I received a complimentary copy of Hello, Summer from NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

This was a really cute book! I loved all of the varied characters and their contributions to the plot. This novel seemed to be one of redemption for a good many of those characters. (Sorry, I can't name them all without spoilers.) I especially enjoyed the ancient gossip columnist--a well crafted old biddy!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Mary Kay Andrews’s background in print journalism shines through in Hello, Summer. One of her best written books.

Sarah Conley Hawkins left small town Florida life behind to follow her dreams of journalistic greatness. She left behind a sister, grandmother, a childhood crush, and haunting memories. At her going away party she finds out that the company she was relocating for just lost their funding, so she is forced to go home to hide out until she can land another position. Enter small town politics. A long time US Representative dies in a car crash that Conley is the first on the scene to witness. All things are not as they seem and she begins to slowly uncover the truth along with facing her past.

There is family drama, small town drama, and local politics drama, all with richly drawn characters you quickly become invested in through Andrews’s signature style. Each character, whether major or minor, has a complete backstory with complex details that draw you in.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC

A fun summer story, set again in a beautiful locale! It got a bit long for my tastes and covered too many topics in my opinion. The characters were likable and the plot well written. Overall, another fun one from MKA that made for a nice escape!

So excited when I received an arc of Mary Kay Andrews latest novel. Her books never disappoint and are always such a fun great read. This book has humor and great plot lines that keep it moving quickly. Never miss a Mary Kay Andrews book!
Thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Mary Kay Andrews has delivered another great novel with well-rounded characters and a compelling story line. Conley, a reporter in Atlanta, has accepted a new job. Just as she is about to start, there is suddenly no new job. She decides to return home to Silver Bay, FL, where her family has published a small paper, The Beacon, for years. While sending out resumes, her grandmother asks her to write for The Beacon; when she comes across a story of a beloved local politician's shady past, she has some decisions to make, while reconnecting with an old crush complicates her career plans. Hello Summer's combination of romance, mystery, and the beach were a winning combination for me! Thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was fortunate enough to be chosen for an advance copy of this book (in exchange for an honest review, of course).

Loved this book! So fun and funny with a great mystery and non-stop pacing. Andrews never disappoints!

This took me a solid 3 days to get through. I love Mary Kay Andrews and this book is as delightful as most of her other work, but this is a whopping 558 pages, and a chunk of it is repetitive with the fake newspaper articles included in the book recapping the action.....the story is GREAT, the characters are FUN and hilarious, traditional MKA....it just needed some editing and trimming down...it went on a bit too long,. I loved Rowena, she was a hoot, probably one of my fave characters that MKA has ever crafted! And the ending was really good. This book was a wonderful start to summer! Thanks to the publisher for the advanced copy!

Not my favorite by Andrews but still a pleasurable escape.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49929406

I love a good Mary Kay Andrews book. I've read them all. Most Andrews' books are about strong women, deep family ties, and overcoming a life-changing event. Usually, these books are great for a vacation beach read. Hello, Summer ticks all those boxes except one. Don't save this book for a beach trip unless you are going on the day it is released. I honestly don't know how to describe Hello, Summer other than to say it is an unexpected turn for Andrews. She touches on politics, Alzheimer's, cancer, all the while keeping the story funny and light-hearted. And the title has nothing to do with summer, by the way. Having grown up in a small town in the south, I recognized so many characters. What town didn't have the local gossip...er um...I mean reporter? My hometown paper always had columns about out of town visitors, hospital stays and new baby arrivals. And everyone read those snippets of local happenings. Hello, Summer wraps up small-town gossip and family strife into a book that is hard to put down. Current events are woven into the story with media intrusion and crooked politicians. I absolutely loved Hello, Summer!! Read it now or read it at the beach. Just make sure you read it! I voluntarily received a copy of this book from NetGalley.

I have to admit that Mary Kay Andrews is one of my guilty pleasures. She never disappoints. Always a fun and entertaining read. If I’m in a book slump, she always draws me out. And, you have to love an author who can fit in the word “besmirching”!

A bit of mystery, a bit of scandal, a bit of small town gossip, a bit of subtle humor and lots of small town drama. Of course, the characters are perfect for a small town in the south. Nothing else is necessary.

A great book to brighten up a day! (or your week, or your month!)

(Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for an advance copy on exchange for a review)

Sarah Conley Hawkins was a highly successful reporter for a big newspaper in Atlanta. She decides to change jobs and then suddenly that job doesn’t work out. Conley retreats to her grandmother's home in Florida to figure out what she will do with her life now. Soon after returning home, she witnesses a strange car accident that takes the life of a Florida congressman. She decides to begin investigative reporting for the local family newspaper and finds a murky past in the life of the dead congressman. This ignites her to dig deeper into this dangerous story to find out the real truth. A great story and engaging characters make this a great book to put at the top of your summer reading lists!

A more lighthearted read with a mystery undertone. It took me a little while to get into the story, but I was interested in the characters' lives enough to keep going.

