The cover of this book deceived me!! In the best way!!! I loved this novel. It had aspects of mystery and intrigue and a good tension throughout. There were complex character relationships, very good twists, and while some parts of the plot can feel a little bit audacious, as it can get a little bit fantastical, it never left me feeling like the author was taking it too far. It all lined up and made sense and, in the end, worked out really well.

Traci married into the wealthy and well-known Eddings family, owners of the luxury St. Cecelia (aka the Saint) hotel/club/resort (not sure what exactly to call it? but it's fancy haha). Her late husband died in a plane crash and so for the last 4 years, Traci has been running the Saint independently, much to the chagrin of the Eddings family. She knows the Saint is in financial trouble and she's doing everything she can to try to pull it back up out of the red, but there are secrets and scandals that she and her new employees are going to uncover that take this summery-looking beachy/poolside read into mystery & suspense territory. Romance is listed as one of the primary genres of this, but it really wasn't a driving point of the plot line and there really wasn't a lot of room for it with all the twists that were being thrown at the reader with murder, drug use, embezzelment, and infidelity running rampant! I was fully invested the entire time and this is one I would recommend to all readers. I'm really excited for a chance to read another Mary Kay Andrews book in the future. This one really sold me on her writing!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this book! :)

Andrews has done it again with a great summer read. Tracie was a great character and she was the perfect boss to her staff. She had some wonderful creative ideas on how to hire new employees. I so enjoyed Felice and Olivia as amateur detectives. This had family drama, romance, a mystery, young and old characters. A good beach read, fast page turning.

This was a fun beach related book. The story surrounds the coastal hotel The Saints. There are old family dynamics, an old controversial accident, and a new mysterious situation.

I really enjoyed this book and the story in it. It was well written and engaging. It starts out with learning the history of the hotel and how there was a tragic death there. One of the former lifeguards marries into the hotel and is now running it when her husbands dies. The hotel isn’t as successful as it used to be and there might be some stuff going on that she isn’t aware of.

I have had very few five star reads this summer, but this was one of them. I loved the setting of the book, a true beach read! I loved watching Traci fight for the place she loved the most, as well as fight for past friendships and family. The mystery behind the failing hotel was revealed slowly, and it kept me wanting more, this book was hard to put down!

Another great book by Mary Kay Andrews. A fun story around a lavish hotel with great characters.
Traci grew up along the coast of Georgia where she came from a modest background. One summer Traci and her best friend, Shannon, get a job at The Saint as lifeguards where she meets her soon to be husband, son of the owners of the luxury hotel. Now twenty years later Traci is running The Saint after her husband dies in a plane crash. Traci tries new ideas to recruit staff including her niece for the summer Her brother in law objects, things don’t go as planned, a murder takes place on hotel grounds and her father in law passes away which leaves the inheritance up in the air. A little bit of everything from romance to mystery. Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin’s Press for the advanced copy in excavation for my honest review.

Best Mary Kay Andrews yet!!

The Saint refers to St. Cecelia, a high-end resort and the people who come here. The "Ain'ts" can't afford to come it but can be employed here. Traci Eddings, the main character, worked here years ago, but later married into the upper-class family who owns it Her husband has died so she now runs the resort, but her greedy brother-in-law wants her to fail She has to hire and oversea the summer help whom she's hired,and what a bunch they are! The tragic death of a special employee and attempt to determine who killed her is not the only mystery in this book. The well-developed characters face compelling challenges of opioid abuse, racism, sexual violence, family drama and a little romance combine to make this one of Mary Kay Andrews' best books yet!

Thank you to Net Galley for allowing me to read and give my honest opinion of this book.

The Saint Cecelia is a grand hotel and property with mega rich members and guests. Traci worked there during her youth as a lifeguard, and somehow ended up marrying one of the Saint’s owners. His family wasn’t very supportive of her, and when he died they made her job of running the Saint harder and harder for her. When Traci is getting ready for another busy summer season at The Saint, her niece begins to notice a bunch of shady things going on. Unfortunately, murder and mayhem follow. This was a great book with a little bit of everything: mystery, romance, deception, and relationships years in the making.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Loved the story, the beach hotel setting, and the mystery. Another great book by Mary Kay Andrews.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

Can I really say that this book was not amazing? Of course not. Mary Kay Andrews writes the perfect summer book. Love the setting and the characters. Such a perfect book for your beach bag.

This was a great pool/beach read to kick off summer. This hit all the marks for high drama - mystery, murder, secrets, messed up families. I enjoyed all the twists and turns! Thank you so much for the ARC!

I normally love Mary Kay Andrew’s books. Summer at the Saint was just okay.

The plot had potential but for me, it fell short on the execution. There were too many POVs to follow. I would have preferred only having Traci and her brother in laws POV. I do get why the other POVs were included so we could see the issues at the saint was wide spread.

The overall I liked Summer at the Saint but for a Mary Kay Andrews book it fell short.

