A quick trip back in time to the beginning of a new young love.

"Under the Gulf Coast Sun" is a lovely historical romance by author Skip Rhudy and features the young adult surfing culture of mid-1970s Port Aransas on the Texas Gulf coast and the beginning of one made-for-each-other couple’s relationship. Connor O’Reilly and Kassie Hernandez had met the previous summer when she and her family were vacationing in his hometown of Port Aransas. Hitting it off, they’d kept in touch when she and her family had returned home to Midland through heartfelt letters, sharing their hopes and dreams as they completed their senior year in high school. When summer returned, so did Kassie, an event that the shy, inexperienced surfer boy Connor had dreamed about all year. Now faced with the reality, he’s filled with self-doubt that this beautiful girl whom every guy in town wants would want him, believing instead that she is out of his league.

What a good story! Connor is a genuinely nice guy and falls hard for Kassie. But with his recent history, the departure of his mother with a lover to pursue her own dreams, which didn’t include her only son, he’s got trust issues. Watching other guys hanging around and trying to catch Kassie’s eye is particularly difficult for him.

Kassie, whip-smart and with a full-ride scholarship to UC San Diego in hand, is certain Connor is different from other guys, interested in her for their common interests and not just for her hot physical attributes. However, his differences could be a two-edged sword, and she worries that her interest in him could divert her from her plans for the future. Thankfully, they eventually talk about their concerns, but not before there is a BIG MISUNDERSTANDING that causes a course correction on their journey to a HEA.

Told from multiple points of view, readers are privy to the inside skinny on the characters’ thoughts, feelings, and true motives. There’s a bit of repetitive “is she really into me” thinking on Connor’s part, but that seems to be a result of the emotional fallout from his mother’s actions. Kassie both abhorred and enjoyed the attention her physical appearance attracted, but she was only 18 years old when navigating through this.

The plot includes a lot of interesting descriptions and discussions of surfing, surfing legends of the era, and Connor and Kevin’s work aboard the crew boat. Connor’s time in the Gulf is suspenseful, and I thought the author did a great job of not telegraphing how this scenario was actually going to work out. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. The story has a lot of humorous moments as well, many centered around Kevin Stamford, but the party at the very beginning of the book had me laughing out loud.

Set as it is in the mid-1970s, these characters would have been my contemporaries, so I could relate to a number of things mentioned. Women’s roles were still in transition, and Kassie’s father’s warnings about what she could expect as a woman in a university science program were accurate. Even the assumption that women would naturally consider higher education at that time would have been false. But other aspects of the “historical” (really?) setting were fun and nostalgic, such as the music, the lower drinking age, and no cell phones, to name a few.

With its engaging characters, authentic descriptions, realistic dialogue, and suspenseful plot, I recommend UNDER THE GULF COAST SUN to readers of historical fiction and romance.

This is a book I grabbed on #NetGalley in exchange for a review. I consumed this book on my Kindle.

This book was not for me right from the first page. The first couple of chapters read like a murder/sexual assault type vibe. Boys making bets about who was going to "get with" the girl first. Yuck!!!

As the book progressed, things did not get better for the main characters. the plot was all just over the top and not something I enjoyed. This is a YA romance, and I have definitely read ones that had more to the characters and relationship than this book. The ambitions of Kassie were great and factored into the plot, but not enough to counteract the "romance" part.

What I did enjoy was the Post Aransas backdrop to the story. I have been to Port Aransas a few times with my kids on high school band trips. One of the best Texas beach towns, in my opinion. The author really brings that part to life for the reader.

Overall, the book was okay. My rating 3 stars.

First off, this turned out to not be for me, and I DNFed at a little over 20% into it.

I was attracted by the book's cover and the setting - a 70s surfing town. I was expecting a light, youthful romance between two young adults, wrapped in by the 70s setting and surfing and the sea vibes. And it was all there to some extent.

However. I couldn't get past how everything seemed to be so much about sex (and not just between the main characters) and how hot certain characters were. Sure, the main characters supposedly shared some other interests, but for as far as I read, it seemed rather shallow and more for show than actual, impactful parts of the characters. The main female character felt particularly...just objectified? And, I think, the fact that we get her POV also more likely made it worse. There's a scene at a restaurant where she eats...or doesn't eat the food in a way...it was rather porny, but in an icky way.

There was also an odd way of shifting between character POVs, no new chapter or paragraph break, almost omniscient. But I think it wasn't the biggest issue, and I would've gotten used to it, if it wasn't for the other issues. Though, just language or word choice wise, the writing felt kind of childish at some points...I'm not sure how to describe it, but it reminded me of children's books I think - just the sentence/paragraph structure and reuse of certain words...I don't know, I'm trying to pinpoint it.

Anyhow, that's that. I think, I might've been able to enjoy this or at least finish it, if it wasn't for the overt focus on sex, lust, and sexualization that pushed everything else off to the side. The seeming vibe of the place and decade was there, and the writing was alright, despite the issues I mentioned.

Arc supplied from NetGalley for a fair and honest review


This was the perfect summer college romance.
I really loved the relationship between Kassie and Connor and I really liked the setting of the book and the pacing.

This is giving "Icebreaker" but if it was summery and no hockey