This was really good!  I loved the setting, and the addition of the surfing storyline, I felt like I was learning something new and it felt like I was there at the beach with the characters.  

Ultimately this is a story of redemption, family ties, with a little bit of a happily ever after tied in.  Very well crafted, a delight to read, and a very satisfying beach read.

This women's fiction novel has all the wonderful characterization and sense of place that I have come to expect from Susan Wiggs, but the structure felt a little disorganized to the point that the two timelines felt like two different books. I did like the way the past informed the present, but it would have been less confusing if a stronger connection between the two stories had been established earlier on. Still, this was a solid summer beach read, and I do recommend it to fans of the author.

Beach read book great for summer. The setting definitely screams beach but I had a hard time with the fact that I felt the story jumped all over the place.  It’s a character driven novel so if that’s not your thing I don’t think you’ll enjoy it. I will commend the author for wrapping up the end. Overall I liked it but didn’t love it.

Every town has its secrets... In idyllic Alara Cove, a California beach town known for its sunny charm and chill surfer vibe, it’s graduation day at the elite Thornton Academy.  Nikki was a townie scholarship student and shocked the audience with some truths that no one wanted to hear.  She left town and didn't look back.  Now 15 years later her dad and sister need her and she needs a place to recover from an accident.  One old friend welcomes her, the rest of the town is holding a grudge.  Can she make a difference again?  Family and romance along with small town politics make this an enjoyable read.

This is a good book. The two main characters are Nikki and Cal. They have known each other all their life. Nikki goes away to surf after graduation and comes back fourteen years later. She runs into Cal right after she comes home. Cal is a police officer. They start dating. They each have some issues but together they work them out and fall in love.

Welcome to Beach Town
Author Susan Wiggs
Available now! 

Thank you, @uplitreads, @williammorrow, @netgalley, and @susanwiggs, for my #gifted copy of another perfect summer read! I have read several Susan Wiggs novels and can now truly appreciate her talent for writing emotional novels filled with themes of love, second chances, found family, and perseverance. In the heart of many of her novels is a woman who is met with challenges, learns of her strength, and pulls through in a graceful and inspiring way. 

Welcome to Beach Town is set in Alara Cove, California, an affluent coastal town that's known for great surfing. Nikki Graziola, a local, is attending the elite Thornton Academy on a scholarship and proves her worth and intelligence by becoming the graduating class's valedictorian. However, during the last few months of her senior year, a devastating tragedy occurred and was mishandled in order to protect the school's most wealthy and influential families. Nikki can't just stand by and watch this injustice; she must do what is right, not what is easy. And this decision will cost her everything. 

Now, with a drastic change in her future's plans, Nikki leaves Alara Cove and starts over. She falls in love, becomes a competitive surfer, and once again, is met with an unimaginable tragedy. Seeking refuge and solace in her hometown from her father, Nikki, once again, struggles to rebuild her future. And here in her unique hometown, she finds people and places that were there all along - she just didn't notice them in these ways in the past. 

Here, she begins to find her true purpose, and let herself be supported by people who have always loved her. Truly a story of second chances, bravery, and of love, Welcome to Back Town is a novel of healing, fighting for what we believe in, and of starting over.

Don’t let the cover fool you on this one, it’s not a light beach read, but one  steeped with heartache, loss, found family and ultimately hope.  Check the trigger warnings if you are sensitive to some before reading.

Synopsis:
Nikki Graziola is a local girl in the idyllic Alara Cove, California.  Her father runs a trailer park and is a local surfer.  She is on scholarship at the exclusive Thorton Academy and winds up earning the spot of valedictorian.  Nikki uses her time on stage to call out the injustice of her best friend’s death that is being covered up by the school.  This revelation pits Nikki agains the wealthy movers and shakers of Alara Cove, stripping her of her chance to go to college.  When one door closes another opens and Nikki is offered a chance to make it as a professional surfer in Australia.  Unfortunately this ends in heartache for her and she ends up years later back in Alara Cove to face her past. Old friendships, rivalries and a budding new romance draw her back into her old familiar life.  

My thoughts:
This was a beach town read with a lot of substance.  The first part of the book felt YA because we meet Nikki when she is graduating from high  school but the rest  felt like a journey of second chances and finding your way in the world when you have always felt on the outside .looking in.  Don’t miss this compelling summer read.

