Truly enjoyed this book. It shows the meaning of true friendships.

3.5 Stars
Good book, the first one by Luanne Rice that I’ve read. A little heavy in the bird department but had a good slight plot twist at the end.

I would give this story 3.5 stars if I could. When you start this book you start an emotional journey with a family shattered by loss, and friends that lost touch. Nell is happy her father brought her to Hubbard's point, she wants to see the lady in the blue house who was friends with her mother but Nell is struggling. As Nell struggles with the loss of her family, her father and aunt also struggle and Stevie has her own issues with family. Sometimes this book was a tad boring for me because I am not a big fan of emotional drama, but if you pick this book up, you should be prepared to cry your eyes out.

Good, but didn't like as much as some of her other books, even though this is one of her most popular.

Ok. So many other great books. I wouldn't recommend this to my friends.

What my scores mean:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Omg Amazing
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Really Good
⭐⭐⭐ Pretty Good
⭐⭐ Just wanted it done
⭐ Frickin Hated

Good beach read. Although I kinda hate giving it four stars - maybe 3.5

Hardship, Hope, Happiness

What a journey! This book has touched all so many twists and turns that life unleashes on each of us. Time is irrelevant to healing, letting go and forgiveness for being human.

3.5 stars
Grief is a funny thing. Sometimes, people grieve not for what was but for what could’ve been, mostly in their imagination. In this book, Emma is dead. She appears in the prologue as a sixteen-year-old girl, and then, two decades later, a year after her death, the entire story unfolds. It involves Emma’s childhood friends – the beach girls – plus her widower and her nine-year-old daughter. And like in her childhood, the story still revolves around Emma.
I didn’t like what I learned about Emma from the memories of her friends and her family. If she was still alive, they might’ve said: “What a heartless bitch.” I definitely wanted to say that. But she is dead. She died tragically, so nobody who knew her want to believe their own knowledge and their own memories of that self-absorbed, shallow woman. They mourn her anyway. They should’ve counted their blessings instead, but the whole novel comes from their mourning.
And it is a good story, a story of love, forgiveness, and understanding. A story of renewal and second chances. It would’ve been a much simpler story without Emma in it, but life doesn’t always work in simple ways. Neither does fiction. With all Emma’s faults, she obviously had something good in her: she was a good mother for one of the protagonists, her young daughter Nell.
I don’t often like adult books incorporating a child’s POV. It feels a bit like voyeurism, as if I’m peeking into the grieving heart of a child, but in this case, Nell’s grief for her late mother drives the story. Nell’s search for happiness gives the story its complex shape and its flavor of innocence. Nell wants her mother back, yes, but as a young child, she also wants to forget, to move forward, to find someone new and wonderful to love. Unconsciously, as only a young child could, Nell forces her father to face his demons, defeat them, and allow a new love into their lives.
The two other lead characters, Nell’s father Jack and Emma’s old friend Stevie, unite in their love for Nell, and that love brings them together. Both are lonely. Both are afraid to do harm: to Nell, to each other, and to their own hearts. Only Nell is the brave one in the story. She doesn’t yet know bitterness or disappointment. She knows only love, and she spreads it around without reservations in her quest for a new family. Life is simple when you’re only nine.
Ironically, the most cowardly creature of the three protagonists is the only man in the story, Nell’s father Jack. He is afraid the most. Afraid to trust again. Afraid to make a mistake. Afraid to step into the unknown. Afraid to acknowledge the truth. He resists the new love the hardest. And like a typical man (sorry, my male friends) he makes everyone who loves him suffer because of his cowardice. He makes decisions without consulting anyone, runs away to hide from his unhappiness (which never works, as we all know), even disregards his beloved daughter’s feelings, and only a miracle brings the happy ending to this poignant tale.
Overall, it was a good read, if a bit too sentimental and somewhat slower than I prefer. I’m an impatient reader. I always want the plot to move along, to know what happens next as soon as possible, while the author kept getting in my way by describing the beach and the pines. Beautiful descriptions too. Other than that, I liked this novel.

Relaxed pace and realistic characters. No flowery writing with the exception of emotional development in characters and their relationships. Very hallmark. Decent vacation read without being too heavy or too light.

I loved this story and the characters! The word pictures were so vivid I felt she was describing places that I have visited in another life.

Such deep explainations of family emotions and dynamics it was easy to get caught up in what happened to them. I felt their pain, their dreams, their connection with each other.

I'm always surprised by Luanne Rice and the way she paints a picture in words. There were so many details in this story that I was taken away to another place in time or was it to a place that I had visited previously, only time will tell.

Thank you Luanne for writing such a beautiful story about Beach Girls...the generations, the connections, the adopted familys, and the chance for a new life. One that is better then any other and one where a person knows they've been predestined to live. The excitement of things turning out as they should, even when they are hard to get through.

The little phrases she used were from our generation and so easily related to as if I were experiencing some of my own childhood memories. Oh, to have friends and best friends and family like this...I think we all do at times in our lives and maybe we all may get a chance to rekendle those relationships. If would be wonderful if we all had opportunities to reconnect with someone that knows our family, knows of families like ours, or knew our family from yesteryear.

This was the most beautiful story, it was heart breaking or one to be read with tissue in hand but the family dynamics were so touching. I could relate to the tragedies as they are common to the human condition. I'm confident that anyone that picks this novel up will learn something and their faith will not only be challenged but they will find a place to reach out, to dream again, and not be afraid to love. We all are worthy of love and finding that perverbial 'soul mate' that we were meant to be with for this life and all eternity.

Can't wait to pick up another novel of yours...you're one of my favorite authors!!!!

She captures the flavor of New England summers and the voices/characters of beach town dwellers. Love the whole series!