
Member Reviews

Sydney Ryan is full of surprises of what she is capable of, and as she moves to Florida to help her grandmother, she tries many things, and does many jobs, but she knows she isn't doing what she is meant to be doing. As her life moves forward, she seems to be as surprised as I was at what she can do, and does it well.
Just Beachy is a breath of fresh air, with people of different ages, and a community that comes together for one another. Even reading a book that is written about the ocean, and hearing the waves through the author's words, made me sigh and nourished my soul.
I received an ARC from Berkley through NetGalley and this story, on a dark, rainy day, made me feel I was on the beach in Florida.

Just Beachy by Wendy Wax is such a warm, honest celebration of friendship and the strength women can find in each other and themselves. The story flows effortlessly, and I was hooked from the start. It was both uplifting and super engaging. Honestly, such a great read. I’d totally recommend it!

Just Beachy by Wendy Wax takes place in Treasure Island Florida - a place I have vacationed many times over the last 25 years. It was very fun to read a story set in an area that I know so well. I also learned about a restaurant that I've never been to but definitely will the next time I'm there.
Sydney has just been cancelled from the TV show she's been on for over 10 years. She's played tough cop Cassie for so long that people that see her immediately recognize her but many don't realize it's just a role she plays. She's hoping to lay low with her grandmother for a bit until she figures out her next move.
But laying low is pretty difficult when there's action all around. She's not in town for 5 minutes when she stops a robbery at a bar. Now her Grand's place has been broken into more than once. Sydney quickly learns that the skills she learned pretending to be a cop are helping her in real life.
She's also reunited with an old crush Luke who is now a real life cop and still dreamy. Grand also has a new love interest. Life in Treasure Island is good. If only she could figure out her next career move.
I really enjoyed Just Beachy especially the setting. It's got action and romance (spicy!), mystery too. I will say that I felt some parts of the story were confusing. I even looked into seeing if this was a second book in a series to see if that's what I was missing. Don't get hung up on who's who as some characters don't really seem crucial to the story line. Definitely a book that will be great to read this summer no matter what beach you are on.

A fun read and a great book to either read on the beach or anywhere else this summer.
My absolute favorite character was Grand because she did what she wanted and kept her lips zipped about a heavy secret for six decades. I loved the come to the mountain dressing down she gave to Luke and Sydney.
I was jealous,of Sydney because I wanted to live in the condo by the water, work in the new bookstore, and have Luke, the hunky cop!
I thought the scenes at the Harley bar with the various troublemakers was hilarious along with Luke at the gun range.
I also liked the updates of the beach buddy gang!

This book really nailed the cozy mystery romance vibe. I loved the location and the characters were fun, quirky, and. Hilarious. The relationship between Sydney and her grandmother was really cute to see, and I like the way the other characters interacted to make the story complete. I did not read the other books by this author said in this location, but I do not think that decrease the enjoyment of the book. Fun summer read !

In the mood for a quick cozy mystery this summer? Toss this one into your beach bag. It’s fun, flirty, a bit far fetched, and ultimately fine. Just fine. It doesn’t pretend to be anything other than that. I love a book that knows what it is.
Sydney Ryan is an actress who unceremoniously learns she’s being written out of her long running police series. Not just that; she’s been blackballed by a vengeful A-lister. With no jobs in sight, she packs up her car and heads to Florida where she ends up moving in with her slightly eccentric and quite stubborn grandmother, Grand. But Grand has a secret and keeping it is getting dangerous.
Relying on her Hollywood crime solving skills and her rekindled relationship with high school crush, Luke, a real life police officer; Sydney turns amateur detective. There are laugh out loud moments, outlandish moments, and a few steamy moments.
All in all, this is a light read that doesn’t require an emotional attachment. It’s the book equivalent of s summer fling.
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.

