I juist wanted this to be over. There should have seen some tension in the plot line but for me it was just something I kept reading but never bought into. I did see what would happen at the end but it was not very clean cut. Instead it was hard to buy into to the missing husband not to mention the Mother's hidden history

I am so desperate to get away, so this book arrived at the perfect time. I loved being swept away to the beach with Autumn and her family. Brenda Novak crafts such beautiful characters. I recommend this multi-generational novel, very touching and inspiring! ⠀

I really enjoyed this book, I love the title. I would love to go to a bookstore on the beach then sit down in the sand by the water and fall into the world of the characters, the perfect escape.

I really enjoyed this book, I love the title. I would love to go to a bookstore on the beach then sit down in the sand by the water and fall into the world of the characters, the perfect escape.

Autumns husband Nick has been missing for 18 months, she has hired a private investigator but nothing is turning up Autumn is taking her kids home to spend the summer in the charming beach town where she grew up. She is planning to help her mom and aunt in the bookstore they own on the beach. Hoping to find peace and figure out what the next step should be regarding the search of her husband, is it time to give up the search and move on or keep looking?

Autumn is about to learn her daughter Taylor is facing a life changing situation that neither saw coming, her mother Mary has been hiding a horrific secret her entire life and she runs into Quinn who stole her heart in high school. What else could happen over the course of the summer. Will the changes her daughter have coming tear the family apart even more then it its? Will the secret from her mom destroy their relationship and what will happen with Quinn?

I felt so many emotions with this story. I felt more of a connection with Taylor as she reminds me a little bit of my niece. Learning what Mary had been through as a child not only broke my heart but made me so angry then what she does through in the situation that happens in present time makes me even more angry. I loved the beach scene with Caden and Quinn after a tense moment with Caden and Taylor.

We have three story lines in this story and they all flow very well. I would love to get more of all of them and the reason I am giving this 4 stars instead of 5 is that I would have liked a few more details in the ending. I am hoping the author gives us more of these characters in the future. I really want more of Mary's story and Taylor's as well to see what happens there. I feel like we didn't get to know Caden that well I want to know more about him and how he copped with his dad going missing and all the other situations in the book. This could go on and on so many ideas.

Who knew one summer could bring about so many changes for one family? Eighteen months prior Autumn’s husband Nick went missing while on assignment for the FBI and hadn’t been found. The official investigation had ended, but Autumn had hired a private investigator in the Ukraine that was still attempting to locate him. Stressed after eighteen months with no progress, Autumn packs up her teenage children Taylor and Caden and heads to her mother’s house in Sable Beach for the summer. Something the three used to enjoy doing.
This summer things are different though. We find out that Taylor is hiding a secret, as the summer progresses, we discover that she is actually hiding two secrets that are life changing. But Taylor is not the only one hiding a major secret. When Autumn’s mother Mary’s long buried secret is thrust into the present and forced back into her life, will she tell Autumn all about her life before Sable Beach or will she let her secret stay buried.
As if Autumn doesn’t have enough going on in her already stressful life, she discovers that her first crush is also back in town. Quinn has come back to help his family run their diner while his mother is receiving cancer treatments. When he reveals that he’d like to be more than friends with her, will Autumn finally give up on finding her missing husband and accept the love in front of her?
This book has so much that’s going on and so many topics that it deals with. There are some dark issues that part of the storyline deals with, but there are no details. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing, I loved the characters, and the plot sucked me in. Many, many emotions were wrung from me while reading this, there were times I was grabbing for a tissue to wipe those tears away. Thank you so much for allowing me to read an ARC copy of this story.
**I received an ARC of this story from the publisher and NetGalley and this is my honest and voluntary review.

I love books set in bookstores or libraries, so that was one point for choosing this book to read. I also love beach stories and family dramas. THE BOOKSTORE ON THE BEACH features three generations of women in one family. Each woman has a story, a secret, a secret that will have ramifications on others in the family. Mary still lives in Sable Beach where she owns a bookstore with her best friend Laurie. Her daughter, Autumn is reeling from the disappearance of her husband. He has been missing for eighteen months and she is still searching for him, but is beginning to believe that he is dead and won't be coming back. Taylor is Quinn's daughter who has a big secret and is dealing with changes in her life. Taylor and her son Caden convince Autumn to spend the summer with their Mimi, like they do every year, so she agrees and they head to Autumn's childhood home. What she does not expect is to run into Quinn Vanderbilt, her first love. He is home, divorced and dealing with his own issues.

