Hello, Summer by Mary Kay Andrews is a fabulous summer read! I do love a Mary Kay Andrews book and was quite pleased when I saw a new one was available, I knew I had to read it. Hello, Summer is the story of an accomplished journalist that ends up back home, living with her grandmother just two doors down from her high school crush and working at her family's podunk town newspaper. Not exactly the step up on the career ladder that Conley envisioned for her life. Even though the cover of the book and that small description would have you believe this is a simple summer read, there is more. There is a mystery involving a pretty well-known politician (made-up, no real politics involved...fortunately!), a radio DJ, and a jilted would-be suitor. Definitely a fun summer read with a bit of a twist thrown in. One of my favorite characters was Rowena, that woman had me laughing with her weekly 'society' column. This book will take you to a Florida panhandle beach, even if you are simply reading it in your own backyard.

Mary Kay Andrews has done it again. ‘Hello, Summer’ is by far one of my favorite MK Andrews book to date. Set along the west coast of Florida, Hello, Summer combines, mystery, romance and family drama in an easy to read ‘throw it in your beach bag’ book. The characters are extremely well defined and the plot will keep you turning the page late into the night. Mary Kay Andrew fans will not be disappointed with Hello, Summer.
Conley Hawkins is a hard hitting journalist, who will ‘leave no stone unturned’ to get to the bottom of the truth. Grayson Hawkins is the aloof older sister and manager editor of the family owned newspaper. Conley reconnects with the handsome boy/man next door, while uncovering the untimely death of the state representative. MK Andrews nicely ties all the loose ends, and intimately brings family and friends together. Definitely a must read for 2020.

I really enjoyed this book! This is the second Mary Kay Andrews book I’ve read from NetGalley and absolutely love her easy fun writing style! It is a book I will be recommending to my friends!

Who did Margie hear arguing before the ambulances showed up to the wreck???? I need to know!! I think there's more to the story. I mean the rest of her book was faultless but this is the detail that I cannot stop thinking about. Not the romance (which was steamy and perfect for her beach read genre) not the 'mystery' itself but this one thing that was left untied. Ugh, This will haunt me.

I just love Mary Kay Andrews' books! Her books and her storytelling is superb! Her books are always "A Must Read."

Review of ‘Hello, Summer’, by Mary Kay Andrews
I really appreciated the clash between the choices that two sisters made—one to prioritise their family’s business, and the other, to prioritise her dreams. I don’t think this is going to necessarily help dealing with siblings, quite honestly, but I do think that it might help with those pesky voices inside our heads that present everything as a dichotomy: either their family business, either their own dreams, for example. I mean sometimes the answer is very difficult to figure out, but there is something to be said about giving things time to develop and emerge, through consultation and action. We tend to forget about that, about giving things time to organically grow through systematic effort, and books like these help me remember that good things come in time. I know that Mary Kay Andrews is a pretty big name, but I haven’t been reading a lot of her; this one does whet my appetite for her other titles though. There is something to be said about an easy read like this one which also manages to dish out some pretty heavy advice. But even if you are not looking for a deep, meaningful read, ‘Hello, Summer’ makes for a fascinating read, with an ending that can be glimpsed pretty early on but still manages to confuse readers enough to keep us going.

So I made some assumptions about this book before reading it. Based off the cover I thought it was gonna be a light and fluffy read with plenty of summer-y things going on. I was also familiar with the book so figured I'd give this book a shot without reading what it was about. As per many cheesy book I read I expected a city girl with an issue going back to her home town to lick her wounds and falling for the hometown boy, you know the type. I got more then I expected and it was defiantly way better then I had planned. I love a good mystery, family drama, and small town gossip and there was plenty going around. I loved seeing how Conley dealt with her situation she was trying to make the best of it and clearly when shes set up for a challenge shes not one to back down and follows though. There was so much going on I just couldn't put the book down. I wish I could say so much more about this book to enjoy that I would just recommend you lovely readers to just check it out for yourself. I really enjoyed it.

Hello, Summer is a book that I never knew I needed to read! I could totally relate to Conley and her work-a-holic tendencies! She’s just a girl trying to find her place back “home” all while following and reporting a huge news story! It’s a book that has excitement, love, mystery, and summer! What ,ore could you ask for?

