What a lovely story! Hannah is a romance writer who has just suffered a breakup and the death of her mother. This has combined to give her a major writing block. So, she heads to Cape Cod to spend the summer with her family. Sara, her sister, has had a lot of family obligations and now wants to return to the book industry and rekindle her marriage.

I love a book with wonderful Cape Cod vibes, lots of books, coffee, and some summer romance. I really enjoyed the story, and the narration was great.

This was unfortunately not my cup of tea.

This story follows a few different characters (all in third person). Hannah lives in Brooklyn; she’s grieving her mother and struggling to complete her second novel. She decides to spend the summer in her hometown with her Aunt Maddie (who’s perspective is also shown, as well as Hannah’s older sister, Sara).

I’m left a little confused about what the point of the story was. I feel like nothing ever really happened. The pacing felt off to me and the storylines underdeveloped. The use of descriptions were nice, but an entire scene would start and be wrapped up within the span of one paragraph. It didn’t work for me.

I was not able to connect to any of the characters or the storyline. There were tons of characters with pretty small, insignificant roles and I found it difficult to keep track of everyone. There was a minor romantic plot; I felt zero chemistry between these characters. There were a few minor conflicts sprinkled throughout, which I felt could have been better explored. All of the conflicts were resolved way too easily in my opinion.

Overall this is a predictable, fluffy beach read. If you like something mindless and hallmark-y it may work for you! I would have liked a little more oomph and have liked others in the genre more than this.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sending this eARC for review consideration! All opinions are my own. 

This was a lovely story that focused on two sisters and their aunt. The small cape cod town was charming, and I enjoyed the vivid descriptions - however, sometimes there were so many adjectives about meals and such that it did get a little distracting. 
This would be a fun read for the beach or on vacation. Overall a nice book.

I was intrigued by the premise and excited to download this book as soon as I read the burb and saw it was about a Cape Codder turned Brooklynite. Hannah is an author from Chatham, MA (on Cape Cod), which is coincidentally the same town where I grew up. Like the main character, I left the Cape and lived in NYC for several years, but still enjoy returning to my hometown for visits. 

In the book, Hannah decides to spend the summer in Chatham to finish her next novel after a breakup and the passing of her mother. The story is definitely best characterized as a lighthearted/tame romance. Although Pamela Kelley is a prolific author of this genre, I had never read one of her books before. 

Overall, I enjoyed the descriptions of Chatham and the real-life local businesses that Kelley included, but the plot itself was typical of this genre and predictable, and much of the book was limited to fairly simplistic and sometimes repetitive dialogue between the characters. If it hadn't been set in my hometown, I may not have rated this book as highly, but only because this type of book isn't really my cup of tea. However, if you're seeking a breezy beach read, and you are interested in learning more about the Cape, then I would certainly recommend you give this a go!

Thank you to St. Martin's Griffin, NetGalley, and the author for an advanced copy of this novel to review.