Powerful, emotional, and a little heavy; this one is a fantastic read. You really don’t want to miss this one. The multiple POV in this book were perfectly done, and you won’t want to put this book down.

There was sooo much to love about this family drama set over the course of one summer as a mother and her two daughters grapple with new love and life-changing illness. When Bryan gets diagnosed with an incurable brain tumor his wife and daughters' lives are turned upside down, especially as the tumor suddenly affects his personality causing the man they all loved to quickly disappear.

This book does such a great job showing the difficulties of caring for a loved one suffering from a chronic and debilitating disease. Brain tumors come in all shapes and forms (not all fatal) but unfortunately for wife Margot and daughters Evy and Liz, this tumor turns out to be fatal for Bryan.

Told in alternating POVs between mother and daughters, we learn how the diagnosis affects each person differently. Margot sees it as the opportunity to escape from the couple's vacation rental business that has kept her tied to their seaside town. Whereas the two teenage daughters choose to distract themselves with romantic relationships and uncovering lost letters between their parents.

Written with heart, humor and incredible insights about chronic illness and the often invisible burdens placed on family caretakers. As a survivor of a brain tumor myself I related to this story deeply and found it completely different from the usual women's fiction summer fare. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance review copy!

**Many thanks to Shelf Awareness, NetGalley, Scribner, and Katie Runde for an ARC of this book!**

Can you remember the wistful feeling of your first kiss? The buzz of the cicadas in the air during those last final days of summer, where the start of school felt so close and yet so far away? The steady din of the carnival rides fading slowly as the moon rose above you? Perhaps even the gentle crashing of waves beneath the boardwalk as your sandals smacked against the weather-beaten wood?

And have you ever had to lose someone. you loved...slowly, and with no way to stop it?

If you answered yes to ANY (or all!) of these questions and are in the mood for an emotional, tragic, funny, and memorable summer read...the Shore is absolutely the book for you!

Brian and Margot are TRULY living the dream. Close to the idyllic Jersey Shore, the two rent out nearby properties through their real estate company, and of course have easy access to the nearby boardwalk and the beachy shore themselves. Daughters Evy and Liz have always been content to call Seaside home, and also share the sort of special bond that only sisters can understand. However, their reality shifts dramatically when Brian is diagnosed with GBF, a rare brain tumor, that puts a ticking clock on the rest of his life. As the tumor progresses, all three women grapple with the struggles Brian faces on a daily basis as he becomes a completely different person, and each try to help him find his way back to himself again.

Evy and Liz are balancing these struggles with the everyday ups and downs of teenage life and young love, and with a future ahead of her that will not include Brian, Margot questions whether life will be possible in Seaside without him...or if it's time to move on from everything she knows. When fate inevitably takes its toll, what will happen to these three women without Brian? Is there more to his story (and Margot's) than Evy and Liz ever realized...and can they connect with Margot on an even deeper level, or will Brian's death send these women away from Seaside-and each other-for good?

It seems strange to consider a book centered on trauma and family drama (at least in part) a summer beach read, but The Shore manages to tick so many of those boxes. I was simply BURIED in nostalgia...and I've never even been to the Jersey Shore! This novel encapsulates all of the hallmarks of summer, from the summer fling, to the carefree days spent wandering the boardwalk, and even the casual feel of your first summer job like setting up beach chairs or working at a diner. All the while, Runde dives deep into family dynamics and how we deal with trauma differently, and I absolutely loved all three women. Margot, Evy, AND Liz are all narrators, and each of them brings something different to the table. I loved the exploration of the sister relationship between Evy and Liz, how they each interacted differently with Margot, and of course, how they all came to interact with Brian. Other than feeling a bit old at the 'Dad Rock' I apparently enjoy (Pearl Jam and Fleetwood Mac..and a special shout out to Ben Folds, my son's namesake! :)) it was interesting to see how the relationships evolved as time wore on.

