definitely recommend it as a summer 2018 read. I felt like I was on vacation while reading it with these interesting characters! At times, the twists kept me reading well past bedtime! I enjoy Mary Kay Andrews' work and look forward to her next book!

The High Tide Club is the perfect blend of summer beach read (that we all expect from MKA), southern fiction and historical fiction which is something new for this author. I loved the friendships with the girls and the memories shared. These friends are more like family and bring all of the trappings of such into this story. Andrews outdid herself this summer and I couldn't be more thankful to have received this ARC from #netgalley #marykayandrews and stmartinspress.

Go read #thehightideclub

Mary Kay Andrews can always be counted on for a fun, summer, beach read. She makes you feel liked out are right there, as one of the girls!

I've read many of the author's books before and although I enjoyed this one I can't say it's a particular favorite. There was almost too much story if that makes sense and with the time jumps that sometimes made it hard to follow. The friendships within the High Tide Club, especially in the past were the best part.

I was given this ARC by the publisher in return for an honest review.
In late spring I was in the mood for contemporary thriller/mystery stories and from the synopsis <i>The High Tide Club</i> seemed to be the right fit to satisfy my reading craving. Sadly, and I know I’m in the minority here, the story did not offer what it promised.
I found all the characters underdeveloped and uninteresting. And the further I read the book the more annoying the protagonist became. I understand that the author intended to create a complex character to carry the story, but at some point the protagonist must become at least slightly relatable to the reader and be able to open up, otherwise the reader will stop caring. In addition, the few characters that seemed highly interesting were kept at arm’s length and taken away as soon as the reader gets excited about the story.
The plot(s) of the story were all over the place and with that the actual genre of the story itself. There were so many elements from different genres mixed together in a careless and haphazard way that I caught myself multiple times wondering more about the nature of the story instead of paying attention to the events described.
The writing, as mentioned above, was all over the place. Not only with respect to the nature and intent of the story as a whole, but also the process of creating the written work appeared unpolished. There were numerous time-jumps that confused me, details didn’t seem to add up properly and I found spelling and grammar mistakes throughout.
Overall, I understand that I received an ARC and that those spelling/grammar mistakes could have been corrected before the final copy went into print; however, I doubt that the story would undergo major revisions in order to rectify the time-jumps and focus more precisely on one genre (mystery, perhaps, as the synopsis greatly hints towards) over the others attempted in the story. I was greatly disappointed in this story and wouldn’t recommend it.