Three generations of women tell their story. Mary, Autumn and Taylor share different perspectives on a loss of innocence. They share the common bond of finding happiness in the bookshop and summers spent at the beach. It is here that they are able to rebuild their lives and find the will to keep going. This is a wonderfully written story. It is poignant and touching. It reminds the reader of the ties that binds a family together and the deep wounds that love can heal.

Autumn Divac feels like her life is falling apart. Eighteen month ago her husband, Nick, went missing. She has no idea where he went and has been spending all of her free time trying to find him. When Autumn decides to take her kids, Taylor and Caden, to her hometown of Sable Beach to spend the summer with her mom, she never realized that her life was going to change in so many ways.

When Autumn runs into Quinn Vanderbilt, all the old feelings come back and for the first time in a long time, she finally feels alive again. As Autumn and Quinn start to spend more time together, things escalate quickly. Autumn is feeling things with Quinn that she never felt with Nick. Just when it looks Autumn has finally found some happiness again, something big happens with her daughter, Taylor......actually two big reveals! Just when the family has finally accepted what is happening with Taylor, Autumn finds out another huge revelation about her mom. After finally coming to grips with everything Autumn and the kids decide they are all going to move from Tampa, FL to Sable Beach. Of course things can never go smoothly and another wrench gets thrown into the mix. It will take a lot of soul searching but in the end, Autumn will finally get her happy ending.

I enjoyed this story. It was fun seeing a story about a family through three different generations : Mimi, Autumn's mom; Autumn and Taylor. All three went through a trying situation but in the end they ended up better for it. My heart went out to all three of these people. I also adored Quinn! He was just the perfect person and any woman would be lucky to have him. Overall, this was an enjoyable story with interesting characters and I would recommend reading it.

The Bookshop on the Beach by Brenda Novak is an amazing and heartwarming tale of a woman whose husband went missing and has yet to be found. This story takes us on a journey with Autumn Divac as she tries to start a new chapter of her life but who struggles since she still has no answers to help her reconcile and find closure with the one she’s been living. Then there’s her two teenage children dealing with their own fears, questions, and insecurities created by the situation. Autumn takes her kids home for the summer, to the charming beachside town where she was raised. She enjoys working alongside her mother and aunt at their bookshop, only to learn that her daughter is facing a huge life change and her mother has been hiding a terrible secret for years. Then there’s Quinn, the boy who stole her heart in high school who she encounters in town, and finds those old feelings return again. She has too many questions to deal with before she can move forward; many are unanswerable. Is she free to love him, or should she hold out hope for her husband’s return? She can only trust her heart and hope it won’t lead her astray. I absolutely loved the interactions and love between Autumn, her mother, her kids and Quinn. Each is dealing with major life challenges and trying to find solutions that will work for each of them.

Ms. Novak did an amazing job of describing the setting and the characters in a way that makes them come to life. She wrote a story that reaches the soul; the soul of her characters as well the soul of her readers. This wonderful and amazing story was emotional, moving, tear inducing, filled with wonderful dialogue, and endearing characters that is must read. I highly recommend The Bookshop on the Beach to other readers.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

Three generations - grandmother, mother, daughter - dealing with loss, secrets, life changes. Lots of deep stuff going on with this family. Fortunately, it's all tempered with a lighter beach setting, and it's not all sadness and grief, although there is a fair amount of it. Brenda Novak sprinkles the hard stuff with hope and possibility, which is a good thing because there were parts of this one that hit me on a personal level. Hard or not, this emotional story pulled me in, just as Novak has done with her other books, and it didn't let go. All of the various moving parts of this tale kept me turning the pages right up to the end. And what an ending it was. I'll be honest, I was not all that happy with that ending, or I didn't think I was. Then I sat back and thought on it, and I thought on it some more, and I won't say that I'm fully on board with how this one concluded, but all things considered, I'm somewhere between the ending fits and I'm still mad. Either way, Brenda Novak penned a story that kept me thinking and even debating with myself for days after reading the last page, and it's definitely not one I'll soon forget.