Runde's attention to every last detail was spot-on, and I was so sad to leave these characters and say goodbye to this family. This is the sort of book that sneaks up you, where you don't even realize quite how invested you are until it ends. Like those last fading days of summer, the nostalgia, heartbreak, and longing you'll feel while reading The Shore, much like that first kiss, first heartbreak, and first loss, are destined to become etched in your memory in their own unique and indescribable way.

4 stars

What an incredibly beautiful book about heartbreaking loss, love, and family. The dad in this family has a Globlastoma tumor. I was drawn to this book for this very reason as my father has a Glioblastoma tumor. While I didn't grow up on the New Jersey shore, I do have two sisters and like Liz and Evy in this book, we are each other's life support as we traverse this new territory in my father's health. From the opening dialogue I was in tears of understanding and connection, and I highlighted so many passages in this book because they resonated with feelings and circumstances I can relate to in my own life. I felt so very understood! I also felt like it was an honor to be given insight into this family's pain and grieving process. Reading the story from three POVs (the mom and two daughters) had me in all the feels, and relating to each of them from all the different versions of me I have been in my 51 years of life. I thought this book would be nothing but pain, but I also felt joy, frustration, and relief, as this book is so much more than pain., Just like real life. Margot, Liz and Evy are all doing the best they can and I enjoyed them all for different reasons.

Katie Runde's description of the Boardwalk and Seaside allowed me to escape to a place I have never been, with vivid imagery that had me smelling the ocean and feeling the salt air as if I were right there on the beach boardwalk. I have added the Jersey Shore to my list of places to visit and think when I go I will choose the month of September as the summary of Seaside that is written in the book made me feel very peaceful, and I longed to feel that peace.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. I live in Iowa City and will get the chance to hear Katie speak this evening and I cannot wait to meet her and thank her for sharing such a beautiful story with the world.

3.5 ⭐ for this debut

If you're looking for a light beach read, this is not it. Not sure why it's marketed that way, maybe because it takes place on the beach. It deals with some heavy topics.

I love multiple POV's and here we get 3 as we follow the story of Brian and how his family deals with his brain tumor and life after he is gone. We get 2 chapters told by Brian and I wish there were more ~ like how he was dealing with what was happening to him.

Margot is trying to keep the household and their rental business afloat while living with a husband that is slowly, then rather quickly, becoming unrecognizable in mind and body. Luckily she can always count on her two teenage girls, Liz and Evy. They help out with the business and work as many hours as they can on the boardwalk for the summer. I really like the sisterly bond between them as they figure themselves out. They are always there for each other and I don't think they fought at all.

There were a couple big invasions of privacy that I didn't really like. I do wish they felt like they could talk to each other and not have to be sneaky. I suppose that was part of the grieving process as everyone does so in their own way, but I wanted more sadness from all of them.

Overall, some parts were slow going for me, but I would give this author a read again.


⤵ I wrote this before I finished the book ⤵
(I am not very familiar with brain tumors, but I feel like the author did an excellent job of showing what it is like to live with someone suffering from one and in turn the effects it has on the family as a whole.)
I am so glad I read the author's note that told us that she knew exactly what it felt like since her father had the same tumor.

The Shore by Katie Runde is the story of summer. A family living in a tourist beach town endures life like the seasons. Summer is the season of overcoming.

Brian and Margot Dunne have two teen girls, Liz and Evy. The family lives in a getaway town that tourists flock to every summer. The events of this summer are life-changing.

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.

The past, present, and future come together in a heartbreaking story that celebrates life's ups and downs. It's brilliant writing.

I wish I could say more, but you will have to read the book. I'm not one for spoilers.

A book for everyone. It hits all the right spots: love, hate, coming of age, sexuality, illness, death, despair, and the return home.

A wonderful book that tackles a variety of issues that arise within a family who are trying to keep it together following the father’s brain tumor diagnosis.

The Dunne family live in Seaside, New Jersey. Brian and Margot are happily married and have two daughters, Liz and Evy. This story details their lives from Margot, Liz and Evy's perspectives as they deal with Brian's cancer diagnosis. There is a lot to take in and the plot isn't overly clear, but you will feel all kinds of emotions as Liz and Evy try to convince Margot to remain in Seaside after Brian's death.

