Montauk is the debut novel of Nicola Harrison. For me Montauk started rather slow, but by 20% into the story I was "into" our heroine, Beatrice. Ms Harrison gives us the story of Beatrice and Montauk in 1938 and shows us how some of the rich lived in those times. Fair warning, there may be a few tears along the way. I was given an early copy to review.

I enjoyed the book. The characters were relatable and believable, and the plot was interesting from start to finish.

I think Montauk will be the perfect beach read this summer. It is an engaging, easy to read, fun novel. The author does a great job of giving the reader a good sense of the time and place in which this story is set (Montauk in 1938). I loved the main characters and related to Bea in the way she related to the locals versus the snobby summer vacationers with bad manners. I don’t read many romance type novels, but I really enjoyed this story. I believe I saw a comment from someone else that the story had a bit of a Downton Abbey feel and I agree. I was captured from page one and finished this book in a couple of days. Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!

I started reading this story of the elite New York City citizens summering in Montauk in 1938 and was hooked. I didn’t want to put down this tale of Bea Bordeaux who is staying at Montauk Manor for the summer. She is a bit of a fish out of water, hoping to rekindle her relationship with her husband, assisting him with his business ventures by befriending the “right” people. Bea finds herself drawn to the locals who support the resort and questioning the morals of the high society she has married into.

If I could give 4.5 stars I would. I gave the full five because the descriptions of high society summer living were so interesting as was the historical setting. I hated to stop reading it to do chores. It will be an awesome summer vacation read. I can’t wait for my friends to read it.

Loved this book. I loved how the author weaves the story and characters together and loved learning more of the history of this area of the ultra rich

Totally engrossing read. Really draws you in both to the characters and the place. Highly recommend.

Oh Montauk! A beautiful place, which I visit frequently, so, on a personal level, I loved reading about Montauk of the 1930's, peppered with many facts of its history and culture. This book will make a great summer read, full of gossip, sunshine and love affairs. I really enjoyed it and found it very hard to put down. Thank you NetGalley for the early reader edition, all opinions are my own.

Montauk tells the story of a summer resort in the late 1930s, and although it is set a decade after The Great Gatsby I thought it had a similar feel.

Beatrice is the young wife of a wealthy businessman and banker who is summering in Montauk for the first time. The novel is full of parties, gossip about the lives of the rich, happy and unhappy marriages and friendships. It also explores some social issues through the contrast between rich and poor, women’s increasing freedom, anti-semitism and the early rumblings of war in Europe.

Montauk is not always an enjoyable read because some of the characters are very unpleasant, but the writing really captured the setting and the characters, and I was interested right to the end.

I honestly cannot say that I was completely drawn into Montauk in the beginning but as the story progressed, I found myself more vested in the lives portrayed and in the outcomes of their interactions.

Loved this epic page-turner about the elite Manhattan crowd of the late 1930s and their early summers at the tip of Long Island, on newly developed Montauk. Beautifully written and well researched, the historical backdrop of how Montauk was transformed from a small fishing village to a summer playground for the rich gives this novel a true cinematic quality. Readers are quickly drawn into this world with all of it's evident beauty and contrasting hypocrisy that lies just below the surface. Beatrice Bordeaux, a converted-by-marriage New York socialite who never quite fits into the society scene, is the central figure in this sweeping story and a character that you cannot help but root for from the very first page. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel from debut author Nicola Harrison. Thanks to Net Galley and St Martin's Press for the ARC - I have no doubt this will be one of the great beach reads for summer 2019!

Woah, what a read! Life in the higher echelons of 1930s American society- ladies who lunch, the movers of Manhattan. The descriptions of the lives these women led were eye opening, the pursuit of prestige, the need to support your husband’s career, the lack of choice the women really had. Beatrice, not long married, travels reluctantly to Montauk for the summer so that she can support her husband’s business ventures. Harry, her husband, is keen to persue his own affairs in the city, and Bea spends each week day looking for something to fulfil her. Fans of Beatriz Williams will enjoy this, as well as anyone interested in this period and the social history of the era.

A lovely and well written first novel about a difficult to find, history, of Montauk. One does not often comtemplate the history of this tiny village, found at the tip of Long Island, N.Y. The setting just before World War II reminds one that life was still quite different for residents residing there and the wealthy summer visitors.

The lighthouse keeper and his meeting with one of these summer visitors is the setting for a romance that brings peril to many entwined in the lives surrounding this endearing couple.

Nicola Harrison's Montauk is the epitome of good women's fiction. Add well researched history, lovely realistic, but lyrical writing and a protag who grows on the pages to become a woman to be reckoned with and you have a keeper. Loved it!

This book is bound to be a hit during the summer of 2019. While some of the story was a little slow to me I have to admit that I was entranced in the story. I look forward to seeing what else the author has to offer in the future.

Full review to come closer to release.