Susan Wiggs delivers a captivating story, unveiling a picturesque California beach town's hidden secrets and the ripple effects they cause. The revelations of hidden secrets and their far-reaching impacts keeps readers engaged. While the pacing seemed sluggish at certain points, hindering the story's flow, Wiggs' talent for crafting stories of redemption, friendship, and unexpected romance shines through, making it a rewarding and enjoyable read. Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for allowing me to read and review.

What says summer read more than a book with beach in the title? And this beautiful cover! I believe this is my first read by this author and I was pleasantly surprised. I expected a summer fluff read and I got more than that.

Nikki’s life has been tough and just keeps getting a little tougher. The reader get the parts of her life that were impactful before telling the story in the present day. It was an interesting choice to show Nikki’s school and graduation and then jump ahead 15 years to another tragedy.

Nikki is a resilient woman. She is forced to have courage but rises to the occasion.

No matter what you love in a read, this one has a little bit of that for you. Some romance, coming of age, friendship, and parent child relationships.

This is very much character driven and mostly from Nikki’s POV. She makes tough choices and pays any consequences. And bounces back from anything thrown at her. I became very invested in Nikki and rooted for things to turn her way.

What a great read about second chances.

⭐This was my first book by Susan Wiggs somehow, so even though she is wildly popular, I had no idea what to expect!

👀I was thinking maybe a beach romance but this was SO MUCH MORE.

🎓The book starts out with the main character, Nikki is giving her valedictorian speech at her high-school graduation when she goes off script with some big secrets and accusations that throw the whole town into uproar! Truly a #speaknow moment (iykyk) 💜

⏳The timelines jumps around quite a bit to her current crisis and also goes back in time to show us much about how her childhood shaped who she is today.

🏄It all led up to her coming back to her hometown as an adult where she'll have more tough decisions to make to stand up for truth!

I thought the ending was very satisfying and full circle 👏

Overall, I think this is a fun and easy summer read 🌞

Susan Wiggs always has the ability to write a great story and create characters that feel real. I've enjoyed some of her past books as well and am thankful to Uplit Reads for sending me a copy of this one.

This is a perfect summer read. It will have you dreaming of sand and the beach and an idyllic small town. At it's core, this is a story of second chances and never being afraid to live and speak your truth. I enjoyed the story telling and the journey and really just loved reading this book!

I struggled to get into this book, but once I got a couple of chapters in I was good- pretty sure it was me vs the book being the issue.

An emotional, yet heartwarming ride on the pipeline. Nikki Graziola has a bright future ahead of her as an artist and surfer. But during her commencement, Nikki goes off script and reveals a secret about the school that  caused the death of her best friend, causing a major scandal in the school and its community. In its wake, she goes into exile as a professional surfer, where she finds fame, but not fortune. I devoured this book!!

I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review. All opinions are mine alone.

Nikki Graziola grew up in the little beach town of Alara Cove, California in a surfing community with Airstream campers.  She loves art, she loves surfing, and is poised for a great future ... until she stands up to a prep school fraternity after a tragic incident at school.  She makes a new life, but finds herself back in Alara Cove in her 30's, helping her father with his young daughter, and helping him restore the Airstream community.

I wanted to read this novel because it looked like a good summer read, with surfing and the beach community.  I love Airstreams and vintage campers, so that appealed to me too!

This was a wonderful beach read with some real substance, characters I cared about (including Nikki, her family, friends, and love interest).   And I did love the details about the vintage Airstreams too!

I enthusiastically recommend Welcome to Beach Town for fans of beach reads, summer books, small town settings, surfing, vintage campers, women's fiction ... it is such an engrossing and ultimately heartwarming book.

🏄‍♀️ Nikki, a successful student, decides to "blow the whistle" during her graduation commencement speech on some shady events that went down at her private HS. After her big speech gets cut off from angry administration, and HS students are mad at her, she needs  to get away from her hometown as fast as possible.  When the opportunity presents itself, she rides right out of town.  Things don't go exactly as planned, and she finds herself washed back up on the shores of Alara Cove 15 years later, tired and full of grief.  Nikki rebuilds her life among the family and friends that her small community offers and learns to lean into them when things get tough before they get better. 

