I've never seen the rarefied, well-to-do world in Diane Bergner's ROYAL COCONUT BEACH LUNCH CLUB, but I feel like I've had a seat at the table. The twists and turns and strange turnabouts are familiar to anyone in fundraising and to chasing the big donors -- or paid attention to the savage, tricky, occasionally happy surprises in the torrent of that world. It took me awhile to get into it, but when I did, it read fast -- well done, Ms. Berger!  For me, I deeply enjoy reading about women in business -- whatever the business -- and how they cope with the inevitable disasters. I received a copy of this book and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. 
After struggling to get through this book for months, I decided to finally push through and give it a go. I must say, if it wasn't a Netgalley copy it would have been a dnf for me. 
Having read the author's accomplishments, I expected a lot more substance from her. She is a very well educated, successful woman, but her debut novel seems to be written by someone else. I'm not sure what she was going for, but it wasn't a mystery nor a literary fiction novel. 
It contained lots of fluff, and the characters lacked depth. For intelligent, independent, career-oriented women, their dialogue was very superficial. I guess if you're looking to lose yourself in a book without getting too involved, give it a go. But otherwise, you can probably skip this one.

I was lucky to receive an advance copy of the Royal Coconut Beach Lunch Club by Diane Bergner from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review and opinion.  I enjoyed this book by the debut author and thought she had a great writing style.  I loved the high society references and "mystery".  I am excited to read more by her in the future.

I wouldn’t call this a mystery/suspense but there is sure a ton of drama when it comes to the world of fundraising!!!! The women are a mess and the drama just kept on coming. Even though it was a slow burn and main character goes through it at times, I can say I enjoyed this book. I loved the ending even though I felt it was a little rushed…..

I loved Julia so much this was definitely really interstresting to read took me awhile to finish but was so worth it

Thank you to #NetGalley, the publisher and the author.

I tried to read this book but couldn't get into it.  Not sure if it was the plot or the characters so it was a DNF for me.

Thank you Net Galley for allowing me to receive this book for an honest review.

I looked foward to this books o much because it felt like the scandals in Palm Beach.
I wanted to be a fly on the wall. 
It was a very slow read until the end it picked up.
If your willing to invest the time in reading this book then give it a try.
ortunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.

OMG! This book reads like a soap opera set on luxurious and dramatic beach club full of drama and secrets. Although I caould not relate to the super-rch and their snobbery, I could relate to Julia. Julia is the MC in this book and goes through a lot when she decides to change careers. From lawyer to fundraiser manager, Julia deals with many obstacles. Some of these obstacles make her question her decision, especially when someone tries to sabatoge her job.

I t hought this was a great book read even if many of the characters are unrelatable and unlikable. I look forward to reading more by this author in the future. Recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley, Diane Bergner and Meryl Moss Media Group for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Already available.

This book took me forever to read! I don't know what it was about but I really didn't like it. 2 stars is generous for me. I think the number one thing I had a hard time with was how much jumping around there was with things. One minute we are hearing about some lost check and the next the main character is sleeping with her husband. It just felt like too much rambling. I was excited in the beginning when we got to hear some juicy work place drama but then it just fizzled out for me. Not sure this is one I would recommend to others. I received this book to reivew.

This was a great beach read. In the story we are taken to the world of the glamorous non profits  and clothes matter a lot. There is mystery involved and that was a nice touch. 
Many thanks to Meryl Moss Media Group and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Royal Coconut Beach Lunch Club is the perfect easy read for summer! The light-hearted mystery had the perfect amount of suspense and alluring characters. I will definitely be recommending this beach read to everyone!

Thank you Diane Bergner, Meryl Moss Media Group and NetGalley for an advanced copy in return for an honest review.

The cover and blurb should have tipped me off that is was probably a chick lit beach read type of book - unfortunately it was just too light and frothy for my taste. DNF.

Gorgeous, beautiful written and catchy!! 

This was a surprising reading! 100% love it! 