I went in blind with this book. I've never read any of Wendy's books, but I am SO glad I got to read this one early all thanks to Netgalley!
This book has romance, family drama, mystery, danger, and two strong bad a__ women characters who are Grandma and Granddaughter!
If you enjoy fast paced books with a little mystery, intrigue, and romance then this is your summer beach read!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!
----------
After losing her long-time acting gig on the hit show Murder 101, Sydney Ryan decides she needs a break from Hollywood politics. She heads to Treasure Island, Florida where her grandmother has been visiting and now refuses to leave. Sydney’s plan to lie low for a bit quickly goes awry though, as she is swept up in her grandmother’s now flourishing social life—Grand not only bought a new house in Casas de Flores, she’s also helping her neighbor Myra open a bookstore in Pass-a-Grille. But when someone breaks into Grand’s house repeatedly Sydney realizes her grandmother is keeping something from her.
Determined to ferret out the truth and protect her grandmother, Sydney enlists the help of the Ten Beach Road ladies and Luke, a local police officer who was once her high school crush. While Sydney puts her television crime-solving skills to the test, she decides to act on the sizzling chemistry between herself and Luke. And as Sydney spends more sunsets toasting to true friends and new romance, she begins to wonder if the sun is setting on her time in Hollywood and if this town could be the dawn of a new chapter.
----------
I was so excited when I learned that a new Wendy Wax book was on its way! And when I found it was going to bring us back into the world we were first introduced to in the Ten Beach Road series, I was ready to do a little happy dance. After all, how often are you given an opportunity to return to a beloved series year later to check in and see how the characters are doing? This book does introduce also a whole new cast, and they are just as delightful as our friends from Bella Flora. Wax brings us what seems like a mystery novel but is really so much more. This is a celebration of women's relationships, both family and friendship. We get to meet strong, independent females who remind us that women can do anything when they work together. We get some comic relief, some NSFW bits, and some swoony romance thrown in. Most of all, we get to enjoy that Wendy Wax is back writing the kinds of books we love from her.

Thank you NetGalley, Berkley Publishing Group and Wendy Wax for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I was excited for a quick relaxing read. At 300 pages, it was quick and while I enjoyed aspects of it - there was a lot of skimming parts that felt out of place and awkward scenes.
Is this part of a series? Keep bringing in characters and referencing history and storylines that don’t really move this story forward so I’m guessing they’re from previous books but I didn’t see any books liked to this one on Goodreads or NetGalley.
Sydney, our FMC, is an actress on a popular police drama. At the beginning of the book, she learns that her character is not only being written off the show but going out in a less than ideal way. She is also being black listed by someone (from a previous book?) so getting another job is not looking good. With nothing holding her in California she decides to visit friends and her grandma in Florida.
There was so much going on and so many side stories that went no where.
There was far more than a lazy beach romance…kidnapping, bar fights, guns, repeated break ins, opening a bookstore.
The sex scenes were awful. Almost clinical and overall awkward. I’m always team open door - but in this situation I would have preferred closed door.
Overall, it wasn’t for me but I’m sure it would be more enjoyable for others.

Spirited, enticing, and witty!
Just Beachy is an amusing, engaging tale featuring the unmoored actress Sydney Ryan who, after being dumped from her long-running series, heads to Florida to hang out with her grandmother, only to discover that something sinister is going on and she may need some help from her old high school flame to figure out exactly what it is.
The prose is light and sweet. The characters are intelligent, relentless, and impulsive. And the plot is a flirty, entertaining blend of friendship, family, chemistry, attraction, tricky situations, self-discovery, family, intrigue, happiness, and romance.
Overall, Just Beachy is a charming, humorous, breezy tale by Wax that did a wonderful job of mixing a sliver of mystery with some lighthearted, romantic fun.

The perfect summer, beach read! A little Hallmark, a little sauce and a lot of fun for this story set in a coastal Florida community. Sydney loses her acting job in LA and decides to visit her friends and grandmother -Grand- in Florida while she figures out her next steps. This book includes characters from Ten Beach Road, but you don’t have to have read that to totally love this one!
Sydney ends up living with her grandmother and it’s a good thing she does. Stolen art, break ins , boyfriends for Grand and Sydney help this book moving with lots of fun.
I always look forward to Wendy Wax’s next book and this one did not disappoint
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkeley for this digital copy. This review is my own opinion..

This was a quick moving book. It was nice to revisit people and locations we met in previous books.
I liked Sydney and Grand. They made me laugh out loud a few times. It was a good added little mystery and the romance was kinda hot. It’s a perfect beach read.

Following a career setback, Sydney escapes to Florida to help her grandmother, only to become entangled in a local mystery. While investigating, she rekindles a high school romance and questions her future in Hollywood.
What fun! This women’s fiction has a romance subplot and an intriguing mystery. The book is smart, funny, and fast-paced with likable characters.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Wendy Wax's "Just Beachy" caught me off guard with its sneaky depth hiding behind a breezy romance facade! The witty banter and charming small-town vibes whisked me away, especially when the locals hilariously mistook Sydney for her TV alter ego, "Cassie Everheart." While the sparks with Luke were more like a gentle flicker, the mystery surrounding Sydney's grandma and a vanished painting cranked up the suspense dial. All in all, it was a sun-soaked escape perfect for a beachy day. Big thanks to Berkley for the review copy.

