I love a good historical fiction book this was what I was looking for a light easy read.

Mari is brought to Martha vineyard to paint with a famous artist that keeps her secrets to the rest of the resident of the island but welcomed in Mari with a story to tell.

During ww2 the island is taken over as a training facilities by the army. Where we meet the smith girls, Candace and Blair and Bess, Candace bestfriend. When Blair who is obsessed with anything war type see a German u boat off the coast she calls it in and is-consider a liar since it’s never saw. When Candace starts a book club with Bess to help the ladies keep there minds at bay and help the boys fighting, a mysterious guess washes ashore is he friend or foe and how the two intertwine help bring this book to light.

I LOVE Martha Hall Kelly's writing since I first read Lilac Girls. Her latest novel is a good beach read, even if you're not on Martha's Vineyard this summer.

The story marries WWII with the present day on the island. First, we meet the Smith sisters and their brother's fiancée. Of course, they are the haves and have-nots, with family pressures not to forget where you came from. The Smith's brother becomes a Ranger and goes off to fight. A U.S. military training unit is on the island, and one of the main characters spots a U-boat. The book club becomes a bonding for the women on the island. And book distribution to the soldiers is a tangible way for the women to contribute to the war effort.

The present-day artist Mari is about to get married, but she wants to have a last-minute painting class across the country before the big day, and solve a mystery about her recently deceased mother. Can you feel my sarcasm? Ms. Kelly lost me here!

The resolution to bring the past with the present was done fairly well; I expected more.

Thank you to the author and the publisher, Ballantine, for the ARC.

This historical fiction is much more than an book club! The reader is pulled into dual time lines, 2016 and WWII. Wonderfully written, good character development, nice balance of time lines. A very moving story. Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this one! I’ve been on World War II reading streak lately anyway, and this was a welcome addition. There was way more action and excitement than I was expecting!

The story is built around two sisters, Cadence and Briar, living with their grandmother on her farm on the island. Their brother is fighting in the war, and his pregnant sweetheart is there with them. There are many true-to-life details woven in, including the small versions of novels called Armed Services Editions. I also gained a heightened appreciation for the way those people needed to be constantly aware of the possibility of German spies in their midst. The battles went on in the homeland too!

There was a definite surprise at the end and I wasn’t expecting it. I’d like to read more from this author!

Four wonderful stars!

I received a copy of the digital ARC via the publisher and NetGalley. My review is voluntary.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review, and honestly, this was very entertaining! If you have read Martha Hall Kelly’s previous series, Lilac Girls, you will know that she wrote them based on the real life efforts of Caroline Ferriday to save a group of Polish women subjected to horrible medical experiments in WWII. This time, Kelly has turned her talents to the history or her own family, to excellent effect, weaving a tale populated by the generational residents of Martha’s Vineyard and the summer visitors against the backdrop of spies, lurking German u-boats and an Army encampment. The fact that there is a book club is just icing on the cake! It is also a coming of age story told from the perspective of dual timelines. Great summer read!

Wonderful story that jumps from WW2 on Martha’s Vineyard to today. I learned so much about the role the island played in training our soldiers for the invasions in Normandy. This book had it all! Mystery, romance, history and a cast of fabulous characters. The author’s note was so interesting. It was like another book in itself. It’s been a while since I’ve read a historical fiction book I’ve enjoyed this much. I think I’ll go back and re-read Lilac Girls.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not normally a huge fan of historical fiction, but I've been trying to branch out to new genres. I'm so glad I did because this book was wonderful. It definitely made me want to read more books in this genre.

Full disclosure- I read this book while I was anchored in a bay off Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard. That said, I do believe I would have loved this book no matter where I read it!

2016: Thirty-four-year-old Mari Starwood is still grieving after her mother’s death as she travels to the storied island of Martha’s Vineyard, off the coast of Massachusetts. She’s come all the way from California with nothing but a name on a piece of paper: Elizabeth Devereaux, the famous but reclusive Vineyard painter. When Mari makes it to Mrs. Devereaux’s stunning waterfront farm under the guise of taking a painting class with her, Mrs. Devereaux begins to tell her the story of the Smith sisters, who once lived there. As the tale unfolds, Mari is shocked to learn that her relationship to this island runs deeper than she ever thought possible.

1942: The Smith girls—nineteen-year-old aspiring writer Cadence and sixteen-year-old war-obsessed Briar—are faced with the impossible task of holding their failing family farm together during World War II as the U.S. Army arrives on Martha’s Vineyard. When Briar spots German U-boats lurking off the island’s shores, and Cadence falls into an unlikely romance with a sworn enemy, their quiet lives are officially upended. In an attempt at normalcy, Cadence and her best friend, Bess, start a book club, which grows both in members and influence as they connect with a fabulous New York publisher who could make all of Cadence’s dreams come true. But all that is put at risk by a mysterious man who washes ashore—and whispers of a spy in their midst. Who in their tight-knit island community can they trust? Could this little book club change the course of the war . . . before it’s too late?
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I really liked this historical fiction book. It took me a little bit to get the different perspectives figured out but once I did I found all of their stories interesting. I had a hunch how the present day characters would tie in, but that story ended up being much smaller than the main one. I liked learning about the history of WWII in relation to Martha's Vineyard. The book was pretty fast paced and I ended up reading it all in one afternoon!

I really loved The Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club! I'm adding a visit to the Martha's Vineyard Museum to my bucket list.