Great book. Loved the characters. Loved the balance between mystery, love story, and Women’s fiction. This will make a terrific summer read!

4.5 stars Conley Hawkins left her home town and the family newspaper to work for a bigger publication. On the eve of her getting another new job in Atlanta that paper shuts down and she finds herself with nowhere to go and no job so she heads home to Silver Bay Florida. While she says she's just staying until she finds a new job, she finds herself unhappily working for the family’s newspaper the Beacon which is failing.
She is in a bar one night with an old friend when upon leaving, they witness a car going up in flames. While trying to find out what happened, the reporter in her makes discoveries and a small town is about to be ripped apart because of it.
A little mystery, a little romance, a totally fun read.

I was so excited to receive my first ARC from NetGalley and have it be the newest one from one of my favorite authors, Mary Kay Andrews! Mary Kay is known best for her fun, breezy, "beach" reads and Hello, Summer is all of those things.
Conley Hawkins is a smart, talented investigative journalist who due to extenuating circumstances is forced to move back to her little hometown on the Gulf coast of the Florida panhandle.and work at her family's weekly newspaper. During her first night back, a local, prominent political figure dies and she happens to be first on the scene which wraps her in a story she never saw coming.
I read this fast-paced book in just over a day. It was one of those I just couldn't put down. It was so compelling and there were just enough twists and turns to keep things very interesting and my mind furiously churning trying to figure out the next big thing!
I gave this fun book 4 stars, but if I could, I would have given it a 3.5. Because while I adored this book, I was still left wanting a bit more at the end - more of the main character and her back story with her parents, more of her relationship with Sean (her childhood best friend) and so on. I would definitely want to read another Conley story and have all my questions and "more" answered!

Really enjoyable book. The characters were alive and the situations real. Newspaper business as it fights to stay relevant makes for a good story by itself. Here, while staying relevant, they find a doozy to report. Epilogue ties up questions nicely.

How can anyone pass up a Mary Kay Andrews book. Told in the style we have come to know and live by this author .. Hello, Summer is a book not to be missed

Hello, Summer follows reporter Conley Hawkins. Conley is an Atlanta journalist who is about to embark on a new adventure as a reporter in Washington DC. She is surprised when her new falls through and finds herself back in her hometown, a small Florida town. She reluctantly agrees to work for her sister's small newspaper, while still trying to find her own job elsewhere. She is quickly drawn into investigating a crash involving a local congressman who had many hidden secrets. The story is fast paced and keeps your attention, as you want to find out what they will uncover next.

Sometimes a book surprises me, this one certainly did. It is just delightful and chock full of several elements that kept me turning pages. Conley returns to her quiet hometown in the Florida panhandle when her trajectory as a reporter is ended when a job offer falls apart.

She goes back to work on her small, family owned newspaper. But, news stories seem to follow her when she uncovers a big scandal. Andrews has combined a many threads to weave a really good novel. A bit of Southern romance, some mystery and a good lesson in family values.

I really enjoyed this and can’t wait to read more Andrews books.

Thank you Netgalley for this charming read.

Y'all, I have been been a fan of Mary Kay Andrews for at least a decade. Each summer, I look forward to her latest release and tell myself I'll read it slowly and really savor it this year. Yet each year, I find myself absolutely devouring it because it is just so good I can't help myself. To say I was thrilled to get an advanced copy from Net Galley would be the understatement of the century. Once again, I found myself staying up too late reading and could not put it down.

Hello, Summer follows journalist Conley Hawkins as she unexpectedly finds herself back in her sleepy hometown. With ghosts from her past haunting her and a very real threat in her present, Conley is struggling with all kinds of family drama when she stumbles onto what could be the biggest story of her career. With a stalled career in a dying industry, Conley finds herself applying her big city journalism skills to crack this small town mystery with big picture ramifications.

This cast of characters may be my favorite yet. Conley is fierce and smart, but lacks the tact to deal with family drama. Her sister Grayson (who I am so hoping will get her own novella!) has shouldered the burden of caring for their aging grandmother and running the family weekly newspaper business, while their feisty grandmother Lorraine and her long term helper have their own issues to reckon with. Add in a DJ with a mysterious past of his own, a dead politician and his ensuing family drama and Conley suddenly has her hands full of small town drama.

While Andrews always provides a fun beach read with a colorful cast of memorable characters in a gorgeously described setting, her books also contain a little something extra. Sometimes the messaging is about personal growth or handling adversity, but there's always a deeper message. This one adds in some timely messaging on the power of journalism and how we, as a society, need to support small town journalism as much as we do the big city papers.

I adored every word of this book. The mystery is well laid out, the pace is excellent, and the characters make even mundane activities, like grabbing a quick lunch, witty and full of banter. The setting is gorgeous and well described, with the beach, the town, and the rural areas all so vividly described I had to Google to find out if I could visit these charming places. The characters are all so interesting I find myself hoping for a series of novellas to find out more about their pasts and their futures.

Hello, Summer will be available on May 5, 2020, and is available for preorder from your favorite bookseller.