Wow, I am glad I am not part of this family. Each of the women's circumstances could be a story, but put them all together in one family and I can't believe their relationships haven't imploded. These are three very strong women. I liked each of them, and my heart broke many times as I read about their lives. This is a story about resilience and moving forward in your life. It is about secrets and the harm they can do to yourself and others. When you look at how the various children were affected in the story, it pulls at your heartstrings. I don't want to make it sound like this book is a depressing one, because there are many lighter moments in the story. Time at the beach, making new friends, spending time with family, rekindling old friendships, and finally facing your issues and making choices for the rest of your life are all part of this story as well. I enjoyed reading this one and seeing what each of the characters decides and how it affects their lives. My one issue is that I think this story needs an epilogue. I was left wanting more, tying up some of the loose ends. Overall, I enjoyed this story and recommend this one to those who enjoy women's fiction, and family dramas.

After my first encounter with Brenda in One Perfect summer, I was wondering if she could weave yet another set of stories into the Bookstore on the Beach. And she did! This book tells you three separate stories of Autumn, her mother Mary and her daughter Taylor. They all have their own secrets and slowly, throughout the book, you uncover one story after another. And I can promise you: you will never, ever guess what those stories are.
Gripping, heartwarming and also some suspense, drama and laughter. This book just draws you in and never let's you go. A fascinating story about second chances, protecting your loved ones and following your heart. Five out of five stars from me and a special thank you to Netgalley for providing the arc.

Nick Divac has been missing for more than 18 months, and his wife, Autumn has been valiantly trying to cope with the situation at their home in Tampa, Florida. The couple has two teenage children, daughter Taylor, age 17, and son Caden, 16. Nick was thought to be working on a mission for the FBI in the Ukraine but never returned from his assignment. When the official investigation ended, Autumn hired a private investigator Mt Olynyk, based overseas, but even he could not supply any information about Nick's location. Stressed out and looking for a change of scenery, Autumn and her children head to her mother, Mary Langford's beach house in Sable Beach, Virginia for the summer, the place where Autumn grew up.

This family drama tells the stories of three women, the problems they face and the secrets they harbour. Aside from Autumn, Mary has to overcome a life-changing situation that has affected her outlook on life. Mary runs a bookshop, Beach Front Books, along with Autumn's Aunt Laurie and they both have a 50/50 share. Taylor, too, has some serious issues of her own to deal with.

Brenda Novak's character portrayal was exceptional although I had been excepting nothing less! Autumn reconnects with her first love, Quinn and has to make some hard decisions about her future. Meanwhile, Taylor is all at sea; the disappearance of her much-loved father left her feeling emotionally adrift and she committed a regrettable and undoable act. A new friend both helps and further complicates her inner turmoil.

The author masterfully weaves the characters experiences and backstories into a marvellous, heartwarming tale, delivered with aplomb. So many different themes and topics are explored and touched upon in this splendid tale of family and relationships, including grief, loss, and mental health issues but also of hope, optimism and choice.

The Bookstore on the Beach is a satisfying and rewarding reading experience from the beginning to its intense ending.

Thanks to NetGalley, MIRA and the author, Brenda Novak for the complimentary copy. This is my honest and totally voluntary review.

This book was a good, easy read. Parts of the story drug on and were a bit unbelievable. I wanted to yell at each of the characters and tell them to stop being so damn stupid, especially Autumn. Still, I was captivated and wanted to know how it ended. Reading about her and Nick was painful. That relationship seemed to become controlling to the point of abusive. I’m a little disappointed in the ending being so abrupt but I’m glad Autumn came to her senses. Special thanks to the publisher for giving me the chance to read this book and give an open, honest review.

