Julianne MacLean is one of my favorite authors. I never miss a chance to read one of her books. She makes the characters seem real and you feel like you are right in the story with them. She keeps you guessing too with different twists and turns. Her characters are believable. If you have never read her books, I urge you to give any one of them. I never read any I didn’t like.
I was f given an ARC and this is my honest opinion.

“Anything would be better than this hell I was living.”

What an interesting premise - a plane that goes missing in the Bermuda Triangle and how the aftermath affects the pilot’s wife.

Spanning 30 years from 1986 - 2017, we follow Olivia and Dean Hamilton and have a front-row seat to view their dating and subsequent marriage, their desperate struggle for a family, and Olivia’s devastation at losing the love of her life. Dean is a pilot for Gibson Air which operates a fleet of private luxury aircraft all over the world. His disappearance in the Bermuda Triangle is baffling and understandably heartbreaking.

Melanie Brown is a particle physicist who studies the Bermuda Triangle and is trying to solve the mystery of why planes go missing in that particular area. She’s recently come to Dr. Robinson for grief counselling and gets tangled up in a forbidden affair resulting from erotic transference.

This slower-paced contemporary fiction has three narrators; Dean, Olivia and Melanie. All three of them will cross paths at some point in the novel. By giving each of them a voice, Maclean is ensuring that we get the full picture. The author explores what happens when we find ourselves at the mercy of someone who wants something from us as well as the weighty responsibility and pressure we feel to make someone happy. Her most in-depth examination, though, is into how grief can affect a person’s ability to move on.

I liked Maclean’s spotlight on the different responses to grief. It’s good to be reminded that we all experience it differently and spend different amounts of time at each stage. When Olivia learned of her husband’s demise, I had certain expectations of how the plot was going to change direction. I was wrong! I hypothesized that Melanie’s PhD project might answer Dean’s disappearance, but I was wrong! Maclean teases her readers and then surprises them with twists they didn’t see coming. There was only one section where I felt like a kid in the backseat of a car … “Are we there yet?” “How much longer?” … and that was during Melanie’s therapy sessions. Trudge through it. It’s necessary. I didn’t see the ending coming.

I was gifted this advanced copy by Julianne Maclean, Lake Union Publishing, and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this eARC.

Dean, a pilot, is married to Olivia Hamilton. He disappears over the Bermuda Triangle while alone in an airplane. Melanie Brown is a particle physicist who studies the Bermuda Triangle for her dissertation and was a patient of Dean’s when he was still working as a psychiatrist.

The story covers the period from 1986 to 2017, over thirty years, but did not get bogged down by too much unnecessary writing.

Olivia gets a visit from police detectives and begins to realize that Dean is not the man she thought he was.

This is my fourth book by Julianne MacLean, and I have enjoyed them all.

This will keep you reading because it is intriguing, mysterious, and just captured my attention from the start. Who is Dean? Julianne MacLean, tells us his story, and it is interesting not only learning but figuring out who, he really is. As I thought I had Dean figured out, I had to say, no way. Then comes something else.
I received an ARC from Lake Union Publishing through NetGalley.

It was a quick read and not unenjoyable, but not nearly as strong as These Tangled Vines or A Fire Sparkling. The story felt rushed, a lot of the dialogue felt cheesy for lack of a better word (for example, “oh my stars!” As well as dialogue between characters). I don’t feel like enough time was felt in character the development. The author told me the plot rather than showed me a story. All of the relationships felt pretty one dimensional. Sadly, it will be easily forgotten for me. 2.5 stars.

Beyond the Moonlit Sea is a book that is about two women who are both somehow connected to the Bermuda Triangle. Olivia is married to Dean who is a pilot. One day his plane disappears somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle. She has to move on with her life because it doesn't look like Dean is coming back. Melanie is a physicist who is writing about the Bermuda Triangle. I love how the author brings these two women together who seem to have something in common. I did not see this ending coming!

This story was amazing. I read it in one sitting because I was dying to know what was going to happen. This book is about Olivia Hamilton who is married to Dean a pilot but he vanishes over the Bermuda Triangle. It is so weird that so many unexplained things happed around there. Melanie Brown is a particle physicist who studies the Bermuda Triangle. The two women bond together and I don't want to give spoilers but it was a very good read and I hope you read it.

I really enjoyed this book and how the story evolved. I liked all the characters and even felt sympathy for the predicament that Dean got himself into. Great plot twist at the end and how it was told. I guess my old slight complaint is that I wish there had been something tied to the Bermuda Triangle as a reason for why he disappeared.

I started reading the authors “Color” books many years ago and can say she never disappoints. Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher, I was able to read an early copy. I stayed up late to finish it as each chapter had me curious what will happen next. I loved Olivia’s character. She was strong and resilient in all she endured. The characters definitely pulled at my heart strings. Julianne has become a favorite author and I always look forward to what’s coming next.

