A Happier Life
by Kristy Woodson Harvey
Pub Date: June 25, 2024
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
The New York Times bestselling author of The Summer of Songbirds and the Peachtree Bluff series presents a tender and touching novel about a young woman who discovers the family she has always longed for when she spends a life-changing summer in North Carolina.
This one is sooo good!
I highly recommend it for your beach bags this summer but have a few kleenex ready as well.
A HAPPIER LIFE will tug at your heart strings. But it also will put a smile on your face many times throughout the novel, and I believe you will laugh often; because there really is nothing Kristy Woodson Harvey does better than writing conversationally just like you were an old friend at the dinner table: her gift of storytelling is one for the ages!

A perfect summer read full of secrets and heart. It is a multigenerational story set in Beaufort, NC where the author lives. A Happier Life is full of emotions and a family that you will love.

A Happier Life by Kristy Woodson Harvey was the perfect mix of modern beach romance and 1970's dinner party vibes. After Keaton loses her corporate job and boyfriend in New York City, she takes the opportunity to visit the family home that has sat empty since the disappearance of Becks and Townsend Saint James and prepare it to be sold. She ends up learning about her family's history and figuring out what the next steps for her life will be. A Happier Life has everything I love in a good book. I always love that Kristy Woodson Harvey's novels have multiple perspectives and the back and forth between Keaton's current day and the lives of the grandparents who died before she was born kept me enthralled. Of course I always love the addition of an adorable dog and a cute kid. Salt and Anderson definitely delivered in that department. I also loved the Deckhouse Dames, the well-meaning busybodies that befriend Keaton and help her acclimate to her new surroundings. The Beaufort setting, the references to current businesses, and the connection to one of my favorite town events, The Old Homes Tour, added to the magic of the story for me because I could easily picture every scene. If you love Beaufort, books that are a little sad and a lot happy, and you want to see if Keaton finds a love as sweet and magical as her grandparents, then you absolutely need to read A Happier Life!

Dual narrator, two timelines, family drama, some romance, quirky side characters and a little mystery....what's not to like?!? A Happier Life was fun and easy to read and I could see it being a big hit this summer as a great beach read.

A Happier Life is my new favorite book by Kristy Woodson Harvey. I loved the small town coastal setting, the past and present time lines, and multiple points of view. A must have for your beach bag this summer.

Advanced Book Review! Thank you @kristywharvey, @uplitreads, @gallerybooks & @netgalley for sending me this book for review. Opinions are my own.
Kristy Woodson Harvey is an auto-read author for me so I was excited to be selected for this Uplit Reads book tour.
“A young woman discovers the family she has always longed for when she spends a life-changing summer in North Carolina.”
When Keaton goes back to her mother’s childhood home in the town of Beaufort, North Carolina to prepare the house to sell she doesn’t expect to find a house frozen in the 1970’s. After Keaton’s grandparents’ tragic deaths in 1976, Keaton’s mother and uncle never returned to their family house. The book alternates between Keaton’s life in the present and her grandmother, Becks’, almost fifty years earlier. What Keaton finds there will change her life forever.
I loved this book. I love the concept of finding this house, stuck in the past, like a time warp. Kristy Woodson Harvey says this part is based on a true story. I love the descriptions of the house that Keaton calls “a museum of the seventies.”
Through Becks’ perspective, Keaton and the reader both learn about her wonderful life with Townsend, and some of the secrets that died with them. The reader is taken on a journey with Keaton, her brother, and the friends she makes in Beaufort, to try to find out what really happened to Becks and Townsend.
I loved learning about Becks’ life in Beaufort in the 1970’s and the things she loved – her traditions, her committees, her parties. I really enjoyed reading about Keaton getting to know her grandmother through her journals and friends, and keeping Becks’ memory alive in harmonization with her own goals and aspirations, as she contends with her own next steps.
Through it all, of course, is the romance plotline with her next-door neighbor and his adorable son.
I didn't love Becks' and Townsend's ultimate demise but this might be my favourite book from Kristy Woodson Harvey yet.
4.5 stars rounded up to 5 for this review.

Kristy Woodson Harvey always keeps me interested and reading. This one was a good family story with some love mixed in. It had a good cast of characters and was set in a southern town like all her books. I wasn’t crazy about the ghost story aspect and figured out the ending early on but that being said-I still enjoyed this book.

Oh my goodness! This is the best book by KWH that I've read! I love everything she's written, but thought her last one, The Summer of Songbirds, topped them all. This book, A Happier Life, is even bettere than that one.

Keaton is such an interesting character and I loved how she jumped right into getting her and uncle's family home in Beaufort, NC, ready to sell. The mystery of what happened to Keaton's grandparents and the terrible sense of loss and grief her mother and uncle felt led to the home being maintained, but left empty for many years.

I found myself absolutely charmed by the little boy next door to Keaton and his father. All the characters were great, so alive they pretty much jumped off the page and said come be my friend! The way the small town of Beaufort and all her mother's old friends welcomed Keaton was heartwarming and the story of how she slowly found out what happened to her grandparents made it so hard for me to put this book down. I couldn't wait to return to Beaufort and I'll bet other readers will feel just the same.

Kristy Woodson Harvey does Southern Fiction like no other so do yourself a favor and pick up A Happier Life. i think you'll be glad you did!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and publisher for an ARC at my request All thoughts are my own as always.

Kristin Woodson Harvey at her best! The setting of Beaufort, NC is idyllic enough with its gorgeous historic homes, but throw in some family secrets and legendary summer suppers by the one and only Rebecca "Becks" Saint James, and you, my reader, are in for some fun. Having cleared out a family home myself, complete with secrets, I can totally relate to Keaton Smith. Great beach read by one of today's shinning stars, Kristy Woodson Harvey...a must read!