I started The Bookstore on the Beach by Brenda Novak and within 3 pages I was hooked. The stories and the characters are so well done. The stories run concurrently are interwoven so well. There are many twists and quite a few oh no’s and bated breathe moments. Oh, there were some tears as well.
This is a book of family, love and relationships. There are struggles that test the characters’ mettle. I was able to identify with the characters as the book progressed.
I highly recommend this book. It has it all, mystery, love and family drama.
Thank you #Netgalley and #Harlequin for approving my request. The opinions expressed are solely my own.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book from Netgalley for review. The characters are intriguing especially the mother. The background story is a mystery which gradually comes to light. I do maintain there are too many stories going in different directions. Kidnapping...missing husband...cancer...teen pregnancy...etc. However, I enjoyed reading about the women and their lives. Hope there is a sequel.

This was a wonderful story that covers three generations of women, a Grandmother, Mother and Daughter, each facing their own challenges. Mary is the Grandmother with a terrible secret from her past that is threatening to come out. Autumn is the Daughter who has been searching for her missing husband for eighteen months. Taylor is Autumn's 17 year old daughter who is facing the prospect of growing up too soon. When Autumn moves home with her children for the summer, the family grows even closer. The author did a wonderful job weaving the stories of all three women together. It is a wonderful, emotional and touching book to read.

A summer at the beach, brings more heartbreak and healing than can be imagined for a woman and her family. Heartfelt, family-focused, and another chance at love fill this latest of the author’s books and challenge the reader to feel so much.



Review:
The standalone The Bookstore on the Beach begins when Autumn Divac reaches a decision. Her husband left on a business trip and disappeared more than eighteen months before and this has been her primary focus at the expense of her two teenage children and herself. They will leave Tampa and go north to the beach and bookstore where she grew up and spend the summer with her mother Mary after all these years of her mother wanting her back for a visit.

But, if Autumn thought she’d find some peace and enjoyment, her daughter has a huge secret and her mother has an equally big one, but then there is her own complicated situation when her old high school crush returns to town after his own troubled past to be his parents and help out since his mom is dying. The journey of life isn’t easy for any of the women in Autumn’s family, but their summer on the beach pulls them together and they learn to face the difficulties and find their way through.

The Bookstore on the Beach caught my eye for the cover and title. Brenda Novak was an author I had read twice before and was happy to pick up another of her books. I read the blurb and thought, oh good, there will be a suspense element, some women’s fiction, and a lovely second chance romance against a fun summer backdrop.

Mmhmm… about that. I got something of a surprise once I started reading. That old aphorism, ‘if it weren’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all’ kept running through my mind. Every single member of that family and Quinn the love interest have some serious hardships and that does not even count having Nick Divac missing and presumed dead. This was no frolicking light summer read. I had to adjust, and, I had to go with what I thought was way more drama than any one book should hold. Right down to the end, the hits just kept coming. I’m still reeling.

After I got on track with the book and not my preconceptions, I discovered that I loved the little town, the family and friends around them, and I most definitely engaged with the characters. Autumn was the principal character, but her mom, Mary, her daughter, Taylor, and Quinn got plenty of narration time and had their own strong plot threads as well. The multiple generations of women facing their trials and relying on each other was probably my favorite part though, yes, I did love the romance of Autumn and Quinn.

There was much to break my heart or leave me unsure how I felt about it, but there were also joyful and beautiful moments, too. I am choosing not to get specific about these women’s secrets, but Mary’s lead towards the horrific and tragic while Taylor’s are complex between big troubles and confusion that many teens face and try to hide.

The book is full and longer because of multiple storylines, but I never felt it drag though I did once in a while wish that there was less going on in their lives because so much trauma felt unreal after a bit. The teenage issues particularly with the brother and his best friend was probably least appealing. I was vested though and had to know what happened once everything was introduced. I had my suspicions about one last late curveball and I really hoped I was wrong after everything else that had already happened and was happening, but there it was- my least favorite romance trope showed up and I was too invested in the story so had to weather that one through and hope for the outcome I wanted even though either way there would be deep sacrifice. But, I think what actually dissatisfied me was the end. Yes, the main threads were tied up and I had a general idea what was going to happen, but I had the feeling the story simply stopped. I felt it needed more- an epilogue to balance the events preceding.