For anyone who likes a curious and dense story this is your book

The Royal Coconut Beach Lunch Club synopsis and premise of “Scandal meets Real Housewives of Palm Beach” really held a lot of promise for me. I was super intrigued and then found myself wondering where the Scandal part of it came up. It definitely featured the housewife drama, though I wish there was a bit more focus on the Lunch Club aspect of the story. Julia’s life became a bit repetitive through the middle of the story. The last 25% of the book was where all of the drama and intrigue was. 
The story was a clever one, with lots of characters’ lives intertwining in a rich neighborhood in Florida. I can see that this one would be a hit for a lot of people but unfortunately it fell a bit flat for me. 
Thank you to Netgalley and Meryl Moss Media for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is a very easy summer reading book. So much so, I read this sat out in the garden in the sun drinking a bottle of cider. This is the first book I have read by this author, after reading this. I will absolutely be checking more of her work out. 

This is an entertaining beach read mystery type of story. The characters where very well adapted and thought about. Not to deep but it was easy to understand and follow. 
I was entertained. I will be recommending this book to others!

Thanks to Meryl Moss Media Group, Meridian Editions and Netgalley for his free ARC in return for my honest review.

At age 69, I am probably not the target audience for this book, but having not really read any "chick-lit" in my life and few summer beach reads, I felt I should give it a try. While a lot of people are offended by the term "chick-lit" this book sort of hits all the marks for that genre. By that I mean that this is a story about a performance venue called the Addison Center, and is located in the fictitious city of Royal Coconut Beach, Florida. It is a story about 4 ladies who are in charge of Donor relations for the center and what goes on behind the scenes in their lives, their work and their donors lives! Quite a lot to be honest and each chapter is short and specifically on point for the Chapter titles (yes, that is a bit plus for the book, because I love chapter titles!). We basically follow Julia Wild, formerly a New York attorney, who moved to Florida with her husband who was transferred there by his law firm. Julia applies for and gets the job at the Addison Center and quickly finds out that it is more glamorous and scandalous than she expected. Lots of loving, gossip, cattiness and backstabbing going on throughout this book, as we find out someone took a huge donation check from her desk, how someone appears to be setting her up for a fall, and finding out that clothes are so essential in this job! We also have a lot of speculation as to love lives, and affairs (including Julie's husband??), but the book ends with a satisfactory ending for one and all, most especially Julie who has had to navigate this minefield. 
All in all it is not a bad effort by debut novelist Diane Bergner, however the plot gets bogged down with a huge over emphasis on describing the clothing everyone wears, almost every other chapter. We get it after about 4 chapters, and there was no need for this continued emphasis from my personal point of view. But a good job by Diane and hope she has another one planned for next beach season!

Julia Wild trades in her legal career for a job as a high society fundraiser at the Addison Performing Arts Center in glitzy Royal Coconut Beach. The deeper Julia dives into her job, the more she can’t resist the glamorous pull of the high society life style. But Julia had to be careful—her marriage is on shaky grounds, and someone at work seems to be sabotaging her. Good thing she has a close-knit group of friends to keep her grounded. 

Thank you so much @netgalley for the advance copy! The premise of this book was exciting, but I really wasn’t all that impressed by it. It felt like nothing happened, and the one exciting plot point lasted about five minutes and was resolved way too quickly. Julia’s character was super difficult to sympathize with for me; she spent so much time complaining about her husband’s lack of attention to her while not ever trying to truly talk to him about anything or stop working for five seconds to realize that she was also part of the problem. The women’s friendships were a nice touch, but overall this one just wasn’t it for me.

A nice easy summer reading, I would recommend to friends and will definitely read more by the author!

why was this so slow 😭 i really could not get into this book and it took me soooo long to pick it up sporadically and immense willpower to continue reading. everyone in this book is just unlikeable and there wasn't any humor i could relate to :/ too bad because i was looking forward to enjoying this book bc mysteries are my jam

The description of this book and the early reviews I read made me excited to read it, too, however, I do not think this book is the one for me. The author’s storytelling style did not grab me and I found the narrative disjointed and hard to follow. I could not finish it.