I wish I could say that this was a hit out of the park. It touched on a lot of "sensitive" topics that were tired seamlessly within the the plot line which I appreciated. However, it all felt flat to me and not . I would not market this as a historical fiction which I thought it was coming in. It is definitely a contemporary family fiction even with the first couple chapters taken place during wartime. The writing we done well but the author lacked depth within the characters and the meaning behind the writing.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance read of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. My sincere apologies for not getting to it sooner.

This is a book about one girls story of her history to understand the present. Skye learns about her mother and childhood from her Gran (Maren) through a beautiful rhythm that allows the reader to get to know all the characters along Skye's journey. I highly recommend this book to those who enjoy fiction with a little dab of romance and a lot of real life living.

Highly entertaining, sexy, fun, emotionally thrilling adventure filled with intriguing charters, witty dialog, heart racing twists and undeniable passion. Really enjoyed this exciting and heartwarming journey.

Maren and her granddaughter, Skye share their story of what life is like among the elite society of Haven Point, Maine.

This story alternates between Maren and Skye’s points of view. It also jumps between many time periods. My favorite story was Maren’s. She had so many touching experiences in her life. Especially as she worked as a nurse at Walter Reed Hospital during WWII. This book is filled with many emotions, struggles with fitting into the Haven Point crowd, untimely deaths, and how family can help get through rough times. I loved the characters in the book! They really added to the feel of the book. I would recommend this book to readers that enjoy an emotional read.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely loved this book! I found it hard to put down. I highly recommend reading it! You won’t be disappointed.

I really enjoyed this saga about a privileged East Coast family and their summers in the exclusive community of Haven Point in Maine. The book alternates storytelling between the 1940s and 2008, profiling family matriarch Maren as she meets / gets engaged to her husband Oliver, Maren's daughter Annie and her struggles with addiction, and Maren's granddaughter Skye and her visits to spend time with Maren at Haven Point. The writing was really beautiful and the characters were very well-developed, but there were a few (Annie and Oliver) who I really disliked and couldn't empathize with. The author did a great job flipping back and forth between time periods, to explore all three generations of Demarest women, and for once I thought this was well-done rather than irking me that one storyline was at an exciting point and the author switched to another. My only quibble is that there was a lot of setup and the main plot points didn't start to take shape until about halfway through the book.

We read this book as part of our We're All Booked Here book club on FB. It reminded me how much I really do love historical fiction! Especially ones that are connected with WWI and WWII.

We all really liked this book - but wtf with that monkey?!?!

My favorite part of the book was the over-arching love story between Maren, her daughter, and her granddaughter. It's a love that endures and does the best it can with the situation. And it is touching to watch Maren be there for her granddaughter, at least far as she will allow. It's hard growing up having to fend for oneself to allow others to help when we need it.

#HavenPoint
#VirginaHume
#NetGalley

A little different than what I normally read. Very well written, family saga. Very descriptive, well developed characters, I love Maine so that was a big draw. If you love family sagas then I would definitely read this one.

This is a Historical Fiction book with many different timelines and characters. I found this book ok, but I really just enjoyed one of the timelines (the main one). I did not understand why the others ones where even there. I also felt there was way to many characters because there was a lot of characters in each timelines. I think I would love this book if there was less characters and less timelines. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (St. Martin's Press) or author (Virginia Hume) via NetGalley, so I can give honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

I read this book in the summer, during the height of a pandemic. It was a great escape. I liked the mother daughter relationships and the combining of multiple character POVs and timelines.

The beautiful coast of Maine, family drama, and secrets. This story captured me at the beginning. It is beautifully written and spans three generations as well as the hardship of war.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Haven Point started out slowly for me. It took a few chapters for me to get into the story. This a character driven novel with different timelines for three generations of the family. I found Maren’s story the slowest and a bit long. I definitely was more invested in Skye’s story. As the book progressed I was more engaged especially as the intrigue built. This is an interesting book that is perfect for beach reading.

It has been a MINUTE since I’ve read a really good historical fiction. Haven Point absolutely delivered on everything I love about great historical fiction & generational family dramas: amazing setting, strong female characters, and a little mystery. The setting on the cape in Maine gives you that perfect end of summer heading into fall feeling. I was highly invested in the three generations of women featured in this story and loved getting to experience this story through each of their viewpoints. I got this recommendation from the @currentlyrading podcast (I definitely recommend listening) and their indie press list. This was recommended by @wacoreads and I’ll definitely be picking up a copy for my favorites shelf from them. Highly recommend!

2.5 stars rounded down to 2

Very nearly DNF’d at about 50% because I was bored. I decided to finish just to see if it would get better (it didn’t). The early story of Maren and Oliver was engaging but then quickly lost my interest, as their marriage disintegrated into something more like cohabitation. The story bounced around through the decades to Maren’s granddaughter Skye. As I would start to get a bit involved in one era’s story arc, the author would pull me out and put me into a different decade. The depictions of the privileged, snobby “WASP-y” residents of Haven Point were fairly flat and again, did not hold my interest. Not enough information was given about Skye to make me invested in her, even with her difficult upbringing by her alcoholic “hippy” mother, Anne.

This book seemed a lot longer than 384 pages.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own. While I received the eARC from NetGalley, I wound up listening to the published audiobook by Macmillan Audio (at a high speed to get through it!). The narrator, Cassandra Campbell, did a fine job with the many voices.

The novel chronicles 3 generations of woman across 7 decades in the coastal Maine town Haven Point. Maren begins the story In 1944, Annie, her daughter in the 70s, and Skye, Annie’s daughter in 2008. The story takes us through wars, turmoil, betrayal and secrets. It is an epic family saga with a bit of everything set against a beautiful backdrop. I was drawn to this because I’m making my first trip to Maine this month.

#havenpoint #virginahume a love story. A story of generations. It begins with a nurse and a surgeon. Tragedy befalls the DeMarest family. If you like different perspectives. Changes in time/generations. This is a book for you to cuddle up with. Settle back and enjoy a history of love and family drama. #netgalleyreview #bookstagram #readersofinstagram #bookrecommendations #readingtime📖

This book was gripping. I was sucked in and could not put it down! The concept was so unique, I loved this book.

DNFed at 36%. I was intrigued at the beginning of the book with Maren and Oliver's story, but as the story went on I struggled to stay interested. There did not seem to be a lot happening. It was centered around family drama in multiple timelines. While I usually enjoy family dramas, this one just didn't work for me. Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.

I have to say that for the first 35 to 40% of those book I really enjoyed it. It started off with a great love story set In hospital during World War II between Maren, a nurse, and Oliver, a surgeon. We do follow their love story for quite some time and Then the whole novel just fell apart for me. Haven Point then became a novel that was just focused on class and high society in the 1950s and 1960s. Of course there is an affair that happens and Maren, who I adore the beginning of the book became a complete and utter fool. And I also did not enjoy reading about her daughter Skye and her political career in Washington DC. When a monkey for a pet came into the picture and was the disruption at a party, that was enough for me. I’m sad to say that as much as my hopes were at the beginning of this book it all just fell apart for me. Three stars.

This family saga spans three generations living in Haven Point, a summer enclave near Harpswell, Maine. I loved the descriptions of the rocky Maine coastline and the peek into lives of the summer people. As a Mainer, I found the environmental and geographic descriptions authentic (except washing the dishes when the power was out - probably those summer homes would be on well water and need electricity to pump it). I found the story intriguing but slow-paced. The characters are well-developed but the revelation of details of the past was a bit slow for me.