Have you ever watched “Guy’s Grocery Games” on the Food Network? Imagine that the author has grabbed ground beef and buns and then sees that there isn’t much time left on the countdown clock, so she frantically races down the aisles throwing issue after issue after issue into her shopping cart. Still with me? Ok, now she races to the kitchen and prepares the biggest, juiciest burger stuffed with all those issues and sets it before the judge (reader). In order to eat it, he/she needs to get a winch to open wide enough to take a bite of the over-stuffed burger. THAT’S what it’s like reading this book. I needed to sit in a quiet spot for 20 minutes and digest what I’d just read. It’s that good. Wow. Just wow.

Every single character in “The Bookstore on the Beach” is facing AT LEAST one life-changing decision. Novak set herself an ambitious goal to weave her intergenerational stories together and achieved it. Each storyline, from the grandmother to the grand daughter, flowed cohesively and each scene built on the last. It takes an incredibly talented author to be able to accomplish this goal. Chefs talk about flavours marrying. Well, Novak’s serious issues married well with her compelling and loveable characters, producing a read that I won’t forget for a long time. Only a bold, talented author would attempt a ‘recipe’ such as this one. Novak pulled it off. This may be my first introduction to Brenda Novak books, but it won’t be my last Novak read. If you are open to reading a multi-generational contemporary family book dealing with issues that you’d see highlighted in magazines at the grocery store checkout, then this one’s for you!

Pop over to her website and read the first chapter. You’ll want to take another bite. Promise.

Publishes April 6, 2021.

I was gifted this advance copy and was under no obligation to provide a review.

4.5 stars

First, who doesn’t want to own a bookstore on a beach? I mean, how cool would that be? Autumn actually got to grow up in a bookstore on the beach, her mom and aunt own the place. And she goes back with her kids every summer. This summer, Autumn’s going home to try to heal. Her husband disappeared almost two years ago and she needs to make some decisions about moving on…or not moving on. What’s best for her kids, for her, for everyone. Is she ready to let go?

This book isn’t only about Autumn. It’s about three generations of women. Autumn’s mom, Mary, has her own secrets and her own worries. She loves her daughter and grandchildren more than anything and is afraid her past will hurt them in the future. While Autumn is trying to come to terms with letting go, Mary is wondering if it’s time to come clean.

Then there’s Taylor. Autumn’s 17 year old daughter should be enjoying her summer before senior year. Instead she is stressing about a sexual encounter where she didn’t use protection and her own sexual identity. Taylor really stole my heart with her teen angst that is really very grown up.

The author did a fantastic job of weaving these stories together in a cohesive way, switching between characters flawlessly. The other characters in this story are very well fleshed out and are just as interesting as the main women. Especially Autumn’s teenage crush from years ago, Quinn. He has to be my favorite character in this story. He’s just a truly good guy that has had a lot of bad luck. It’s no wonder Autumn struggles with where her loyalties should lie when he Quinn comes back into her life.

There is only so much that can be said without giving spoilers. I will say I enjoyed this story, but also had a pit in my stomach for much of the book just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Not just when it came to Autumn and her missing husband, but for Mary and Taylor and their issues also. I was rooting for all of them from the very start.

While I think Brenda Novak did a beautiful job of getting into the mind of a teenage girl, there were a few things that stood out to me. Not that it was a huge plot point, but Facebook is referenced in regards to the teens. I don’t know any teenager that even has a Facebook page these days. And there’s a point where Autumn is talking about Taylor being a minor and a decision that has to be made. It bothered me because the whole situation this was referencing was, for the most part, being handled extremely well by Autumn. Until this small scene, where I felt it wasn’t her place to make any sort of decision for Taylor, regardless of her age. Seriously, these are minor things in the overall story that actually were only noticeable because I found the rest of the book to be so well thought out with a great flow.

Let me assure you romance readers out there, this story does have an HEA. But this is a women’s fiction more than a romance in my mind. There may be some disagreement as to what an HEA would entail in this story. I think most readers will be satisfied, though.

Autumn Divac has spent the last year and a half looking for her husband who went missing on a work trip that went very different from what he predicted. After losing a year and a half of her life to a search, she decides to escape Florida for the summer and go to her mother's home in a beach town in Virginia and just get away from it all for a summer. Little does she know that her mother has some secrets that are about to come to light and her kids will have more than a transformative summer than she could have predicted.

