Publisher: Gallery Books
Genre: Romance
Source: Kristy Woodson Harvey ( Gallery Books )

Goodreads: “Full of Southern charm and characters that will stay with you” (Jennifer Probst, New York Times bestselling author), this tender novel follows a young woman who discovers the family she has always longed for when she spends a life-changing summer in North Carolina—from New York Times bestselling author Kristy Woodson Harvey.

Present Day: Keaton Smith is desperate for a fresh start. So when her mother needs someone to put her childhood home in Beaufort, North Carolina, on the market—the home that Keaton didn’t know existed until now—she jumps at the chance to head south. But the moment she steps foot inside the abandoned house, she’s confronted with secrets about grandparents who died before she was born. And as she gets to know her charming next-door neighbor, his precocious ten-year-old son, and a flock of endearingly feisty town busybodies, she soon finds she has more questions than answers.

1976: Rebecca “Becks” Saint James has made a name for herself as the best hostess North Carolina has ever seen. Her annual summer suppers have become the stuff of legend, and locals and out-of-towners alike clamor for an invitation to her stunning historic home. But she’s struggling behind the façade. Becks strives to make the lives of those around her as easy as possible, but this summer she is facing a dilemma that even she can’t solve. And as the end of the season looms, she is brought to a decision she never wanted to make.

As both Keaton and Becks face new challenges and chapters, they are connected through time by the house on Sunset Lane, which has protected the secrets, hopes, and dreams of the women in their family for generations. For fans of Summer of ‘69and The Notebook, “A Happier Life is that wistful, sparkling summer song whose notes will long linger in readers’ memories” (Mary Kay Andrews, New York Times bestselling author).

Ope’s Opinion: I am not sure how KWH does it each time she writes a story. It captured my attention from the beginning and kept me reading to the very wonderful end.

The setting in Beaufort was great. I have been there and the descriptions brought me back to this quaint small town. I could see the characters living there.

This is my favorite kind of romance. It shows deep, long lasting relationships between people who really care and love each other. Not everything is sunshine and roses, but the characters support each other.

If you have the opportunity to read this – you will enjoy each moment you spend with these characters.

Goodreads: “Full of Southern charm and characters that will stay with you” (Jennifer Probst, New York Times bestselling author), this tender novel follows a young woman who discovers the family she has always longed for when she spends a life-changing summer in North Carolina—from New York Times bestselling author Kristy Woodson Harvey.

Present Day: Keaton Smith is desperate for a fresh start. So when her mother needs someone to put her childhood home in Beaufort, North Carolina, on the market—the home that Keaton didn’t know existed until now—she jumps at the chance to head south. But the moment she steps foot inside the abandoned house, she’s confronted with secrets about grandparents who died before she was born. And as she gets to know her charming next-door neighbor, his precocious ten-year-old son, and a flock of endearingly feisty town busybodies, she soon finds she has more questions than answers.

1976: Rebecca “Becks” Saint James has made a name for herself as the best hostess North Carolina has ever seen. Her annual summer suppers have become the stuff of legend, and locals and out-of-towners alike clamor for an invitation to her stunning historic home. But she’s struggling behind the façade. Becks strives to make the lives of those around her as easy as possible, but this summer she is facing a dilemma that even she can’t solve. And as the end of the season looms, she is brought to a decision she never wanted to make.

As both Keaton and Becks face new challenges and chapters, they are connected through time by the house on Sunset Lane, which has protected the secrets, hopes, and dreams of the women in their family for generations. For fans of Summer of ‘69and The Notebook, “A Happier Life is that wistful, sparkling summer song whose notes will long linger in readers’ memories” (Mary Kay Andrews, New York Times bestselling author).

Pick this one up now!

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Genre: Romance
Source: St. Martin’s Griffin ( Netgalley )

Goodreads: A debut romance about a supermodel and a photographer with a past marriage pact who meet again ten years later on a photoshoot in Cinque Terre, Italy.

From the moment Emerson and Theo met as teenagers, they were inseparable. But just when they finally expressed their feelings to one another, they were torn apart.