Written in dual timelines, Beyond the Moonlit Sea (I love that title!) is the story of two women and the man they loved.

When Olivia Hamilton’s husband disappears into the Bermuda Triangle after flying a rich socialite to a secluded island, her life is turned upside down. For years, Olivia and Dean have tried to get pregnant, and only achieve success after Dean is gone, leaving Olivia devastated.

Four years earlier, particle physicist Melanie Brown is studying the Bermuda Triangle for her dissertation, but when her mother dies, she hits a roadblock and goes to see a charismatic therapist for help- and falls madly in love.

As the story progresses, we learn Dean is not the person we think he is, and Olivia and Melanie have an unexpected connection.

This was an interesting, twisty read but I got bogged down here and there with the internal dialogue. Overall, a good mystery.

This was a fascinating and unique novel…. loved the scientific aspect and thought the author did their research on the Bermuda Triangle and transporting you the reader to the early 90s. It’s definitely not a light and fluffy beach read but will grab you with the storyline.

A Fire Sparkling was my first ever book by Julianne MacLean, and it made me not only say, but also promise to myself that it surely won't be the last book I will read by her.

And so, my journey with her books had begun.

While These Tangled Vines didn't satisfy my picky reading necessities, her latest book, Beyond the Moonlit Sea was such a sight for sore eyes. It was definitely not her best work, but it kept me entertained until the very last page.

I won't elaborate or retell the content of the book, that sounds pointless. But I will mention a couple of pros and cons, so you will get a clearer image of what to expect of this book.

The multiple POVs were just fine. If we saw the whole story through Olivia's eyes, this book would have been another one in the sea of many similar wom-lit novels. Dean and Melanie's sides of the story didn't change much but succeeded in adding that special spice that made everything more colorful.

Was it predictable? - You bet.

But did I enjoy it? - Surely did.

It was a pleasant read, the one you need on a boring Sunday afternoon.

I loved this Julianne MacLean book, Beneath the Moonlit Sea! What an interesting read that had me wondering til the end how the story would come together.

I, too, have always been fascinated by the Bermuda Triangle and thought that this topic was such an interesting storyline throughout the novel. How MacLean is able to create a character so lovable regardless of his faults and questionable acts in Dean, I have no idea. The way the two storylines were woven into one cohesive plot was just so well done. I absolutely loved and felt for Olivia’s character; her heartbreak and lack of closure until the ending, which I loved by the way!


Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of this book.

This book pulled me in from the very beginning and kept me hooked all the way through. The ending had a slight twist and was very satisfying.

Olivia’s romance and marriage is shattered when pilot husband Dean’s plane goes down in Bermuda Triangle.

Chapters are told by alternating characters. Really loved the writing style, just enough detail to keep the story moving quickly. I could see this being an intriguing movie.

Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for allowing me to read this book.

Julianne MacLean is an author I've been wanting to read for awhile now and I'm so glad I finally got the chance. I love her writing style! I must do a shout out to a great Canadian author too! (Woot Woot!!) 🇨🇦 I really enjoyed the story and the writing flows easily from one timeline to another.

The timeline of the story changes from 1986 to 1990 and well into the later 1990's. It then goes into 2012 and ends in 2017. It's a story that follows the life of Olivia Hamilton. She is a young wife and her husband is a pilot and he goes missing in the Bermuda Triangle in 1990 and is presumed dead. The story also goes back to 1986 when a lady named, Melody Brown is seeing a therapist and also writing her dissertation on the disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle. Both these stories will later intertwine beautifully.

This was an entertaining story that spans over time. There's a lot of emotional feeling in it. It's mostly a historical fiction story mixed in with some romance and a mystery. I think this would make an excellent BookClub selection. I'd like to kindly thank NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for granting me access to this Advance Reader Copy.

This book had a lot of depth to it. Loved the storyline.

Thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.

I thought this was a good book! It’s both a love story and a mystery. I’ve always been fascinated by the Bermuda Triangle too. It was a quick hard to put down book.
I enjoyed it!
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy

This book didn't do anything for me. The story seemed to drag on and i just couldnt care about any of the characters at all.

This book was sent to me electronically for review by Netgalley. This author has woven a story of intrigue with a predictable ending…the characters, for the most part, are likable. The story moves quickly…no boring slowing down…. Mystery at the core of this story…moms and daughters…husbands…death…DNA results…siblings…if anything could be different In this book, I would have liked to have known more about the family during the intervening years..…that being said, I imagine the author left those details out to reach the future with DNA to move the story along…don’t miss this read…I look forward to more from the talented author.

Having really enjoyed Julianne MacLean’s last two books I jumped at the chance to read her newest title. But to be honest it took me awhile to decide how I felt about it. Overall, Beyond the Moonlit Sea was a good book. The storyline came full circle by the end, I guess I just didn’t love the “story. “