The book begins in 2016 when Mari takes a trip to visit a reclusive painter on Martha's Vineyard (as a result of finding some info after her mother passed away). The painter retells some wartime history to Mari, that brings alive sisters Briar and Cadence from Copper Pond Farm from the 1940's; most chapters alternate between these two sisters ... with an occasional chapter from Mari.

I've heard about German submarines on the east coast, but this book brings those stories to life.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Ballantine Books for approving my request to read the advance read copy of
The Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club
A Novel
by Martha Hall Kelly
in exchange for an honest review.

approx 336 pages, published June 2025

Also many thanks to Jane in my local non-fiction book club for pointing out to me that this book was written by the author of Lilac Girls. I had missed that.

Also ... in the afterward or acknowledgement, a friend of Martha Hall Kelly mother said her mother would have loved this book. I agree.

What a pleasant story! While the end was not overly surprising, the content of the story was entertaining enough to want to finish quickly. Being based in Martha’s Vineyard, definitely gave an accurately descriptive setting. The relationship with the sisters and Bess was just wonderful and definitely one people can relate to.
Thank you NetGalley for sharing this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC, I enjoyed this book with my whole heart! Martha Hall Kelly is easily one of my favorite historical fiction authors, and I'll always be in line to read her next book. The Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book club was a mixture of wholesome moments, interesting details about a region I know little about and its involvement in the WWII era, great character development, mystery, and suspense. We meet Gram, Cadence, Briar, and Bess- living on an old farm on the island. Briar was one of my favorite characters, she's not afraid to speak up even in the face of people thinking she's just a silly young girl. She and her sister Cadence are forced to be independent when many of the men they were related to or grew up with go off to war. Their close friend Bess also must learn to evolve in this changing atmosphere. The three of them plus Gram face adversity, mystery, sadness and moments of silver linings, but all along develop an even stronger sisterhood with each other (which is what I love about Martha Hall Kelly's books). The setting is lovely, and i learned some surprising facts about that region when I researched events mentioned. Give this lovely book a read, hopefully you'll love it as much as I did!!

The story starts in the present day when Mari Sherwood gets an invitation from artist Elizabeth Devereaux to study on Martha’s Vineyard. The 1942 timeline focuses on sisters Briar and Cadance Smith who live with their Gram on Martha’s Vineyard. Their dear brother Tom is leaving for the war and the sisters, along with Bess, Tom’s almost-fiancé and Cadance’s best friend decide to form a book club to keep themselves occupied.. A contingent of soldiers is stationed close by to their farm, overseen by Major Gilbert who Cadance has a love-hate relationship with. Briar, known to the locals as “Briar the Liar” for her seemingly false U boat sightings, ends up finding a German soldier washed up on their beach. He tries to convince them of his wish to defect. But is he really a spy with strong ties to the German subs frequently seen at night off the coast? He does offer to help the sisters work their fam, but can they trust him? A cast of local characters is thrown in to help round out this fast-paced story. Be sure to read the author’s notes at the end to discover Kelly’s ties to the area. My thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for access to this ebook in exchange for my honest review.

This was great on audio with a full cast. Dual timelines and perspectives. Set around WW II and with an element of mystery.

A slice of American history that is rarely told. The clash of the permanent residents and the rich tourists was so well done. Seeing that the labels doesn’t always define the people made for interesting. The romance was the least interesting part of the book. With so few chapters about the modern timeline line I kind of lost who they were but found the ending to be marvelous.

In the beginning of the book, Mari is traveling to Martha’s Vineyard to meet a famous painter named Elizabeth Devereux. Mari’s mother just passed away, and she is trying to uncover some of her past. Mrs. Devereux begins to tell the story about the Smith sisters named Cadence and Briar, and their grandmother, Ginny. These sisters decided to start a book club for women the war. The book club ladies end up designing books small enough for soldiers to bring with them to war. These ladies face several challenging situations and are fCwd with adversity but end up pulling through because of their love for each other. Mari starts to think she is somehow related to these women and decides to stick around for a few days to hear the end of Mrs. Devereaux’s story. The book switches between characters but it done with elegance. I enjoyed the characters in this story and thought the book was very well written. Well done Martha Hall Kelly. Thanks to Net Galley for the advanced copy
of this book.

Amazingly I have been reading a number of 5-star books recently, but this one has left me with quite a book hangover. I doubt that I will be able to choose another book that provides an equal impact on me. Of all the historical fiction that I've read about World War II, I find that I enjoy the ones with a homefront theme the most. Not only did I learn so much from the fictional story, but also the author's personal story that inspired her to write this book. It was especially fascinating to learn about the Hitler youth-type camps operating here in the United States, including my own state of Wisconsin, I appreciated the way that the author presented the two timelines without constantly alternating back and forth between the two time periods. I look forward to reading more from this author. Thanks to NetGalley, Random House/Ballantine and the author for a copy to read and review.

Unfortunately, I just couldn’t get into this book. It moved too slowly for me and there weren’t any real stakes I could get invested in, at least not early enough for me to stick with it. The writing was good, but the pacing was off. I DNF’ed at about 25%.

What started out as a fun easy beach book soon turned into a suspenseful murder mystery as well as a sentimental family drama. This is also a WWII hysterical fiction novel. Once again the author, Martha Hall Kelly, has produced a nostalgic and inspiring story for her readers.