Anyone who has been to Montauk will enjoy this beach read. The story takes place in 1938 when Montauk was not 'the place to be' yet, but, just a sleepy fishing village. A group of investors from Manhattan thought it would be a great summer place for their wealthy society wives while they worked in the city weekdays and joined them on the weekends. I especially liked the fact they dined at Duryea's, we did too when vacationing there a few years ago. I also liked the added history of the 1938 September hurricane. #montauk #netgalley

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of Prosper Redding: The Last Life of Prince Alastor. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Holy smokes! This book was not what I expected at all--it was SO MUCH MORE! As cliche as it is, I could not put this book down. I needed to know if Beatrice would find happiness. I was really rooting for the her to get a break and have it all... I felt all of her pain, humiliation, fear, love, and loss. (Her husband, Harry, was not "worth the skin he was in"! I truly loved to hate him!) Oh what a few tumultuous days I had--with such a contrast between the severely sweet highs and the devastating lows! There were some very unexpected turns which I refuse to spoil, but I must say that I wish some things had gone differently for her. (For this reason alone, I had to rate only 4 stars.) At the same time, I will happily read this author again.

Thank you to NetGalley and Nicola Harrison for the ARC!

I typically don't read historical fiction, but I grew up on eastern Long Island and have spent quite a bit of time in Montauk. So how could I possibly refuse the opportunity to see what Montauk was like in 1938(I couldn't)? It was the beginning of the end of a quiet fishing town when wealthy NYC residents began arriving in droves for the summer.
Beatrice and Harry have been married for 5 years and have grown apart. The thought of spending the summer away from the city, gives Beatrice hope that she and Harry can reconnect. What she hadn't fully considered were the long lonely weekdays when Harry went back to work and she was left to make friends with the other wives. Many of these women are already mothers and Beatrice has very little in common with these society wives. Beatrice grew up in rural Pennsylvania far from the glitz and glamour of NYC and is more comfortable with those who work at the Manor. Will this summer in Montauk be good for Beatrice and Harry or will it tear them apart?
The author did a wonderful job describing not only Montauk but also what it was like to summer with high society. So many rules, so much extravagance, and so little actual love between so many of these characters. No spoilers here, but I will say I was hoping that Beatrice would find some way to belong.
The pace is slow, like a lazy summer day, but not at all boring. It is a look at a simpler time and place and the fact that I read this in front of a fire on a cold fall day, made me long for summer in Montauk. I have read so many wonderful debut novels in 2018 and Montauk is another one to add to that list.
I received a DRC from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley.

Unfortunately, this book never quite took off for me. I read about 40% before abandoning ship. There was a good deal of set up, and it’s just too slow to get to action for me.

Montauk is an amazing debut novel written by Nicola Harrison. The story opens at the beginning of summer in 1938. The well to do families are arriving at the Montauk Manor. This is the place to be seen and to see others who occupy the top echelon of New York's social and economic status. The husbands will stay the weekend and return to work during the week. This is their schedule for the rest of the summer. What follows shows the dichotomy between the rich and those who work to provide their comfort. Beatrice hopes to rekindle the desire she and her husband of 5 years shared earlier in the marriage. Harry seems more uninterested everyday and refuses to talk about whatever's happening. Beatrice doesn't know that the rich lead very different lives than the middle class family she came from.

The characters are well crafted and believable. The rich versus poor theme is skillfully brought to life when Beatrice tries to befriend Elizabeth who does everyone's laundry. Elizabeth is worried about losing her job if anyone sees them together and pleads with Beatrice to understand she is capable of doing the laundry on her own.. There are so many rich moments that show the difference between the haves and have nots that I could go on describing them but it's much better that you discover them for yourself. I think this book is good enough to be on next year's best seller list.


I received an Advanced Reader's Copy from St Martin's Press through NetGalley. The opinions expressed are completely my own.
#Montauk #NetGalley

Montauk, Long Island in the year 1938 is where anyone who is anyone will be summering. Away from the heat of the city. Fresh ocean breezes and a small fishing village and even a lighthouse.

Beatrice Bordeaux is a young woman from the countryside of Pennsylvania. 
Swept off of her feet by the charming Harry, they have been married five years and yet still have no children. 
The elite of society corral their nannies and children and head to the Manor for the summer. Beatrice thinks she may like being by the ocean all summer until her charming husband tells her he isn't staying. He will be coming on the week ends, which gradually just stop after she catches him cheating. 

While it looks as though the Junior League has just moved locations, with meetings and fund-raisers and a whole lot of back stabbing, cheating, drinking and behaving badly. Bea befriends Elizabeth, who lives in town and does laundry for the Manor. And through Elizabeth she meets a man unlike any she has ever met and before long things are getting pretty serious.

Beatrice is noticing the behavior of the city dwellers with their noses in the air and is not happy with it. As her love for her lighthouse keeper grows so does her guilt. But I did not expect that ending!

I did get upset with Beatrice a few times. But then I thought, it is 1938, and divorce wasn't looked on as well as just putting on a brave face and having affairs of one's own. At the beginning her timidness irritated me. Until she found a way to address the situation in Montauk and what was really going on there. At the end she was a strong and independent woman.

Well Done!

Netgalley/June 4th 2019 by St. Martin's Press