
Member Reviews

Rachel Hawkins is one of my top 10 favorite authors. I was beyond excited to be able to read this book early. Once again she crafted an amazing story. A mystery story that weaves together with past hurricanes. One man that brought destruction to women and the repercussions that followed. This was intricate, flowed easily, the twists were done well, and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. Another winner from Hawkins.

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: The Storm by Rachel Hawkins
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Gothic Thriller
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: January 6, 2026
📖 288 pages
"... how many accused murderesses tell their own story in their own words?"
📍 St. Medard's Bay, AL
📰 Nonlinear Timeline
🌀 Found Family
⚓️ Multiple POV
After a hurricane the governor's son is found deceased, but when his coroner suspects foul play the blame automatically falls onto his young mistress, Lo. Though she's acquitted, the town still believes she's guilty. Decades later, an author reaches out to Lo and says he wants to ghostwrite Lo's memoir to finally get her side of the story. They decide to meet at the very place where it all happened.
I flew through this one! Dark secrets, powerful men behaving badly, drama, drama, DRAMA. If you've lived in a small town you know that rumors spread and grow like wildfires and that's precisely what seems to have happened to Lo. Even after being away for 40 years, she still faces vitriol from the good ole boys who never left. Nothing is as it seems! I loved how we not only read in multiple POV, but we also get bits and pieces of August's WIP. I read this in one sitting and if you're looking for a fast-paced, atmospheric thriller, you should add The Storm by Rachel Hawkins to you TBR immediately!
Thank you so much St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the digital review copy!

I found this to be very repetitive. I also just did not click with any of the characters. I thought they were very monotone, one level.

A small-town, St Medard’s Bay, is well versed in getting his by hurricanes. The story time jumps between Hurricane Marie that hit the area in the 1980’s and present time.
In the 80’s, a group of three girl friends who are extremely tight, grow up together in this small town. The governor’s son, Landon Fitzroy, visits the area, and he falls head over heels for one of the girls, Lo. Lo and Landon’s relationship is extremely frowned upon by the Governor, but they don’t care. However, the Hurricane hits and Landon is found dead. Lo is brought to trial for his murder and the jury is deadlocked in the decision, so Lo is free. However, as is with more small towns, these events aren’t forgotten, even ~20y later (including some people’s “truths” from that time).
Geneva always had different plans for her life. However, her father passed away relatively early in his life and when her Mom notified her of early-onset Alzheimer’s, Geneva assumes her only-child duty and moves back home to take over the family business, running a local inn, The Rosalie.
When Geneva is contacted by August, seeking a long-term rental at the Rosalie, while he works with Lo to write her story, she’s brought back into the past - one that she thinks she knows, but starts to unfold differently than the local “memory”. Will the murder of Landon Fitzroy be solved and who will get washed away in the process?

5 stars
You would have thought I'd glued this book to my hand because I could not put it down!
Geneva Corliss runs the Inn on St. Medard's Bay that has been in her family for generations. After her father died and her mother received a sad diagnosis, Geneva's boyfriend suggested they take over running the Rosalie Inn and Geneva believed her future was now settled. Unfortunately, her boyfriend of over a decade found the resonsibilty too much for him and left her with an Inn and mountains of debt to handle on her own.
Enter August Fletcher, a journalist looking for a place to write his next book, the sordid story of Gloria "Lo" Bailey and the murder of the Alabama governor's son, Landon Fitzroy. He offers to pay double the going room rate for an open-ended stay which might last a month or more. When he arrives with none-other than Lo Bailey, life for Geneva becomes much, much more interesting and much more frightening than the hurricane heading their way.
This book was so much fun! After loving one of this author's prior books, The Villa, I expected to enjoy this read but it consumed me for two days, every chapter giving me another small, delicious bite, keeping me wanting more. I was thrilled by every twist, turn, and reveal.
If you are a fan of compulsive thrillers, beach settings, rich vs poor drama, and storms, you'll love thie book.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for gifting me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
As someone who has spent an extensive amount of time in south Alabama, Hawkins absolutely NAILED the setting in this one. I think Alabama's Gulf Coast is so slept on as a tourist destination (at least for my fellow northerners) and the author captured this salty, ethereal area so well. I also think that Hawkins is a very underrated author in this saturated suspense/thriller category. She cultivates unique plots, characters with legitimate depth, and keeps readers guessing - The Storm was no different. I enjoyed how the stories of past and present became woven together with shared characters and the red herrings didn't feel too obvious. If you're looking for something to cure your winter blues, this should do the trick around release date in early 2026.

A pleasant enough read - perfect for the beach or poolside. I read my copy in the pool, which makes everything better. Thank you for the ARC, our patrons will enjoy this.

The Storm is a fun, churning like the waves off-shore summer beach mystery-suspense-family drama. Fast paced and character driven it satisfies all your beach read criteria. Likable characters-check. Fast paced-check. Suspenseful-check! Thanks to net galley for the ebook.