Summers at the Saint is set at and around the St. Cecelia Hotel on the coast of Georgia. It is lovingly referred to as "The Saint" and those who used to stay there were a "Saint", the others and the workers were an "Ain't". Traci Eddings was an Ain't who worked there and ended up marrying the bosses son. Her husband has died and his father is also at death's door, so she has been doing everything she can to keep the hotel profitable. Unfortunately, her brother-in-law has other plans and is trying to sabotage everything she does. In a last ditch effort, she pulls together a staff to work the summer with plans to turn it around. Someone else is causing problems with staff, and product, but can Traci figure it out. With a long ago drowning, a fire, a death and more, will all the mysteries be solved and Traci be able to save The Saint and her inheritance from her husband.

This is a tough book to categorize. It is women's fiction story, but there is a mystery, some romance, reconciliation and coming of age for some of the workers. The story is told from various POVs as well as some flashbacks. Parrish, Traci's niece plays a huge role in this book. She has no use for her father, and accepts Traci's offer of a position at the hotel. She is a smart cookie and I was rooting for her to sort out who was causing problems and possibly skimming from the hotel. The other two young women who lived in the bunkhouse were also great characters. They wanted the hotel to succeed and did all they could to help. When one of these young women end up dead, the other two begin to investigate what is really going on, putting themselves in danger. With all this going on, Traci meets someone that she finds herself interested in, so there is some chemistry and romance in the air. I really enjoyed this story and the twists that came throughout. Just a warning that there is a lot of swearing in this one, but it is realistic conversation, so I was able to deal with it. I recommend Summer at the Saint for a great summer read

I loved The Homewreckers, so I was excited to read this book as well. I felt like it was pretty slow to get started and I had a hard time following which characters were related to who at first, but maybe that was just my ADHD kicking in. Once we got into the mystery, I found myself really enjoying the book. It seems like it's a simple little beach read at first, but there is so much more to the story. Just make sure you understand that before picking this one up!

I loved this book so much that I did read it in one day. It was a true southern book, with me being from the south, I loved it! I would definitely recommend this book,.

Traci grew up an "ain't " working for the Saint a resort in her home town. When she marries into the family of the wealthy owners she is never quite accepted. When she becomes the CEO of the Saint she encounters many roadblocks and is not sure who to trust.. After a tragic murder at the club there is a mystery to solve and a little romance.

This was one of my most anticipated reads for 2024 and it did not disappoint. Most of my experience with MKA is with her Christmas books that always put me in the Christmas spirit with their Hallmark movie vibes. I was expecting something like that with this but it was definitely more of a mystery vibe to it. The employees that work at the Saint are anything but saints. There’e a lot of serious shenanigans and mischief happening behind the walls.

Tracey started running the Saint with her late husband Holk when they married. Before that she was an aint instead of a Saint, and was employed as a lifeguard. The Saint has been in the blank family for many years. Tracey has tried her best to execute Holk’sl visions for the resort while trying to placate his brother, Rick and very ill father, Fred. The rest of Holk’s family, with the exception of Rick’s daughter Parish, resents Tracey’s involvement in the family business and they do everything they can to set her up for failure.

Tracey reconnects with an old friend and has a new flame during hte story. There were some shocking events that really kept me on my toes early on in the book. MKA, was sassy in this book with the language and that surprised me some too.. By the end of the book I was hoping there me be another book with some of these characters that I came to love!

Mary Kay Andrews does it again. A fully engaging story full of plot twists that kept me on my toes. A perfect beach read!

Thank you Netgalley for this arc

This is another fun summer beach read by Mary Kay Andrews. She has done it again with a summer romance that also has a mystery.

Traci Eddings has spent most of her life at the Saint, first as a worker, then as a member of the family after marrying into the life, and currently as the CEO. She is trying to save her business and hotel when a tragedy strikes, causing decades old mysteries and skeletons to come to light.

This was a great beach read and I highly recommend it.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advanced e-copy of Summers at the Saint by Mary Kay Andrews.

Traci Eddings has spent her entire life either at "The Saint" or wishing to be there. The St. Cecelia Hotel is a luxury hotel on the coast of Georgia, and is steeped in tradition, privilege, and old money. Traci started out working there as a teenager and eventually fell in love with and married the heir apparent to The Saint dynasty. The two worked together to modernize the resort and maintain it as the premier destination for their very elite returning vacationers. However, after Traci loses her husband to a terrible accident, the hotel begins to flounder. The pandemic caused a decrease in travelers for a time, but Traci is hopeful that this summer will be different. She comes up with innovative ways to attract staff, including providing residential quarters, and begins recruiting the best candidates she can find for her high level vacancies, including her niece Parrish. Parrish's father, Traci's brother-in-law, is livid that Traci has convinced her to give up traveling abroad and work at The Saint for the summer. He and Traci have never gotten along, so he blames her for his daughter's decision to stay at home. Traci continues her hiring coup by enlisting the daughter of her estranged best friend, and a homeless chef. She has one summer to save the hotel and the legacy she and her husband have built; however, a past mysterious death, her vindictive brother-in-law, and new a new tragedy might thwart any efforts to save the St. Cecelia from ruin.

Southern summers are Mary Kay Andrews specialty, and the suspense she includes in this one adds an interesting twist to the story! I love reading Andrews books because she has a way of sweeping you away and taking you on a lovely ride. I feel this book is definitely different from her usual fare, so if you are normally a suspense reader, but are looking for something not quite as heavy as Gone Girl, Summers at the Saint is a great summer pick!