Review by Booklist Review
Perennial bestseller Andrews (The Weekenders, 2016) returns with what's sure to be a popular beach read. Struggling small-town lawyer and single mom Brooke Trappnell receives a call from 99-year-old Josephine Warrick. Josephine has received a terminal diagnosis and wants to ensure that her family's island estate, Shellhaven, on wild, beautiful Talisa Island doesn't become state property. She wants Brooke's help to make amends for becoming estranged from her oldest and dearest friends, women who called themselves the High Tide Club, by leaving Shellhaven to their remaining families. Brooke thinks this case is a lost cause but is compelled to make things right when she learns her grandmother, Millie, was one of the High Tide Club. What follows is a compelling novel about the people and places that shape a life and the secrets that create ripples for generations. With a unique setting, mysterious flashbacks, romance, and a surprising twist, this book will not disappoint readers looking for juicy escape.--Walker, Aleksandra Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
In October 1941, four young women buried a man on Talisa Island off the coast of Georgia. Almost 80 years later, millionaire Josephine Bettendorf Warrick, at 99, is fighting the state to hold onto the island. She wants to bequeath her home to her estranged friends or their descendants, so she hires attorney Brooke Trappnell to find them. The story of that October week is told in alternating chapters with the account of Brooke's search for the descendants. Josephine dies before she can reveal all her secrets, but Brooke juggles the investigation into Josephine's story with her own struggles as a single mother. The contemporary group of women never come together in this novel. There are too many essential female characters, and some, including Josephine, come across as unlikable. The story moves very slowly, with little action until halfway through the book. While Andrews (The Weekenders) successfully links the two plotlines, Brooke's story of her relationship with her son's father has little development and an abrupt conclusion. Verdict Mainly for Andrews's fans. [See Prepub Alert, 11/26/17.]-Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A single-mom lawyer takes on the case of a mysterious elderly woman in this novel full of friendship and nostalgia.When Brooke Trappnell gets a call from 99-year-old Josephine Bettendorf Warrick, she doesn't know what the peculiar millionaire could want with her. There are more successful lawyers in her coastal Georgia town, and the two have never met. But since Brooke is broke and desperate to put food on the table for her 3-year-old son, she takes a boat out to Talisa Island to speak with Josephine in her crumbling mansion. It turns out that Josephine is dying, and she wants to keep the state from taking her land and tearing down her house for a conference center or something like that after she's gone. Cantankerous Josephine wants the island to go to her three oldest, dearest friendsMillie, Ruth, and Varina, the High Tide Club girls. The women were estranged for decades, and two of them are dead, but Josephine wants Brooke to track down the only living High Tide Club girl and the descendants of the others and bring them to Talisa so she can make amends. Josephine is keeping many secrets, about why she wants to make amends and about an unsolved murder that occurred on the island years ago, but she dies before she can explain anythingor sign her will . Now, the group of women must find a way to save Josephine's island from being taken over by the statewhich involves finding out exactly what happened in Josephine's past. Andrews (The Weekenders, 2016, etc.) creates a story that is at turns suspenseful, sad, and hopeful, with plenty of surprising twists. Her dialogue is natural and funny, and even her minor characters are fully drawn with unique voices. The slight romantic thread between Brooke and her former boyfriend could be more detailed, but the focus is mainly on the friendships, old and new, between the members of the High Tide Club and their descendants.Another satisfying summer read from the queen of the beach. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