Perfect book, I love Kristen Woods HArvey and anything she writes

Thanks to NetGalley, , and the author for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Great book on family by blood and the family we find and make our own. A book that makes your or forces you to confront the past that was hidden for so long to make sense of the present so you can move into your future. Eyes Wide upon, at times heartbreaking to confront but worthwhile to head through and reach the other side. Worth the gander….

A Happier Life is a sweet story following two generations of a family, told from multiple POVs. The mystery element kept me hooked as Keaton tries to unravel the mysterious disappearance of her grandparents. Getting to know the grandparents through Rebecca’s chapters made me that much more invested in finding out the truth. The characters are well rounded and easy to like. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an ARC read of this great story.

Every time I read a KWH, it just feels like a gigantic hug and this was no exception. I loved the dual timelines, the sweet coastal setting, the characters of each time period and most of all the love stories. Becks and Towns were such a beautiful representation of love and I wish they were real characters that I could meet. Down to the very last moments together, they yank on your heart and have you craving another glimpse of that purity and dedication to each other. I adored Bowen, Anderson, Salt, Keaton and the whole town crew. They were quirky and fun. It was such a sweet story and I’m very grateful to have been given the opportunity to read it.

I was familiar with Kristy Woodson Harvey and found her to be quite charming, but I hadn't delved into any of her works. I'm not usually drawn to Southern authors, as their style doesn't typically resonate with me. However, I found this book to be a pleasant surprise. While it may not be the most groundbreaking read I've encountered, it was undeniably enjoyable, and I would definitely suggest it to others.

I loved this book about 2 generations of women in a family. In present day is Keaton Smith who quits her job over romantic entanglements and finding herself adrift - she agrees to help her mother and uncle by preparing their parent's beach home in North Carolina for easale. The house has been sitting empty since the owners died in a mysterious car accident in the 1970s. When Keaton enters the house she finds it trapped in time - dishes left out, papers sitting out, just as her grandparents left it. As she begins the huge task she meets the ladies of the town - women her mother's age and older who knew her grandmother Becks. She also meets the handsome single father who lives next door.

The chapters on Keaton contrast with the flashbacks to happy homemaker Becks, her grandmother. We learn about her life and reputation and what really happened when she disappeared.

This book was perfect for me - just the right blend of mystery, possible romance, history and beach location! Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read it early!

When things at work take a seriously bad turn, Keaton quits. Lucky for her, her mom and uncle need someone to go and clean out and list her grandparents house down in North Carolina. She arrives a bit broken, but the mystery of her grandparents has been one her mom has always avoided discussing and Keaton quickly. Meanwhile in 1976 Becks and Townsend are planning their final summer dinner party. Becks has some secrets she doesn’t want to share, but as the summer comes to a close she knows she has to.

Ahhh can Kristy Woodson Harvey do any wrong? No. The answer is no my friends. Seriously this woman is practically perfect in every way! I loved Keaton so much, and the crew of neighbors she met when moving into her Grandparents home was beyond fabulous. This book had a little bit of everything, love, heartbreak, mystery, grief, illness, and friendship. I just adored every second of this book. It made me want to move into the neighborhood and join the crazy crew! It’s so hard to write a synopsis or review for this one because the story is so much more than a quick paragraph, but I highly recommend picking it up when it comes out June 25th!

Keaton Smith was jolted by her boyfriend who had been married to her boss and they apparently got back together without Keaton’s
knowledge and a baby was on the way. Keaton didn’t take the “happy “ news any too well and ended up quitting her job and had no where to live. After begging her brother to come stay with him her mother called and asked if she would go to Beaufort NC to clean out her grandparents house and get it ready to put on the market to sell. Growing up her grandparents were never discussed and Keaton knew they had passed away in a tragic car accident.
When she entered the town of Beaufort Keaton stepped back in time 50 years into her grandparents lives. Learning the truth about how they really died and the wonderful rich life they lived.
I can say this is an all time favorite story.
Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery books for ARC of A Happier Life.

Kristy Woodson Harvey is truly earning the title of the queen of the east coast beach read, and her latest beachy beauty, A Happier Life, will easily solidify her spot at the top. A Happier Life brilliantly combines present day with revisiting the past through journals and letters, creating a lovely story of family love and coming to terms with grief, all set in Ms. Woodson Harvey’s gorgeous hometown, Beaufort, NC, If you're a fan of great summertime stories with engaging characters and a thoughtful storyline, you will love this book.

I first read this author last summer and fell in love with her story-telling, and particularly her use of multiple timelines and POVs. I enjoyed the premise of this book: a young woman whose life has kind of come off the rails gets roped into cleaning out an old family home that is basically a time capsule stuck in 1976. But for me, my favorite part of the story is the people in both timelines. The hunky single dad neighbor, the cute and HELPFUL kid, the group of women who descend on our FMC, Keaton, and become her best friends, and of course, Keaton's family, past and present. There's a splash of romance, some family drama, and the mysterious circumstances of Keaton's grandparent's deaths. TW: end of life themes, cancer, dementia. 4.5 stars

I enjoy Kristy Woodson Harvey's books, and I did enjoy this one. However, I found it to be unnecessarily long at over four hundred pages. I enjoyed that the chapters switched viewpoints like her books tend to do, and they left me hanging enough to continue reading. I did feel like there were too many issues among the characters that some of the problems were not resolved.

Overall, I think it is a good read, but it is not my favorite by her.