All in all, The Bookstore on the Beach took me on an emotional trip of the heart through the lives of a strong family of women. I was glad to get the story and fell in love with the characters and wanted them to find their way to happy. Those who enjoy Contemporary Romance crossed with Women’s Fiction and want a book with all the feels should definitely give this one a go.

My thanks to Harlequin MIRA for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

As soon as I saw "bookstore" and "beach" in the title, I was interested in reading this book, which features the interwoven stories of three generations of women.

Each of the women, Mary, Autumn and Taylor is facing a crossroads in their lives, and the decisions they make will significantly affect their own lives as well as the lives of those they love.

A secret from Mary's past has come back to haunt her, and she has to navigate her way through sharing her story with those who need to know.

A tragedy from Autumn's present has held her captive, and she has to decide when it's time to let go and begin again.

The natural consequences of a drunken evening may change the trajectory of Taylor's future, and she has to choose the path she can live with.

I felt the characters and plots were well-developed, with great secondary characters as well. While the storylines were distinct, they were interwoven well, and no single thread ever seemed to dominate the story. I did feel that Nick's storyline wasn't resolved as well as I would have liked it to be. But that wasn't as crucial as the other storylines were.

I will say though that as a reader I'm seeing so many stories include a "gay storyline" that it's beginning to feel gratuitous. Readers are often given no warning when they pick up a story whether a romance is straight or gay, and it does matter to some for reader enjoyment.

Overall, I'd give this a 3.5, rounded to up 4 in appreciation of the strong writing.

The title is misleading if you think this is a feel good, typical "summer beach read," it is that, but far more. The stories of three generations of women, grandmother, mother, and teenage daughter. .Stories of trauma, loss, sexual identification, teenage pregnancy and much more. Lots going on with all three of the women...I would have liked a different ending, seemed to end too abruptly Maybe an epilogue one year later would have finished the story. Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

This was an emotional roller-coaster of a book, a story of three generations of women at crossroads in their lives. Each woman faces a life-changing decision that will impact her and those around her. Though the combination of events stretched likelihood, I felt that each one was handled realistically.

Autumn, the mom, needs a break. Her husband Nick disappeared a year and a half earlier while on a business trip to Ukraine. She spent the time since then using every means at her disposal to find him but with no success. Nick's disappearance has been hard on their son Caden and daughter Taylor also. Autumn feels they need to get away from the memories at home and takes them to her hometown for the summer. Time at the beach and with their grandmother will be good for all of them. She never expected to run into her high school crush and feel the stirrings of old feelings.

Autumn's mom, Mary, loves having her family there for the summer, but this summer, she is on edge. A secret that haunted her for many years could hurt her family if exposed. She doesn't know whether to come clean about it or try to bury it even deeper.

Meanwhile, Autumn's daughter Taylor doesn't know what to do. She loves her father, and his disappearance left her feeling emotionally adrift. In an attempt to feel some emotion, Taylor did something she regrets but can't be undone. A chance to enjoy her summer appeals, but the consequences of her actions make that enjoyment problematical. A new friend both helps and complicates the turmoil Taylor feels.

The last central character is Quinn. After his divorce and his wife's imprisonment for attempting to kill him over imagined infidelities, he returned to his hometown. Quinn helps his parents with their restaurant as his mother battles cancer. Autumn's arrival brings some light to a dark time in his life.

I loved the interweaving of the storylines as the summer progressed. Each character and their problems were vividly portrayed with realistic thoughts and actions. I liked following each one as they slowly worked through their problems, knowing that their family would be there when needed. Mary broke my heart as she dealt with her past. The horror she survived and overcame was devastating and amazed me with what she accomplished. Her overprotectiveness with Autumn and the children made sense. I could feel her fear when she learned about the private investigator and her reluctance to do anything about it. There were some unexpected twists as she faced the past, but in the end, she was stronger than she knew.

