While some would enjoy this novel as a simple, cozy read, many others would find this love story to be severely lacking. I found the plot, though full of small events, lacked real substance and plodded along. I continually found myself daydreaming while reading such a short book. While the protagonist is quite multifaceted, the other characters largely lack substance and are unfortunately forgettable. I was highly anticipating a climactic ending but discovered there was no firm resolution to the minor tension brought on by some of the townsfolk. I now have several questions as to the "antagonist." I would recommend adding in more conflict and challenges to this predictable romance to result in a more well-rounded, cozy read.

The Sands of Sea Blue Beach by Rachel Hauck is a sweet romance that is perfect for summer or any time of year. Emery Quinn is trying to figure out what comes next in her career and decides maybe living in Sea Blue Beach as the editor of the Sea Blue Gazette may be the right fit! She has to work through memories of her mother and first love Caleb Ransom. Caleb has moved back to Sea Blue Beach and did not expect to reconnect with Emery Quinn.

I thoroughly enjoyed this dual POV alternating timeline story. The characters had great chemistry, banter, and friendship. The story moved seamlessly between the two time lines giving me a richer experience as a reader. I loved Emery and watching her journey forward in her faith, family, and relationships. Caleb was endearing and I enjoyed watching his growth as he defined what he was about. Both families played a significant part in each character’s life-giving depth to the story and showing us there can be beauty in brokenness. The faith element was beautifully woven in the story and touched my heart.

The engaging characters, themes of redemption, and sweet romance drew me in. I was lost in the beauty of the story and enjoyed my time on Sea Blue Beach. I highly recommend The Sands of Sea Blue Beach by Rachel Hauk.

I was given a complimentary copy by the publisher and not required to write a positive review.

If you are looking for a read to enjoy these last few weeks of summer, try this one! I was hooked in from the first page. Rachel Hauck introduces the characters and their story right away and it really sets up the background to enjoy the events ahead in the story. The characters feel personable and relatable, and the pacing kept me engaged the whole way through.

The story brings together former sweethearts who return to their small town for very different reasons. As they reconnect, they face old wounds, family challenges, and a community in transition. It’s a warm, heartfelt story about forgiveness, hope, and new beginnings.

Read this if you love second-chance romance!

great story. but found it very boring at some parts. didnt care much, only the romance. great beachy vibes

Another winner from Rachel Hauck!

This will appeal to readers looking for a clean romance and also those who have lost a loved one to cancer who might be looking for help getting through the grieving process.

THE SANDS OF SEA BLUE BEACH introduces us to Emery Quinn, who lost her mother to cancer as a teenager. She struggles with comparing herself to her stepsister. When she returns to Sea Blue Beach she runs into Caleb, an old boyfriend. Watching them reconnect is heartwarming. Caleb is super sweet -- devoted to his nephew and to the town.

Hauck does not shy away from having her characters confront hard truths and family wounds.

The faith journey is also wonderfully conveyed and very realistic.

My one complaint is that the pacing is a little slow. The novel could have been shorter to make for a tighter read.

Overall, this is a thoroughly enjoyable read that will appeal to many types of readers! I always look forward to Rachel Hausck books and this one did not disappoint.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance e-galley; all opinions in my review are 100% my own.

Rachel sure does know how to deliver a heartwarming, emotionally layered story! This one is filled with second chances and healing. If you want a book with depth, charming seaside town and a second chance romance, check this out.

Emery Quinn is our main character and she is very relatable with her realistic feelings of grief after losing her mother to cancer when she was a teen. Cut to being in her 30s with no real career or relationship and her step sister is set to be married. She struggles with comparison and the complexity of her blended family. She goes back to Sea Blue Beach and starts a new role at the struggling Sea Blue Beach Gazette. Here is where she runs into her old boyfriend from a summer long ago and they reconnect in many ways, recounting events of the past. Caleb Ransom has a sense of devotion to his nephew and preserving the town's history - you really root for him and Emery.

Their reunion 16 years later if filled with so many feelings. There is a sweetness to their romance but also a lot of hardship. We see family wounds brought to the surface, community divisions and issues with the paper they try to work out.

Emery is such a layered character because we see every aspect of her mother's cancer diagnosis leading up to her passing away. You learn about their past together in flashbacks and why they drifted apart so long ago.

This is a story about coming home and finding second chances. An emotional, sweet and raw story. I love the town's motto is "Emmanuel, God with us." and how that tied in with the ending for Emery. I do think I would have liked a bit more of her faith journey explored, but it was a realistic take on someone walking through grief, emotions of anger and frustrations to God and coming back to being open to Him.

I always love Rachel's family stories and look forward to more by her. Highly recommend.

Thank you to Bethany House for a complimentary copy to honestly read and review.

Content: lots of discussions and feelings about grief surrounding loss of a parent with cancer, flashbacks to those moments real time with the parent. clean romance.

Despite not having read ‘Meet Me At The Starlight,’ I really enjoyed this lighthearted seaside romance. It’s set 40 years later and reveals the need for restoration, both personal and structural.