My favorite thing is when an author hints at secrets, but lets the reader in on the secret before the characters. On the other side of the coin, I don't love when a secret is hinted at and the reader is left in the dark! Brenda Novak lets the reader in on the secrets and the anticipation is more about how the characters will react when these secrets come out. While there were a lot of characters with secrets, for me this didn't feel over the top.

This was one of those great stand alone books that I suggest taking on a vacation or to the beach or pool because it is easy to get into, but also easy to put down and pick back up when/if an interruption happens! The characters were easy to get to know and each storyline was easy to keep apart and the plot kept moving, so there wasn't a dull moment in the story.

I love Brenda Novaks writing. I am particularly fond of her mystery series but I found this one enjoyable as well. I recommend if you like an emotional story of some interesting women that will keep you reading more!

Three generations of women, each with their own struggles.

Mary who owns a bookstore on the beach is exciting that her daughter Autumn and her children are coming home for the summer. Will the secret Mary has kept from her family stay hidden, or will Mary finally have the courage to share her past?

Autumn, Mary’s daughter has been frantically searching for her missing husband for the past eighteen months. Will she be able to put her past behind her and take a chance on a new life and a new love or will her past sneak up on her?

Taylor, Mary’s granddaughter has been trying to deal with her father’s disappearance and has lashed out in more than one way. Will her mistakes catch up to her while she is trying to move on?

I absolutely loved this novel by Brenda Novak. I was expecting a light happily ever after, and what I found was a novel with secrets, mysteries and complicated characters, along with a surprise twist. The story kept me intrigued and I could feel the characters emotions come through the pages. I thought it was written beautifully and it was refreshing to read a novel with such depth and dimension. A huge thank you to Harlequin Publishing, Brenda Novak and Netgalley who gifted me with an advanced copy to read. All my opinions are honest and unbiased.

Autumn's husband has been missing for eighteen months. To help her teenage children cope, she takes them to spend the summer with her mother at a small town on the beach. There she meets up with her high school crush, who wants to date her. But can she move forward with her life when her husband's fate is uncertain? And what happens when she discovers the secrets her mother and daughter are keeping?

This is an engrossing women's fiction with well-developed characters and a vibrant setting. I felt immersed in the conflicts and obstacles the family faced. If the book had ended at the 90% mark, it would have been a wonderful, uplifting romance. But a new complication was added that took it out of the realm of romance for me, and put it solidly into women's fiction territory. That shouldn't discourage anyone from reading it—it's a wonderful book—but adjust your expectations accordingly.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

The Bookstore on the Beach is Brenda Novak at her best. Family, heartache and secrets unfold into a wonderful story. Couldn't put it down.

Believe it or not, this was my first Brenda Novak book. With all the books she has written, how is this even possible? Well, let me tell you, she has a new fan..... and I have a new 'must-read' author!

I was immediately captivated by her writing and felt very comfortable among the people and community that she introduced me to. I totally lost myself in this story and loved every minute of it. And what's not to love—books and a bookstore, summer and the beach, young love and rekindled love.

I absolutely loved my trip to The Bookstore on the Beach. It has all the ingredients for the perfect summer read. And I can't wait to get my hands on my next Novak story!

THE BOOKSTORE ON THE BEACH by Brenda Novak is a women’s fiction story featuring three generations of women in one family. Each woman is facing emotional secrets and decisions which can break apart a family as well as heal it with understanding and forgiveness. This is a standalone read.

I am very torn about how I feel about this book. I love the setting and I love any book centered around a bookstore. The three women all have stories that would individually be emotionally devastating to themselves and their family and all the stories pull you in, but that is also what I did not like. It was too much drama for one family. The individual plotlines of the three women would have been enough to carry the story on their own. Also, it takes a while to get forward momentum on the problems and I was getting frustrated waiting for some sort of action.

The ending is bittersweet and I am not sure how I feel about it. I usually do not need an epilogue, but in this book, I do wish that there was one added.