Taylor's situation wasn't uncommon for a teenager but had some added complications. Depression over her father's disappearance led to drinking too much at a party and contributed to the mistake of sleeping with her brother's ex-best friend. Now she faces the consequences of that mistake and the potential of hurting her brother in the process. Never one to make friends easily, Taylor is surprised by how quickly she connects with a local girl, Sierra. Sierra is a bit of an outcast, rough around the edges but amazingly sensitive and supportive. It was easy to see where their friendship was headed, and I thought it was beautifully handled. Sierra's support also helped Taylor deal with the boy in question (a first-class jerk) and face her family. I loved how it worked out, though there were a few bumps along the way.

The most significant part of the story belonged to Autumn and Quinn. They saw each other for the first time since high school on Autumn's first day in town. Her memories of that high school encounter still embarrass her, but Quinn tries to put her at ease. She intrigues and attracts him, but her wariness forces him to be patient. Autumn is exhausted, mentally and physically, from long months of uncertainty. She doesn't know if she's still married or a widow, whether she should keep searching or let go and move on. The more time Autumn spends with Quinn, the more she realizes the differences in her feelings for him and her feelings for Nick. Quinn is a nice guy, patient, and kind, but also determined to show Autumn how much she means to him. Autumn's internal battle with herself was hard-fought, but she couldn't deny how he made her feel. I liked watching her slowly let go of her fears and open herself to the possibilities. Not everything was sunshine and roses, as various family issues added to Autumn's stress. Quinn has some great scenes with the kids, a couple of which have the potential for disaster. There was a bit of a hiccup when Quinn confessed a secret, but that was handled quickly. I loved seeing Autumn take hold of the future with optimism while wondering if fate was done with her. The intensity of the ending had me glued to the pages until it was all over. I wish there had been an epilogue as I would like to have seen them a couple of years down the road.

Don’t let the beachy cover fool you, this one had way more depth than I was expecting based on that alone. This was an emotional, multigenerational story that explores some very timely and relevant issues in a beautiful manner.

You hear from Autumn, her daughter Taylor and her mother Mary and I loved the various perspectives from all different age brackets. I can’t even imagine how Autumn is dealing with a missing husband and her kids as well, someone in my own circle going missing is my biggest nightmare. Each woman had their own issues they’re struggling with besides the disappearance of Nick and this brought so much substance to the story. It was definitely a multilayered story with some light moments, but overall it’s emotional. I think it could appeal to all types of readers, there’s romance, a mystery and family drama which is such a perfect combination for me.

The Bookstore on the Beach focuses on three generations of women, each one dealing with life-altering issues and decisions.

Autumn’s husband disappeared eighteen months ago, and she has exhausted every resource to find him. Faced with the need to move forward for the sake of her teenage children (and herself), Autumn returns to Sable Point, the small beachside town where she was raised by her single mother. Once there she reconnects with her first love, Quinn, and is torn between holding onto the past or a promising future.

Mary, Autumn’s mother, made a life for herself in Sable Point years ago and owns a small bookstore. But her past is never far from her mind and she’s still haunted by the events that forever changed her life. She has evaded Autumn’s questions about her father for years and fears that the past is finally catching up with her.

Taylor, Autumn’s teenage daughter, is thankful for the summer escape to Sable Point. Life at home since her father’s disappearance has been stressful and led her to some reckless behavior. A new friend provides a much-needed connection, especially when Taylor is forced to face the consequences of her actions.

It was easy to empathize with each of these women and that helped pull me into the story quickly. I will say that between the three women there is a lot going on. The drama included a missing person, the death of a parent, abduction, pregnancy, sexual identity, a second chance romance… and at times it did teeter on the side of melodrama. But for the most part, Novak kept it reined in and it never felt too over the top. There were a few surprises and although the ending wrapped up pretty quickly it was also completely satisfying. This cross between women’s fiction and romance was a solid read and I wouldn’t hesitate to read more from Novak.

Bookstore. Beach. That's all I needed to know I wanted to read it. Reading the description made it sound like it would be a sweet, heartwarming second chance at romance kind of story. I really liked that it involved a love interest from a very formative point in her younger life. I was really looking forward to a grown woman coming to terms with a sudden and tragic change to her life and family and finding the courage to open her heart again. At least, that's what the description made me think. Oh, it was sweet, but the best parts were not Autumn's.