The Storm by Rachel Hawkins is the perfect gothic suspense novel! It has a moody atmosphere, small town secrets, and a murder mystery. I loved St. Medard’s Bay filled with its salty air, gossip filled streets, and the Rosalie Inn standing witness to decades of storms and scandals. Geneva, the inn’s owner, is tough and curious, but unsure how close she wants to get to the truth. And Lo Bailey is the perfect wild card being part victim, part possible villain, and impossible to read. The author nails the pacing, writing the slow burn tension of an incoming hurricane along with the decades old crime. It’s twisty without feeling overcomplicated, and the coastal gothic vibe is spot on. If you love thrillers with morally gray characters and layered mysteries you’ll devour this one!

Rachel Hawkins wrote one of my favorite thrillers (Reckless Girls) so I was excited to receive an advanced copy of her latest novel. At just under 300 pages, it's a quick read, which I actually enjoy in a thriller. Shorter books often move faster, and this one definitely delivered on pace. While I did predict a few of the twists early on, others genuinely surprised me, which kept things interesting. Overall, I’d give it 3.5 stars—rounded up to 4 for the entertainment value.
I received an ARC of this ebook from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Rachel Hawkins has done it again!
Fast-paced read with different points of view. Short chapters keep the reader engaged and wanting more.
I really enjoyed it!
Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

I’m a big fan of Rachel Hawkins and I loved this book. This was such a great story! I was hooked from the start and I love when that happens. I finished this book in a day; that’s how engrossed in it I was. I love the multiple timelines and characters. Read this book!!

The Storm is a turbulent and wild ride. The main character Geneva is an innkeeper of the Rosalie Inn in St. Medard's Bay struggling to make ends meet when an an infamous past resident of the town returns with an author who is helping to write her memoir. What unfolds is a story of a past murder told through major hurricanes to have hit the area. I have read many of Rachel Hawkins' novels, and in my opinion, this is now one of my favorites by her. At first, I found it a bit difficult to get into the story as I sometimes struggle with dual timelines, but before long I was completely hooked and ended up devouring the entire book in just over a day. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC. If you are mystery thriller fan, make sure to add this one to your TBR and look for it in January 2026!

I'm so glad I gave Rachel Hawkins another chance after loathing The Wife Upstairs. Hawkins delivers another solid and compulsively readable thriller. The twists are all predictable, but that didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book; perhaps because the characters are so well drawn. Great summer reading!

I finally found a good book to get me out of my reading slump! The Storm had me hooked from the beginning and I was captivated all the way through. The multiple timelines, mixed media and a countdown to the storm kept the pace moving quickly. I would have read this in one sitting if I could have! I loved the interesting, well-written characters—or loved to hate them, in some cases. The central mystery was fascinating and between that and the suspense of the incoming hurricane, I was desperate to find out what would happen. There were some good twists at the end and I was happy with the way it all wrapped up. I would definitely recommend this fast-paced, suspenseful thriller!
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC!

Started and finished The Storm in less than 24 hours (thank you banged up knee).
The Storm takes place in St. Medard’s Bay, Alabama, a small coastal town on Alabama’s Gulf Coast. The book weaves from the present to past and includes excerpts from a to-be published book, newspaper clippings, current emails, and recollections from different characters, as well as the main character, Geneva’s POV in the present tense. The book countdowns the days until the next hurricane, Lizzie, which hits in August 2025.
Geneva has taken over her family’s business and is the proud (ish) owner and operator of The Rosalie Inn, a quaint (ish) inn on the gulf. Geneva spends her days taking care of the inn and worrying about her mom, Ellen, who is in a care facility with Alzheimer’s. Her inn is struggling, and she is over her eyeballs in debt, maxing out credit cards. When she receives a call from a journalist who wants to rent out a room at the inn for a couple months, she is elated that she’ll be earning some steady income.
August is set to write a biography about Lo Bradley and her escapades, which all happened at The Rosalie in the 80s and culminated with her lover dying in a hurricane at the inn in August 1984.
As both Geneva and August research past events, including going through Ellen’s box of clippings from the 80s and talking to Lo, they start forming their own opinions about past events.
This book has twists and turns and kept me wanting to read “just a little bit more.”
Definitely entertaining to read, and I look forward to listening to this one. While The Heiress was not a slam dunk for me, The Storm definitely is enjoyable. S I will recommend.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s for the advanced read in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
4.5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was so excited to get my arc of this book! I thoroughly enjoy Rachel Hawkins novels and this was no exception!
Definitely recommend!

This book was pure Southern drama with a storm brewing in every chapter—sometimes in the sky, sometimes between the characters. St. Medard’s Bay is the kind of place where everyone knows your business (or thinks they do), and I could not get enough of the small-town gossip vibes. When Lo Bailey strolls back into town after decades, you know people are talking, and I was dying to know if she came for redemption or revenge. The heat, the humidity, the tension—it all builds until you can practically hear the wind howling. By the end, I didn’t know who to trust, and honestly? I loved that.
Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing an eARC of The Storm prior to publication.

Who doesn’t love a good popcorn thriller? Something quick, fast-paced, and purely entertaining. Sure, I saw the twists coming, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the ride. The Storm delivers exactly that it promises which is an easy, stormy escape with just enough drama to keep the pages turning.

THE STORM IS A SLOW BURN THRILLER !! It’s told from different timelines and events.. the storyline and characters are great this is one of my favorite authors of my time !!!! I will recommend this read thank you