🏄‍♀️The setting is perfect for summer-Alara Cove sounds like a perfect beach town to visit!  Add this slow burn, character development story to your beach bag this summer! (TW:death and loss)

🌊Kristin Wiggs covers some tough, emotional topics on the pages between her unassuming covers-and this one is no different! Thank you @uplitreads for this #giftedbook in exchange for my honest review♡

Susan Wiggs is one of my go-to authors.  She does not disappoint in this latest story of Nikki Graziola losing it all at graduation, but finding so much more later in life.  The characters and the storyline were both well done.  This one checks all of the boxes for a great summer read.  I am recommending to readers of women's fiction who want both a meaningful story and solid characters.  I look forward to the next book from Susan Wiggs.

Welcome to Beach Town will be a real treat for both new and old readers of Susan Wiggs’s books. WTBT is a well written, emotional novel with characters about whom readers will care. The plot is carefully developed and the locales are well described. As a bonus, readers will learn a lot about surfing, to say nothing of human relationships; there are those of parent figure/child, romantic partners, friends and others whom the characters meet along the way.

The story opens as Nikki is about to give her valedictory address at high school graduation. This poor student at a prestigious private school changes her planned remarks at the last minute. Why does she say what she does? How will this decision impact the rest of her life? Pick up this novel to find out.

Nikki grew up in Alara Cove where she was raised by a widowed father and later by an artistic foster mother/family friend. Both of these people had influence on her as did her love of surfing. Readers will get to know others who are important to Nikki as well including her foster sister and close friend Cal as well as Nikki’s first love.

Nikki faces both tragedies and good moments in these pages. As a reader, I longed for her to find happiness and hoped that Ms. Wiggs would not disappoint in that respect. Well, read the story to find out for yourself.

I highly recommend this book. It is one of the author’s best. Library Journal agrees and gave it a starred review. They state: Fans of the prolific Wiggs and of strong women protagonists will stay up all night to finish this speeding bullet to the best-seller list.

Many thanks to NetGally and William Morrow for this title. All opinions are my own.

𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐓𝐨𝐰𝐧
𝐁𝐲 𝐒𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧 𝐖𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐬
𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫: 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐦 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝟔.𝟐𝟎.𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑 𝘖𝘶𝘵 𝘕𝘰𝘸!

Thank you @uplitreads @susan_wiggs_ and @williammorrowbooks for a spot on tour and a #gifted book.

Talk about a perfect beach read! 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐓𝐨𝐰𝐧 is set in the small sunny California town of Alara Cove. Nikki Graziola basically grew up on a surfboard and never dreamed that she would be named class valedictorian at an elite academy.

But when Nikki loses her best friend, Mark just before graduation, she knows she must speak the truth, even if it costs her her future.

I loved the small-town coastal atmosphere. And as the book is set up in parts, I felt like this is as much a coming-of-age story as it was a romance. Susan Wiggs weaves in family issues and the town being run by a vile family so the story has depth. There are characters you will be rooting for and others you will love to hate. 

Full of sand, surf, secrets, loss, and love, 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐓𝐨𝐰𝐧 is a great book to spend a #summerday with.

This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart
 

Review copy was received from NetGalley, Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This author continues to impress me with her life fiction with characters who struggle and grow and love, where everything does not go smoothly and joy can be found in unexpected places.  These realistic and imperfect characters are so easy to love.

The setup is classic with the haves and have nots at a elite high school in a beach town.  The haves push the envelope with outrageous behavior because they can get away with it.  They control politics and even law enforcement to get what they want whether it is overlooking criminal behavior or getting land they want for developments to fill their pockets.

Nikki is a girl who grew up with a single dad and foster care.  She was able to make her own way with surfing skills, strong academics, and her art.  She has a scholarship to go to art school but after her friend dies, she can't help but speak the truth as valedictorian at graduation.  So then she falls in love with an Australian surfer and goes on tour.

Fifteen years later, Nikki comes home.  This allows her to reconnect with her dad, who is a single dad again with a two year old, Gloria.  She also has an adult friendship with her art mentor and former foster parent.  The heart of the story is here as she grows in her connections with family and old friends and finds her life and love.  She is still a truth teller though and the stakes are higher now.

I loved the way Nikki kept herself going and worked through problems.  She was smart and not afraid of big ideas and taking a few risks.  It couldn't have been easy to come home and rebuild after losses but she does it with courage.  This author excels at creating characters with  heart and perseverance through challenging circumstances.

Welcome to Beach Town by Susan Wiggs follows Nikki as she grows into the strong woman she was meant to be.