This book is a lot of drama and for me a little too much in one story. It will appeal to those that like a lot of drama in their women’s fiction. I enjoy this author’s work, but this one is not my favorite.

This book is an emotional rollercoaster that you just can't get off until you find out how it ends up. This story & all the secrets & challenges that the family in it face were just wow!!!!!!! Totally blow you're mind wow!!!!!!!!!!! I loved this book so much!!!!!!!! I highly highly highly recommend this book to everyone of every genre fans. Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin, Mira Edition for my honest review

The Bookstore on the Beach is a deeply moving story.
I was expecting a cozy, light beach read and that is not what I got.
I’m still gathering my thoughts. It certainly wasn’t what I expected.
Overall, it is a very intriguing read. I think just about anything that could happen, happened within this story. It did seem a bit drawn out in parts. But, honestly, it’s well worth it to keep on reading to find out the ending.
The story it basically about three generations: Mary is the grandmother, Autumn is the mother and Taylor is the daughter. Each one experiencing their own personal and emotional situation.
A bittersweet, emotional and intriguing read. .
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest opinion. All opinions expressed are my own.

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Mary – ☆☆☆☆
As with most Brenda Novak stories, there is a lot going on in this great story. Autumn and her children are going to her mother's for the summer. After her husband has been missing for 18 months, she thinks it might be time to let him go, that he might be gone forever.

Mary, Autumn's mother, and her Aunt Laura own a bookstore on a beach in a charming town. It is just the setting that Autumn and her kids need to start over. The kids find friends at the beach and Autumn rekindles an old love. Well, she was in love and Quinn was her first. Now Quinn wants to be friends and that turns into more than Autumn wanted it to, but it was something she couldn't stop.

As Autumn questions her mom about who her dad was, Mary doesn't want to tell her all the pain and heartache about the past. But when a private eye shows up, Autumn ends up doing some research and finding out things on her own.

With all the directions that the drama is going in in this book, you might need to keep a notebook handy. But don't let that drive you away from reading this one. It is filled with twists and turns, mystery and a little scandal, lost love, and there is a bookstore on the beach. What could be better?

I loved this book and I hope you do too.


Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
This is really beautiful book – it is a wonderfully rich story with many strands of great interest; a happy beach side holiday for a woman and her children who are dealing with a traumatic loss; a second-chance romance for her and the much-wronged Quinn; the relationship between three generations of women as each deals with their own serious issues; the deep friendship of siblings; and finally, of secrets no one would want to share and dilemmas that no one would ever want to face.

The writing is so smooth, that it is almost impossible to stop turning the pages once you start... be warned! I was so engrossed that I really did read it until very late into the night – but it was worth every second of missed sleep.

I absolutely loved Autumn, and completely understood her uncertainty given the untenable state of her life when she decides to spend the summer with her mother where she grew up – even if she knew that her situation would be the subject of local interest when she got there. It was unbelievable the difficulty that she faced following her husband's disappearance. We get to learn some of what might have happened, but it is a huge mystery and one which it seems will never be solved. How does one decide how long to wait, how much hope to hold on to, and how to help her children also make a similar decision? Quinn is like a breath of fresh air, but also brings on thoughts of terrible guilt.

I should not neglect to mention that we spend quite a lot of time in a bookstore and understanding how it was a safe space for Autumn and her mother, Mary. I am not going to say more, because there are lots of strands and plots which intertwine to give a really rich experience – all I can say is it is definitely worth it!

Mary Langford is delighted when her daughter, Autumn, plans a summer vacation with her children to Mary’s home in Sable Beach, Virginia. Autumn and her children have had a difficult time. Autumn’s husband vanished two years ago. She has done everything she can to find him, including hiring a private investigator, but no luck. A summer trip to Sable Beach might be just the thing for this family.

However, the summer is anything but stressfree. Autumn’s teenage daughter is going through several life changes, while her teenage son has his own issues. Then, Autumn comes face to face with her old high school sweetheart and discovers her feelings haven’t changed, but what if her husband should return? To add to Autumn’s troubles, she realizes her mother is hiding something from her.