As much as I wanted to love this book, it just didn’t click super well with me. While I love a good beach setting and an abrupt change in the beginning of most of my favorite books, I just didn’t love Conley, which is most of the narration. I found her to be arrogant, too caught up in her work, and emotionally detached from a lot of things in her life. I found it oddly unrealistic with how quickly she was ready to report after the apparent “worst night of her life”. The traumatic situation in the book was downplayed, and was too strongly surrounded around the need for reporting. I’m not sure if my opinion is unpopular or not, but it didn’t stop me from finishing the book. I think Sean Kelley was the biggest thing keeping me reading, he was a calming character amongst the chaos of the so called reporting world. I would like to read more from Mary Kay Andrews, this one just seemed a little too unrealistic for me.

As an Andrews fan, I was excited to pick this one up for vacation. This was a perfect beach read. Although Andrews characters, plot, and setting are a little predictable, it was just what I wanted and have come to expect from her. Relaxing and entertaining, this was a fun read. The spin of the main character being a print journalist actually taught me alot about the industry and gave a layer of substance to her personality.

MKA never disappoints. A perfect balance of summer/beach, romance, and mystery. Loved every minute of it.

4.5 out of 5. I absolutely loved this one. Mary Kay Andrews is such a fantastic author. This one kinda kept me guessing on what was going on til the end. Perfect summer read with a bit of mystery to it.

Loved this book! It follows reporter Conley Hawkins as she returns to her small town and is set up by her Grandmother to work at the family’s small weekly temporarily with her sister (with whom she doesn’t really get along) who is editor in chief. Right away Conley starts ruffling feathers with the story of a local Congressman eho dies in a mysterious car crash. She also reconnects with her childhood crush who broke her heat and live two doors down from where she grew up.

Family drama ensues and Conley and her sister fight blowback on the stories and find new ways to save to paper. Political shenanigans I. The Congressman's family also tear up as truths come out.

Lots of good twists and turns. I love a good mystery/romance/political drama. Conley is a strong character with being overly abrasive. Other stories are well interwoven. A joy of a book and a great summer read!

Mary Kay Andrews loves writing books about beaches, romance, and mystery, and with “Hello, Summer,” she mixes all of the above into a sweet read about Conley Hawkins, who has left her small town and her family newspaper, the Silver Bay Beacon, to become a star journalist in Atlanta.

But when that new, more prestigious job falls through, after she gave notice and gave up her apartment, she goes home to recoup and think about her future. Living with her grandmother, a quirky character, is lovely. She reconnects with her best friend from childhood, Sean Kelly, and even starts working with her sister at the family paper.

But when she and Sean come across a burning car in the wee hours of the morning, and a US congressman is dead, it all turns into the story of a lifetime. And Conley is at the center of it.

The setting is the Florida panhandle, and Andrews shines at sharing small town Southern values and prejudices. Readers will wonder about what choices Conley will make when faced with staying with family or leaving to make her way solo into the world again. The well-drawn characters, the intricate plot, and the charming setting all make this a lovely beach read.

"You stay around slime long enough, it doesn’t wash off. Pretty soon, you’re doing slimy stuff too."
-Hello Summer 🌟- Not my thing (Will not bring it up unless forced)
🌟🌟- Meh (Brings it up in conversation if asked)
🌟🌟🌟- Cool Beans (Slightly refers to what I'm reading in a converstion)
🌟🌟🌟🌟- Enjoyable Read. (Will bring it up in a car ride.)
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟- Amazing! (Can't shut up about it. Will you give you a play by play of the book)
Rating Scale for Steam
🔥 - You can read this out to your momma
🔥🔥- Curtain Close Moment
🔥🔥🔥- Just read in your head!
🔥🔥🔥🔥- Getting awkward and skipping pages.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 - Ya Nasty
4/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟
2/5 🔥🔥
This book follows Conley and she's a reporter who gets a new job in a new location but right before she gets there they get closed down and her position was already filled at her old job so what is she to do? Go back to her hometown of course where she thinks nothing ever happens and what is there to report??? But all of a sudden she finds the local congressman dead in a car explosion but there's no second car or anyone around. Conley is a newspaper reporter and she is bound and determine to uncover the truth no matter how ugly it gets!
This book was soo enjoyable I would even say it's my favorite mystery book I've read this year the gripping plotline of who to trust and whodunnit is superb! It had me looking for more things to do so I could continue my audiobook! Conley is a go-getter and she will stop at nothing. Skelly now I thought he was discouraging he always thought Conley should just chill and let it go and for the longest time I thought he was the bad guy (I would've LOVED that) I did guess who it was though and yes when I found out I was right I got up and did a victory dance! 💃
I read this with the amazing group @thechicklitbookclub and we had an awesome time and we even got to Zoom chat the author yesterday and that was amazing! 😁😁😁 Hearing the author say where the thought of the book came from and why some things in the book were the way they were was awesome!