Now, supermodel Emerson is nearing her twenty-eighth birthday, and she’s tired of looking for love in all the wrong places. When the calendar reminder for the marriage pact she and Theo made as teens goes off on her phone, she realizes this is it―her chance to rekindle the only romance that ever really made sense. Emerson convinces her grumpy agent to book her as the face of the fashion campaign that Theo, now a fashion photographer, is shooting. The good the campaign is being shot in ridiculously romantic Cinque Terre, Italy. The bad news? Theo might not be as happy to see her as she’d hoped.

The two embark on a four-day campaign that tests not only their feelings, but their ability to keep their hands off one another. But as roadblock after roadblock keeps them apart, Emerson starts to will this photoshoot be the key to getting one last shot at love, or will it be a final goodbye?

Ope’s Opinion: This was a really good read. The characters were well developed. I was rooting for Theo and Emerson from the first page to the last one. The story made my heart ache for anyone in their positions.

Emerson’s reaction to her situation felt real and hard to me. I also liked how the author handled Theo’s reaction to Emerson. There was some miscommunication toward the end that felt a little unnecessary, but it was resolved quickly. I did like that they still struggled some and it wasn’t a perfect turn around in their relationship.

I can not wait to read this!
I have heard amazing things about this book.
Thank you for sending this to me.

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Genre: Romance
Source: G.P. Putnam’s Sons ( Netgalley )

Goodreads: The ultimate summer nostalgia read, about an engaged woman who comes face to face with her first love who she hasn’t seen in fourteen years, but who she spent every summer with from age five to seventeen when he broke her heart, calling into question everything she thought she knew about their love story, and herself.

Beach Rules:
Do take long walks on the sand.
Do put an umbrella in every cocktail.
Do NOT run into your first love.

Sam’s life is on track. She has the perfect doctor fiancé, Jack (his strict routines are a good thing, really), a great job in Manhattan (unless they fire her), and is about to tour a wedding venue near her family’s Long Island beach house. Everything should go to plan, yet the minute she arrives, Sam senses something is off. Wyatt is here. Her Wyatt. But there’s no reason for a thirty-year-old engaged woman to feel panicked around the guy who broke her heart when she was seventeen. Right?

Yet being back at this beach, hearing notes from Wyatt’s guitar float across the night air from next door as if no time has passed—Sam’s memories come flooding back: the feel of Wyatt’s skin on hers, their nights in the treehouse, and the truth behind their split. Sam remembers who she used to be, and as Wyatt reenters her life their connection is as undeniable as it always was. She will have to make a choice.

Ope’s Opinion: This is such a good story, very predictable, but the journey was very enjoyable. From the beginning the two main characters are so likable, you root for them. You could feel Sam and Wyatt’s attraction to each other. The setting is amazing ( the beach ) and written in such a way that I could see it.

I liked that the underlying theme of this story was you need to be yourself. People will love you as you are.

This is a perfect book to pick up for a summer read. Easy, enjoyable and ends the way you want it to.

Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Genre: Romance
Source: Macmillan Audio ( Netgalley )

Goodreads: She’s rewriting his love story. But can she rewrite her own?

Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She’s spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies—good ones! That win contests! But she’s also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates—The Charlie Yates! Her personal writing god!—it’s a break too big to pass up.

Emma’s younger sister steps in for caretaking duties, and Emma moves to L.A. for six weeks for the writing gig of a lifetime. But what is it they say? Don’t meet your heroes? Charlie Yates doesn’t want to write with anyone—much less “a failed, nobody screenwriter.” Worse, the romantic comedy he’s written is so terrible it might actually bring on the apocalypse. Plus! He doesn’t even care about the script—it’s just a means to get a different one green-lit. Oh, and he thinks love is an emotional Ponzi scheme.

But Emma’s not going down without a fight. She will stand up for herself, and for rom-coms, and for love itself. She will convince him that love stories matter—even if she has to kiss him senseless to do it. But . . . what if that kiss is accidentally amazing? What if real life turns out to be so much . . . more real than fiction? What if the love story they’re writing breaks all Emma’s rules—and comes true?