This book is filled with quite a bit of family drama. The characters are well written and realistic. There are so many different thought-provoking things happening to all the characters. The storylines feel as if they could be “ripped right out of the headlines”. I was completely engrossed in this book and was anxious to see how it all wrapped up.

The Bookstore on the Beach is a riveting virtual getaway. I hated to see it end.






FTC Disclosure: I voluntarily reviewed a free Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.

The Bookstore on the Beach  follows the story of three women, all related, from three generations. It also includes the people who love and support them - or not.

Mary or Mimi to Taylor and Caden, has had a very bad experience in her past that she has kept secret. Now there are factors that are threatening to have this become more known than she wants.

Autumn her daughter and mother of Caden and Taylor, has been searching for her husband Nick, who has mysteriously gone missing. Now she has fallen for someone else.

Taylor at seventeen, broken hearted from the loss of her Dad does something that has repercussions for herself and those who love her.

Each of these women are at a crisis point in their lives, they have big issues to face and work through. Are they able to? Can they follow their hearts and live true to themselves?

The story is set at a beach side place with a bookstore that doesn't play a huge part but is there, providing a steady backdrop to the lives of the characters.

I enjoyed the book and it makes for a good heart warming, bittersweet read.

Let me start by saying that there are MULTIPLE things happening and effecting the characters in this story: a missing husband, a childhood abduction, teen pregnancy, rape, sexual identity crisis, hiding from the past, a cancer-afflicted family, a second chance romance, guilt, secrets, more secrets, anxiety and anger. And trust me when I say that the piling on of issues throughout the story, and the oft extreme behaviors that are reactions to these issues and secrets was wearing – even as the characters drew you in to make you want to see where and how everything would work.

In short, we have Autumn with her teenaged children Taylor and Caden who have been thrown by the disappearance (ostensibly in the Ukraine) of her husband and their father. It’s been eighteen months with little or no information and feeling that everyone needs a break – she’s taking the kids to her mother’s place on a Virginia Beach – where Autumn grew up. For her part, Mary, Autumn’s mother loves having the kids up for the summer, although they’d not been as their father rarely came along, and didn’t seem to fit in. But giving them all a chance for the summer while Autumn regroups from hours of relentless searching seems to be the best option. Even if her mother was extremely overprotective and reluctant to talk about the past. But having family and people you know, in a place you love, is always good for a summer.

Yet Taylor and Caden meet new people, and Taylor is drawn to one of the girls there – someone unlike anyone she knows: and this friendship will become a jumping off point for all that she’ll go through – from a surprise pregnancy to questions about ‘friendship versus love’ feelings, along with her own issues with her father’s disappearance, her anger with her brother’s apparent ability to ‘move on’ and wondering about her mother’s new ‘crush’. When we add in Mary’s backstory, a PI in town searching for her under her former name – we start to hear of her own childhood trauma after being abducted and held hostage from the age of 12 – a story she’s never shared with Autumn, even reframing her life and ‘adding’ family as her world shrunk to the tiny beachfront town.

Then there is the story of Autumn and the crush she had on Quinn as a child, and how the attraction is still there – despite Autumn’s determination to ignore or avoid it. With Quinn back in town after his own rather violent and tragic end to his marriage, the rumors are spreading but he’s more concerned with his mother’s cancer recurrence, his father’s ability to cope and the mounting medical bills. Still – he's wanting more of Autumn, and more from their relationship than casual and infrequent ‘passing moments in the street’. There’s a ton going on and I’m torn about the believability of the multitude of issues that were there, cropped up and some rather ‘pat’ solutions put in to wrap the story up, but the characters were palpable and complete with the exception of Caden who seemed to have moments and flashes of brilliance (particularly for a 15 or 16 year old boy) but he was left to his own devices for much of the story. If you can suspend belief in the ever-increasing traumas and melodramas – the story is a slower read –but good for an escape for a bit of time.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at <a href=” https://wp.me/p3OmRo-aSK /” > <a> I am, Indeed </a>

Unfortunately, this one just wasn't my cup of tea. There was way too much happening that it went from "okay that's out there" to "wow, this is entirely implausible." I had a hard time connecting to any of the characters. A miss for me. Regardless, my thanks for the opportunity to read an advanced copy.