4 out of 5 stars. Thank you Scribner and NetGalley for an e-arc for honest review.

What a beautiful book this is! Sisters Evy and Liz, and their mom Margot, tell this story of the summer their father and husband Brian dies of a brain tumor. Set in New Jersey beach town with all the feels (the candy shop where Evy works and the umbrella/chair stand where Liz works, cleaning the rental properties), it's very much a coming of age story as well for these teens. Brian and Margot's relationship started in the same town back in college; they married and created a vibrant business of rental houses and apartments. Now though, Brian's tumor has taken over and he's, to put it mildly, difficult through no fault of his own. Margot finds solace of sorts in an internet chat board which Evy discovers - and creates a persona to join and use as a medium to talk to Margot in a way they can't in real life. Everyone realizes but doesn't acknowledge that they've already lost Brian and Margot is planning a future the girls don't want but then... There are so many small things in this novel that make it sing, even through the sadness. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. Runde writes from the heart. Highly recommend.

I won't be reviewing the book. Instead, I will leave a review for the audiobook. It's a great story and I will definitely be giving it 5 stars. Thank you for sharing!

Maybe I wasn’t the right audience for this book but it was just meh. It was so mundane and boring I was so distracted the whole time. I didn’t like any of the characters. They did the same exact thing everyday. I thought we were gonna get more of Brian and what’s been going on with him, but I feel like he’s barely mentioned. It seemed like the family hated him, but maybe it was them trying to live a normal day to day? Idk I’m not sure. And I’m sad about it because I grew up by the shore and going to seaside when I was in high school so I thought it’d have some nostalgia, but it lacked everything for me.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Set over the course of one summer, this perfect beach read follows a mother and her
two daughters as they grapple with heartbreak, young love, and the weight of family
secrets.
The Shore is a powerful, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting novel infused with
humor about young women finding sisterhood, friendship, and love in a time of crisis.
This big-hearted family saga examines the grit and hustle of running a small business
in a tourist town, the ways we connect with strangers when our families can’t give us
everything we need, and the comfort to be found in embracing the pleasures of youth
while coping with unimaginable loss. Highly recommend.

Family dynamics, coming-of-age stories, heartbreaking drama, all set in the city of Seaside Heights on the Jersey Shore? Sign. Me. Up.

As a life-long Jersey shore vacationer (lower shore cities), I knew I wanted to read The Shore by Katie Runde, and I am so grateful to NetGalley for an eARC. If you're looking for a summer-themed, family drama that will leave you in your feels, look no further!

We alternate our POV between Margot (mother), Liz and Evy (daughters) as they work through the last summer of their patriarchy's life. Brian (dad) has a degenerative disease caused by a tumor that is slowly taking his life and turning him into a person none of them know. Through this summer, our three leads are trying to maintain some level of normalcy while still processing their grief and deciding how to move forward when the time comes. Our sisters are in high school, and despite their father slowly slipping away, they are still dealing with the regular ins and outs of being teens (first times, boyfriends, girlfriends, friends, partying, summer jobs). But those traditional milestones definitely look different in the light of the heaviness their young lives are also dealing with. Mom on the other hand is grappling with the desire to flea the home that will remind her at every turn of her previous life with Brian, or stay and live in peace with those memories.

What I loved about this story is the complexity and flawed nature of our three main characters. Their decisions may not seem logical to an outsider, but grief plays such a crucial part in these decisions and Runde does a wonderful job at humanizing our characters through their flaws. I also absolutely adored that Seaside became a secondary character. In a lot of ways it was living and breathing through these women and we see how a hometown really does become a part of your identity.

This was a beautiful story and very enjoyable. I can see The Shore being a hit this summer and making quite a home for itself on shores everywhere as a go-to beach read.