What’s not to like?
✔️Seaside setting; small town, historical setting, with families who grew up together
✔️Tension; family drama, division/rivalry in town between progress and preservation, romantic tension
✔️Real life situations; career disappointments, step-mother, blended family, wayward sister, overbearing father, death of family member
✔️Faith threads; Delilah’s influence, faith, love, forgiveness
✔️Thought-provoking narrative; great for book clubs

Grasping at straws and looking for fulfillment, 32 year old Emery Quinn stuffs her Honda Accord with all her worldly possessions and checks her rear-view mirror as she heads out of her suburban Cleveland neighbourhood with the promise of a job and sets out on the 900 mile journey to freedom and second chances in Sea Blue Beach, a coastal town in northern Florida.

I wanted to hug Emery! I knew exactly what she was feeling at the beginning of the book; being the older sister with “zero prospects in career or love.” I was so happy when she took the editor-in-chief position and took a leap of faith. Meeting her childhood friend, Caleb Ransom, was serendipitous, and I was along for the ride as they rekindled their relationship, navigated the challenges in their way, mended their hearts, and set their eyes on a fresh start.

I was gifted this copy and was under no obligation to provide a review.

Sweet and thoughtful

It's been a while since I read Meet Me At the Starlight, which came out July 2024, and which I thoroughly enjoyed . The Sands of Sea Blue Beach is a wonderful sequel with some of the characters and another dual timeline plot. The characters are well developed and the storyline is interesting, sweet and challenging. I highly recommend this book and the rest of Rachel Hauck's books.

Thank you to the publisher who lent me a time limited e-arc via netgalley with no obligation. This review is optional and my own opinion.

the sands of sea blue beach was such a sweet return to a beloved setting. i loved revisiting sea blue beach and watching caleb and emery slowly find their way back to each other. the flashbacks to their teenage summer romance made the present day story even more heartfelt. emery’s independence and passion for running the newspaper really stood out, and the subtle thread of faith added a gentle layer of hope. cassidy’s story was heartbreaking but ultimately healing, and i appreciated how emery grew closer to her stepfamily while still honoring her boundaries.

thanks to bethany house for a gifted copy. my thoughts are my own.

This is a fantastic book! I love the setting of Sea Blue Beach! It gave me nostalgic feelings as I remembered all of the small beach towns I visited as a child. The second-chance romance is super sweet! The second chance at family is heartwarming.

Wow! The characters are wonderful! They are relatable and easy to like. I love and adore Emery. She is a woman with a sad past and emotional wounds that never healed. She built up walls around her heart. Her life isn't going the way she planned and she takes a leap of faith moving to SBB to make a fresh start. Little does she know that life has a few surprises in store for her! Caleb is hunkalicious! He's a hometown boy, intelligent and committed to his family and job. Life throws him a couple of curveballs too.

It's amazing how the town comes together and decides to revitalize the East End. Small town America! I have read a few books by this author and I look forward to reading many more!

I was provided a complimentary copy of the book from Bethany House Publishers via NetGalley through Interviews and Reviews. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

“…is it possible we met then for now?”

The unique history of Sea Blue Beach charmed me in the 80s-set Meet Me at the Starlight, so I was excited to learn we were heading back there for a more modern (but no less charming) visit in The Sands of Sea Blue Beach. Rachel Hauck is known for seamlessly weaving dual timelines together in moving stories that often allow her characters a tangible glimpse of the Divine working around us, and these latest two novels are prime examples. If you’ve ever wished you could spend a moment here on earth looking into the eyes of Jesus, or even if you think I’m a little crazy for suggesting such a thing, the picture painted here (both in the figurative and literal sense) will stir your soul.

Decades after the events of Meet Me at the Starlight, Sea Blue Beach is still fighting a battle between progress and preservation and in fact seems more divided than ever. It’s into this charged tension that Caleb Ransom and Emery Quinn – who fell in love as teenagers one summer in Sea Blue Beach – find their paths crossing once more, and I appreciated the ‘then’ and ‘now’ structure to their story. Not just because I found their adolescent romance sweet and fun but also because their lives, separately, were never the same after that summer (for unrelated reasons) and the layers to their respective present day stories still reflect that upheaval. I felt the past timeline added depth & emotion to the present timeline and made me fall in love with Caleb and Emery together – and Emery’s dad as a supporting character – earlier than I may have otherwise. And then there’s Caleb’s nephew, who perfectly represents eleven-year-old boys, the spot-on characterization making me chuckle more than once.

Bottom Line: The Sands of Sea Blue Beach by Rachel Hauck is a second-chance-at-first-love romance told with a women’s fiction vibe and a spiritual twist, all of which fits the ‘beach read’ moniker perfectly. Along those lines, town drama (including old rivalries and old-fashioned greed) and family wounds cause their fair share of tension but also add several compelling layers to the story itself and make the threads of restoration all the sweeter. I enjoyed not only getting to know Caleb, Emery, and their families – as well as a handful of intriguing supporting characters – but also being back in Sea Blue Beach itself. This quaint coastal town has learned firsthand the ‘God with us’ meaning of Immanuel and, while this theme is presented in Sands as a bit more of a subtle undercurrent than in Starlight, it nevertheless has far-reaching and touching implications for the characters and for readers too. Heartfelt, emotional, witty, and hopeful, The Sands of Sea Blue Beach is the perfect choice for your next summer read!