I LOVED this book - read it with a group for a buddy read which made this a really great experience for me to be able to discuss with our book club members. Mary Kay Andrews has got to be the best Summer Read writer ever. This book was phenomenal. I could not put it down. The characters and story line were so well written. I did not even know this perfect beach read would have any mysterious elements to it, but it did, and it made this an even more fun read than I am already experiencing with this book. It had a great plot, a romantic element, a mystery and potential scandal involving a political family, family drama and intrigue.
The book is pretty long but it never felt like it because of the great writing and amazing pacing of the book. Really enjoyed this one very much!

I always look forward to the next MKA novel every summer. She creates the best summer reads and I love the towns she sets the novels in. Hello, Summer was another great novel from MKA! I love the family dynamics mixed in with romance, and suspense! This novel covered all of the bases. I felt like there were a couple of times that it seemed a little slow and drawn out, but all in all it was a fun and entertaining read! Thank you to Netgalley for sending this novel my way in exchange for an honest review.

This book will be published in early May 2020. It's a fun book with lots of intrigue! The title doesn't do the book justice. While a fun summer beach read, this book is about far more than the summer season. Mary Kay Andrews does it again with a captivating, can't-put-it-down, enjoyable read with characters that seem real with conflicts, history and personal quirks. Put this book in your beach bag

I am always up for a juicy beach read but I have never read Mary Kay Andrews! Hello, Summer is a great story! Andrews's characters are relatable and fun. Although this was a slow start for me, it really picks up the pace in the last 2/3 of the novel. This is a great, light, summer read!

Conley finds out that her new reporting job isn’t happening immediately after finishing her last day at her current job. She’s already broken up with her boyfriend slash coworker, she’s emptied out her apartment and she’s ready to drive to her new place.

Not knowing where else to turn, she heads to her hometown and her grandmother’s house. She hasn’t been home much since her dad died. She’s not close with her sister. They seem to resent each other a bit, her sister is still running their family’s newspaper despite getting her law degree. She feels a bit stuck and doesn’t appreciate that Conley left for a better paying job.

Conley has a bit of a history of putting her career first. She dumped her last two boyfriends in order to move for a job and she somewhat did the same thing to her family.

But, like it or not, Conley needs a job and the family newspaper needs a ton of help.

When Conley witnesses a car accident on one of her first nights back home, it turns out to be a potentially big story. Conley’s grandmother barters a deal between her and her sister, Conley will write the story for the family paper at a higher rate than her sister normally pays.

When she starts digging into the story, she thinks there’s a lot of suspicious details. The man who died was a famous politician who died in a single car crash almost an hour from his house at 3 am. Conley knows that something more was going on.

If her story gets the recognition she thinks it will, it could be the start of a big career move for Conley. But it would mean putting her career first again, beyond helping her family and leaving behind the man she had a crush on as a teenager. They grew up as neighbors and reconnect when she’s home at her grandmother’s.

This is more of a mystery than a beach book. While there’s a beach setting, a love interest, delicious sounding meals...the focus of the story is what happened to the political to cause his death.

I liked the love interest and Conley’s grandmothers a lot. I liked the setting. I didn’t like Conley much. I tried. I also think the storyline about the DJ Buddy Bright was just getting interesting when it ended. I would have enjoyed more about Buddy and possibly less about the politician.

I got to read an early ebook edition from NetGalley. Thanks!