The Plot: Three Interwoven Stories

Eighteen months ago, Autumn's husband of almost two decades mysteriously disappeared in Ukraine, supposedly not while working for the FBI as an informant, but, also, quite possibly. No one's telling her. With summer upon her and her two teenage kids, Autumn decides it's time for a change of scenery and packs up her shrunken family to her mother's beach house in the quaint seaside town of Sable Beach, Virginia.

A summer of sun, surf, relaxation, and books in her mother and aunt's bookstore by the beach is just what Autumn needs. And maybe a shot at her first love, who is also back in town after a rather messy divorce from his high school sweetheart. But, while her mother Mary is thrilled to have her family back in town, it also stirs up painful questions about her and Autumn's past she isn't ready to tell Autumn, a past that's finally catching up to her. There's also Autumn's daughter Taylor who was ripped apart by her father's disappearance that resulted in reckless behavior that might have a heavy impact on her future as she looks to college.

The Bookstore on the Beach is, not as the description might have you believing, the stories of three women in one family: Mary, who has a secret, traumatizing past she wants to keep secret; Autumn, who is desperate to find her missing husband, until an old flame shows up; and Taylor, who has her own potentially devastating secret and whose new friend has her questioning her sexuality. Each woman has her own heartwrenching story, and they were interwoven really well. I never actually felt that one took over the others. At the same time, I was a little let down that Taylor's story, which was just as present as the other two, felt a little separate as she chose to spend so much time away from her family. I wish the women had leaned on each other a little more, suffered, grieved, and healed together. But they were all on separate paths that just happened to be woven together quite well.

The description would have me believing this is, overarchingly, a romance. Unfortunately, it simply wasn't my cup of tea. I did love seeing the subtle shifts into it in Autumn, but, at some point, it felt more like a switch had been flipped rather than a full shift. It made it feel a little too sudden. What was probably meant to be heartbreaking and then heartwarming just left me feeling a little cold. I was not a fan of the romance and wish it had been handled a different way. It was, actually, a rather sweet romance, but just not for me.

Instead, I found the family story driving most of the book to be most interesting. Indeed, I felt Mary and Taylor had the more interesting, more compelling stories. They had all the secrets, and the secrets were slowly let out throughout the book. I was just disappointed when some of it felt more like plot points than a natural evolution of the story. But I loved how all the secrets affected the entire family, especially Autumn's son Caden.

I did liked that this book brought in sexuality and prejudices surrounding it. Actually, as a primarily fantasy reader who is accustomed to inclusive worlds, this was a little jarring, and it made me more than a little sad that it is reality. Honestly, I struggled with it because it broke my heart that these are real prejudices real people face. I do wonder if it could have been handled a little more openly, a little more sensitively especially by the other characters, but I also think I'm glad it was included.

The Characters: Three Women, One Family

The Bookstore on the Beach focuses on the three women, but it also had some fantastic secondary characters. They were well-crafted and had stories of their own, lives of their own, worries and concerns of their own. But there were also some tertiary characters that almost completely muddled together in my mind. I was disappointed that Caden was treated in this manner as I think he could have had an interesting story instead of being such a well-adjusted counterpoint to literally everyone else in the family.

Then there's the love interest for Autumn, Quinn. I thought he was adequately complex and kind of interesting, but he also came off as too much of a good guy, almost too perfect. But I liked that he had his own history that was, admittedly, kind of nutty. Unfortunately, he just didn't win me over, so that might explain why his and Autumn's romance made me feel cold.

