I enjoy all of Luanne's books. It was nice to see a father so involved in his daughter's life and his wish to protect her. I do wish there was a little more romance during the book between Stevie and Jack so that when Jack and Nell moved to Scotland, we could really see Jack's sadness about leaving. Later in the book, I was confused about how Jack and Nell knew where to find Stevie and Maddie at the restaurant. Because of that, it took me a few minutes to get back to the story. Overall I enjoyed Beach Girls.

The actual book itself is a 4-star. I adored the small bits of fantasy and her emphasis on the beauty of the beach, castles, wise aunts, family, nature, birds, friendship, memories, and difficulties in life. The story was well sewn together and kept me constantly engaged. I could barely put the book down! I appreciated the presence of children, like Nell and Peggy, and the nostalgia throughout the book. I feel like Luanne Rice remembers what it's like to be a child to have written Nell's character so nicely. I connected in many ways to Stevie. I feel a lot like her in many ways. Overall, great character development and a great storyline!

I'm a bit of stickler for clean writing, and there were 2 loves scenes in it, so I put the rating down to a 3-star to remind myself not to read those again; therefore, this score is not a reflection upon the author's skills as a storyteller.

If 2 stars is ok, and 3 is I liked it I'll say 2.5. Decent enough beach read. Fluff enough?

Great beach read with some real emotions. Wonderful descriptions of places, and people! But I really felt the place. Had me crying at the beach.

A few redeeming qualities

Nell loses her mother when she is nine. She has missed a mother figure in her life. She finds one in a friend of her mother. This mother was one of the three Beach Girls. The Beach Girls were her mother, her aunt, and Stevie, her mother's friend.

This was a good story of hope and healing. We all can heal, but it is hard and takes time, love, and many times, it requires help.

Sweet

Slow. Very predictable.

it was not as good as i wanted it to be, too long and to drawn out, but i truly love her stories so i think this was a fluke

It was a decent summer read, but not my favorite. It moved along slow and was very sappy. I did like the descriptions of the beaches and birds and nature but even that got a little too much and drawn out. The emotional losses the characters were facing was touching and their quest to heal and move on made you root for them. But certain characters (like the father-Jack and others) were annoying-making dumb decisions that made you want to yell at them. I wouldn’t recommend this book because there are far better books to read.

Great book about friendships and how they change as you grow older and things you may never have known about each other.

This was a great beach read (as suggested in the title). The story line was good and the characters were well developed.