A light cozy (no murders) romance set in Florida that will be welcomed by Wax's fans. Sydney was written off her tv show so she decides to go see her grandmother, as her own mom asked her to do and discovers that there can be happiness beyond Hollywood, especially is an old pal is now a police officer and pretty hunky. Someone has been breaking into residences on Treasure Island and Sydney, despite Luke's discouragement, is determined to find the villain. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read for, well, the beach.

Just Beachy had me laughing from the start! And... it takes place in one of my favorite Florida beach towns so I was all in! It did get a bit muddled in the middle when lots of characters from previous books showed up and, in other places, it felt pretty light, but, overall, the humor and mystery were sweet.
Sydney has just been written off the popular detective show she’s been on for the past five years. (It’s really funny when she reads the script and realizes what’s happening.) She’s being replaced by a younger actress and her character, Cassie, is sent off to rehab, never to return. She decides it’s a good time to visit her best friend, Kyla, in Florida and, at the same time, her mother asks her to help out her grandmother (Grand) who is also in Florida.
When she gets there, she plans to just meet Kyla for a drink but everyone in the bar recognizes her and treats her like she’s Cassie, the character from her TV show. They ask her if she should be drinking (her TV character is in rehab) and there’s a lot of humor throughout the story with people thinking she is the character she plays on TV instead of a real person. While she’s at the bar, she manages to break up a robbery and then she’s surprised when the officer who shows up at the scene is Luke, her high school crush.
She ends up seeing Luke again because after Grand moves into a new townhome on the beach, her home gets broken into several times. Luke wants to protect Sydney and Grand and works to uncover who’s behind the break-ins while Sydney wonders if Grand may know more than she’s letting on. Meanwhile, Grand’s best friend, Myra, is opening a bookstore and Grand and Sydney help her paint and fix it up. Myra offers Sydney a part time job at the bookstore, the bar offers her a part time job as a bouncer, and, as she stays in Florida, things between her and Luke heat up.
I loved the setting of the story. It takes place along St. Petersburg Beach (on the Florida Gulf Coast) from the Don Cesar Hotel in Passe Grille up to Treasure Island. I have been there often over the years and one of the highlights for me was seeing the characters stop into some of my favorite places along the beach and enjoy meals and good times.
The book does suffer from sequelitis. In the middle of the book lots of characters from the author’s previous books showed up and I didn't know--or really care--who they were. I also found the pacing slow although it picks back up as Sydney and Luke began to uncover the mystery of the break-ins.
I think readers who love the beautiful West Florida landscape will enjoy Just Beachy as will those looking for a lighthearted story with romance and a little mystery.

Fans of the author will be thrilled with this book as it is very resonate of her other books in the Ten Beach Road series.
I myself was not a huge fan of this book. I read it, and finished it, but I didn't LOVE it. So much of this story didn't make sense to me, especially the part about the bookstore. It's almost like the author added that in to ensure that Sydney could end up with a job/reason to stay. And in this day and age, are there THAT MANY people who honestly believe actors are the characters they play? That joke seemed to go on and on too many times to be credible.
There were so many things about this book that were over the top, so nothing worked for me.
Also, the art storyline seemed familiar to me - it's very similar to The Summer Swap by Sarah Morgan.
All in all I am glad I did not purchase this book, but fans of the author and those looking for a quick vacation read will probably enjoy.

Sydney Ryan was living in Hollywood with a steady job as a detective on a TV series. Except they just wrote her off the series. Her mother is calling wanting her to come to Florida to help get her grandmother to pick out a retirement community.
It seems everyone in town thinks that Sydney is really the drunk character she was playing when her detective career on TV ended. Now Sydney runs into Luke a former friend from Atlanta now living in Treasure Island, Florida as a local police officer. When Sydney starts running into trouble in town Luke is always showing up at the scene. When it seems that her grandmother has been keeping secrets and has already bought a condo in town and someone needs to stay and keep an eye on her. When someone breaks into her Grands condo, she puts her detective skills she learned acting to work to find the criminals.

Thanks to Berkley for an advanced copy of Just Beachy by Wendy Wax. I adored the Ten Beach Road series so was excited for a new book by Wendy Wax.
Just Beachy is a standalone, but mostly set on Treasure Island, where we see some of our favorites from the Ten Beach Road series.
This is a cute summer book with a little mystery.

I have been a fan of Wendy Wax since she started 10 Beach Rd series. I was excited for this new installment and getting back with "old friends". I have never been disappointed in her stories or characters and that continues. I especially enjoyed Grand and that just because you are older does not mean that you don't have a good story.
This will be a great read for a weekend or beach. My only disappointment is that the end left me wanting to know how the romance and lose ends turned out but I am hoping that might mean another book is coming please.