Ope’s Opinion: I have been a fan of Katherine Center since I read her first book, so I was shocked when I could not get into this one. I felt like I was being told a story, not involved in it. The characters felt stiff , not really relatable.

I thought I was in a workshop on how to write a rom-com, instead of actually being in a
rom-com and falling in love.

I hope to love the next Katherine Center book because she has been one of my go-to authors for a great get away.

Publisher: MIRA
Genre: Romance
Source: MIRA ( Netgalley )

Goodreads: When fate brings three strangers to a charming space for lease on the California coast, the Boardwalk Bookshop is born. Part bookstore, part gift shop, part bakery, it’s a dream come true for Bree, Mikki and Ashley. But while their business is thriving, their personal lives are…not.

Bree, wounded by brilliant but cold parents and her late husband’s ultimate betrayal, has sworn to protect her heart at all costs. Even from Ashley’s brother, a writer and adventurer who has inspired millions. He’s the first man to see past Bree’s barricades to her true self, which terrifies her. Mikki has this divorce thing all figured out—somehow, she’s stayed friends with her ex and her in-laws…until a new man changes how everyone looks at her, and how she sees herself. Meanwhile, Ashley discovers that the love of her life never intends to marry. Can she live without being a wife if it means she can have everything else she’s ever wanted?

At sunset every Friday on the beach in front of the Boardwalk Bookshop, the three friends share a champagne toast. As their bond grows closer, they challenge one another to become the best versions of themselves in this heartachingly beautiful story of friendship, sisterhood and the transformative power of love.

Ope’s Opinion: I enjoyed the friendship of the three woman. It was nice to see a friendship grow between them as they worked together and supported each other. I liked that they were honest with each other even when it was hard to share the truth the other one might not want to hear.

There was a lot of romance in this book. Each character had their own love interest happening. Most of them were tangled and messy. There were too many detailed steamy scenes for me.

This story was Susan Mallery’s typical book, except I felt like there was more time spent on the details of each the friends sex lives then she usually does.

Goodreads:  Dark romance, high stakes, and plot twists abound in this paperback original YA thriller that’s perfect for fans of Colleen Hoover.

It’s been months since accident that killed Ella’s best friend Hayley, and Ella can’t stop blaming herself. Now Ella is starting back at school and everywhere she looks is a reminder of her best friend, including Sawyer, Hayley’s boyfriend. When Sawyer offers an olive branch, Ella is shocked, but knows she doesn’t deserve his kindness.

Then the school psychologist requires that Hayley’s closest friends join him for a grief counseling group, and Ella and Sawyer are forced together. After a few sessions, they start to grow closer, until Ella realizes something horrifying…

She’s in love with her dead best friend’s boyfriend.

As Ella discovers that nothing Hayley told her about Sawyer was true, she also sees something in him she finds irresistible. Perhaps it’s his grief. Or maybe his desires, cut short by tragedy. Or could it be something dark and twisted Ella can’t turn away from?

This dark, romantic thriller is perfect for fans of Colleen Hoover and Laura Nowlin.

Goodreads: A woman inherits a beach house, along with a series of weekend guests, while butting heads with the irritable (and irritatingly handsome) man next door, in this sparkling new escape from Jane L. Rosen.
 
When a Zoom disaster upends Addison Irwin’s decade-long career at a posh Manhattan advertising agency, things look bleak for the thirty-something mid-western transplant. But an unexpected inheritance from an aunt she barely remembers—a property on Fire Island, complete with guest house and artist’s studio—changes everything.
 
While debating whether to stay or sell, Addison learns that she’s also inherited her aunt’s list of eclectic guests, tying her to the island for seven summer weekends. Eager to convince Addison to keep the house rather than let a new buyer build a monstrosity in its place, the neighbors welcome her to their laid-back community. Well, all except the moody guy next door, who seems intent on glowering his way through life.
 
Steadfast in her path since college, Addison is determined not to let this detour on Fire Island throw her off track. But soon, between the revolving door of weekend visitors and the up-and-down relationship with her neighbor (and his adorable dog), she finds herself in unfamiliar territory. Should she try to pick up where she left off—or embrace entirely new possibilities?

Two good books out in the same day! 
Which to read first?