(I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book)

If you’ve enjoyed Elin Hilderbrand’s summer novels, you’re going to love The Sands of Sea Blue Beach by Rachel Hauck. This book has everything I look for in a great beach read — a charming coastal setting, layered characters, and a story that tugs at the heartstrings.

Told with warmth and emotional depth, the novel explores complex family dynamics, enduring friendships, and the beauty of second chances in love. It’s not just light and breezy — there’s real substance here, which makes the emotional moments hit even harder.

Perfect for fans of second chance romance and anyone craving a feel-good story with heart. I couldn’t put it down!

This book, y'all!! A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Although set in the lovely town of Sea Blue Beach, Florida—this is definitely not your typical beach with the waves crashing on the shore, lying on beach towels, and soaking up rays kind of read!

It's a poignant story of angsty family struggles, the trauma of grief, and how not knowing one's worth can destroy family dynamics and relationships—and the amazing beauty of reconciliation. My eyes welled up with unshed tears throughout this entire novel . . . in the good times and bad.

The main characters were transparent, honest, and exhibited a great sense of humor as well. I especially enjoyed the dual timeline between Emery and Caleb which spanned 16 years. A beautifully written book I highly recommend!

*I received a complimentary ARC from Bethany House via NetGalley and was not required to write a positive review.*

Lovely second chance romance from Hauck. The plotting was just fast enough and also just slow enough. The characters were perfectly developed, and the story was lovely. A perfect summer beach read.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC--all opinions are my own.

This is a story of a place more than a love story. This was the place that Caleb and Emery first met while in high school and she had not been back since then.
Sea Blue Beach is a town at odds with itself. East vs West, New vs Old, Wealthy vs Middle class. This is not a fast moving story but very satisfying. Reconnecting with old love, beginning a new job and helping save a town takes time. Knowing Caleb and Emery would end up together was a given but how this town was going to survive was not evident.
These characters had to deal with:
Death of a parent
Revenge
Out of control teenage sister
Helping raise the sister's child
Grief
Blended family issues

I especially loved Caleb and his banter and the easy way about him.
I loved Delilah who used to be a famous singer and her story.
And I always love that way that Rachel includes the supernatural.
Thank you to Net Galley for allowing me to read this story. The opinions are entirely my own.

Rachel Hauck is a master storyteller and many a chores went undone until I finished this book. It was not only a love story between a man and a woman but also about love of family and community. This book wove together so nicely with her last book Meet Me At the Starlight yet can be a fabulous read alone novel. I will be recommending this book to those who would love a fabulous, clean, summer read.

It was lovely to take a trip back to Sea Blue Beach again with this new novel The Sands of Sea Blue Beach from best selling author Rachel Hauck. Meet Me at the Starlight is your first chance to visit the town and explore the beach and people and places. Because several characters are revisited and events from book one are mentioned, I'd highly recommend reading Meet Me At the Starlight before diving into this book. Timewise, I'd say this one happens present day (2020's) while Meet Me at the Starlight was the late 80s. People who were teenagers now have grandchildren.

This book explores the connection that Emery and Caleb have to each other AND to the beach city. Emery is there for the first time since she was 17 when she discovered her mom was dying of cancer--Caleb has returned to the place he grew up in after getting his career off to a great start working in Seattle. Both of them stumble into each other and discover that the spark they had back when they were teenagers is still simmering...

The side plot is how they are going to bring East Side and WEst side of the beach together to remember that they are ONE city. To cease the rivalries between the businesses and residents and come together to make Sea Blue Beach great--the way it was back with the Prince founded it.

The power of family and forgiveness is front and center in this story.

There are very subtle Christian messages woven throughout.

4 Stars
*Thank you to NetGAlley and the publisher for the ARC of this novel. All opinions are 100% my own.

"Love doesn't require perfection."
"Nor fairness."

I really enjoyed getting lost in this book and going back to Sea Blue Beach with Rachel Hauck. The second chance romance was everything, and I loved seeing Prince John again. It's a gentle, sweet story that kept me turning pages. I have to say, one of my very favorite things was Emery's dad and his response to 16 year old Caleb showing up to get to know his teenage daughter. When he called Caleb's dad, I just fell in love with him right then and there. So precious!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an early copy of the book so I could write an honest review.

This one wasn't for me. I wasn't particularly a fan of the writing, and I didn't feel like it added anything new to this space. However, for romance fans, I'm sure this will be a fun summer read.

I hadn't read this author in a while so when I saw this come up on Netgalley, I thought I'd dive in. While this novel could be standalone, I think it's better to read this series in order as it spoils the plot of the previous book (not that this put me off it).

I'm hoping that there are more books in the series as over the course of the story, you become invested in the characters. This is why my plan is to go back and read the preceding novel as a result. Will order this for my library.

I receive complimentary books for various sources, including Netgalley, Authors, and other such sources. I am not required to write a positive review and have not received compensation.