As I said, it's much deeper than the cover might portray, taking you behind the scenes of the medical appointments and odd scenes in public, and putting you in the shoes of the family members themselves. A scary diagnosis is not welcome by anyone, nor wished on another, but the reality of dealing with it is so much more than just the medical care. It's in the every day decisions on how to deal with the changes in the person you've known and loved. It's in the alternation of daily routines so that constant assistance is available to watch over the other. It's in the thought that taking a moment to yourself is stealing time because, while in a way it is, no one should have to feel guilty for having a moment, nor would the person your caring for want you to feel that way, even if they can't relay that to you. Speaking of them, what about the person afflicted with these changes? I mean, we know the care and steps that are being taken are to benefit them, take care of them, provide for them, and make them more comfortable, but how debilitating it must be to feel that your freedom, your decisions have been taken from you.

Don't get me wrong, Brian was by no means perfect, but neither was Margot. They built a life together, for better or worse, but no one ever knows what that worst scenario may look like. Their daughters, Liz and Evy, help take up the slack, never complaining, but never actually being able to sort out their lives without a constant timetable running in the background. They're going through all of this just as much as their parents, while still trying to grow up and find themselves. Bad choices are made, as are some good ones, but the stress it puts on them all is unfortunate. Dealing with one or the other is more than enough for any person...but the strength of this family unit really shines through as they make their way towards an ending that's equally filled with new beginnings.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Scribner Books for gifting me a digital ARC of this beautiful debut by Katie Runde - 5 stars!

Margot and Brian own a rental home business in Seaside, New Jersey, and have two teenage daughters, Liz and Evy. When Brian develops a brain tumor, all their lives are changed forever. Suddenly, the business is too much for Margot and the girls, who have to figure out caretaking of Brian as he changes from the man they all loved.

This is a gorgeously-written novel - one that showcases old love and first love, family, grief, sisterhood. It's a character study of what it means to be human with all those messy emotions, a coming-of-age story of teenagers discovering themselves while losing where they came from. I loved spending time with this family and will be missing them and thinking of them now that I finished the book. I loved the glimpses of the future that the author sprinkled in so that we would have faith in their journey. Although it's a touch subject matter, i highly recommend spending time with the Dunne family. I can't wait to read more from this author.

Many thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
The Shore may look fun and cherry but it's an emotional rollercoaster of a read. I loved it - I laughed, I sobbed… wow, what a wonderful character-driven debut!
Over the course of one summer in Seaside, NJ, the book follows a family which owns multiple rental properties in town. Brian, the father, was diagnosed with a glioblastoma multiforme tumor the past October, which affects his personality making him alternate between being a jerk, a toddler, etc. His wife, Margot, is trying to hold everything together, managing their properties and helping guests enjoy their stays while also trying to babysit her husband through the end. 16 year old Evy and 17 year old Elizabeth are working quintessential beach jobs (selling candy and renting umbrellas) and helping their mom with the property turnovers and supporting their dad, forced to mature in ways their friends don't understand.
Having grown up in NJ and spent a summer selling ice cream on the boardwalk in Wildwood when I was 18, I had some nostalgic moments while reading. And as someone with a close father-daughter relationship, I felt many of Evy and Liz's emotions as if they were my own.
If you're looking to invest yourself in an emotional read and become intimately acquainted with this family, I recommend The Shore, which will be available 5/24!

Solid 4 stars. Such an emotional story - I had to take my time reading it. I was torn between wanting to finish it and never wanting it to end.

Thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher for early access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book surprised me with its intensity and the weight of the topics it deals with. I wouldn't recommend it as a light and airy beach/summer read, rather go into it understanding that it will be an emotional story about family, illness, death, and grief. It is easy to read though and moving as well.

The Shore by Katie Runde was a heavy read about a family navigating a family member's illness and death, and the effects it has on them.

This is a very emotional read so be prepared for it to get to you because it will. It will make you cry and will haunt you for some time afterward.


This book is heartbreaking, heartfelt, and written beautifully

A sweet and salty story about the impending loss of a loved one and all that comes with it—exhaustion, longing, laughter, and the fear of what happens next. The Shore is both a big-hearted beach book and a guide for grieving. For fans of Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney and Katherine Heiny.