But the focus of The Bookstore on the Beach is on Mary, Autumn, and Taylor. I really felt for Mary and really enjoyed her story. I think I kept reading because I wanted to know what she was hiding. It was more terrible than I thought, but it perfectly led to her characterization at that point of time in her life and in the story. I loved that it was coming back to haunt her, but also opened her to the opportunity to face and overcome it and prove to herself and everyone around her just how brave she is and was. Autumn was more of a problematic character to me. I think she was meant to have a heartbreaking story with her husband missing, but I felt like I missed out on most of her anguish, instead getting mostly a sappy Autumn who just jumped into a new romance. Overall, I felt she regressed back to adolescence and was barely functional as a mother until everything just fell on her head. But then there's Taylor, sweet, confused Taylor who cares deeply and is fiercely loyal. I loved everything about her. She was strong, but scared, yet had a strong backbone that a solid, happy childhood provided her. But she is deeply confused through most of the book and dealing with a huge secret that really impacted how she interacted with the other characters.

The Setting: A Quaint Seaside Town

The Bookstore on the Beach is set by the sea in a cute little seaside town called Sable Beach in Virginia. Everything about it is meant to be idyllic and beautiful. The why all comes down to Mary's past, so I found it easy to picture a picturesque town with a beautiful blue, glittering sea. One thing I found interesting, though, was that the characters constantly noted how hot it was, but, as I live close to beaches in Southern California, there seemed to be very little ice cream in sight? Maybe it's just me, but ice cream and summer and beaches usually go together.

Anyways, I loved that much of the story is set on the beach. It felt relaxing and beautiful and made me want to go to the beach. I loved how well it transported me to warm sands and blue water glistening in the sun. Nothing more idyllic than that! I just wish more attention to detail had been given to the town itself as I got a lovely sense of community, but had to make up most of what it looked like. I also wish the bookstore had played a larger role in the story, though it felt like a perfectly lovely place to quickly pick up a book. It felt more like an escape to the main characters than an actual place of business sometimes and I couldn't help wondering what it's bottom line was like.

Overall: The Family Story More Interesting Than the Romance

Overall, The Bookstore on the Beach has it's strength in the family part of the story. Mary and Taylor definitely had the more fascinating story lines that kept me reading while the romance was cute, but definitely not my cup of tea. This book has a lot in it, and I fear it may have overwhelmed the real exploration of Autumn's story and romance. I think I wanted more anguish from her, more conflicted emotions. It was just too neat and perfect, which made the ending not fall on a heartwarming note that made me smile. Honestly, I think there might have been too much packed into this story, but some good things were explored.

Thank you to Justine Sha at MIRA for a review copy and the opportunity to take part in the book blog tour for The Bookstore on the Beach. All opinions expressed are my own.

Wow! I have so many feelings about this book, I don’t know where to start. This is a big, emotional family story with its viewpoints from three generations: grandmother, mother and daughter being the main protagonist! I loved it! I became so immersed in the entire story, and was never quite sure how it was as going to end. Mary is the grandmother who has lived quite a life, and also has suppressed that life for so many years that even her daughter does not know her story. Autumn is Mary’s daughter and her story starts this entire novel. I had so many feels for Autumn and her challenges, and I was rooting for her to get her HEA the whole book. Taylor is Autumn’s 17 year old daughter, and her challenges throughout this book were just as well fleshed out. I think what I love most about Brenda Novak’s books, (and I have read them all) is how well she crafts her characters. By the time I have finished reading, I usually feel as if every character in the story is a good friend. What a wonderful, emotional, family story. Thanks to Netgalley and the author for allowing me to read this book for review.

Brenda Novak delivers a delightful multi-generational novel that explores the relationships of a mother, daughter, and granddaughter and a story that manages to be part mystery, part second chances, and a part coming of age tale. I was immediately drawn into the story and found myself anxious to get back to it when I was forced to put it down for the sake of sleep.

The story centers around Mary Langford and the life of her daughter Autumn, who has returned home for the summer with her teenage daughter Taylor, and son Caden. The family members are plagued with personal insecurities, secrets, and loss. Mary contemplates her monumental secret as to who Autumns' father is, while Autumn and her children grieve their missing husband and father. Over the course of the summer visit, they are all challenged to face facts, move forward, and take chances. The character arc's in this story are truly outstanding and the way they come together in support of each other is heartwarming. While I clearly loved this read, I was a little conflicted with how Autumns' story was resolved. But Novak wrapped it up nicely and I found that in the end, it made sense and I was good with it.

This book should be on everyone's summer reading list. 4.5 stars and recommendation