Review by Booklist Review
The St. Cecilia Hotel and Resort caters to a high-end clientele that looks down on the locals ("you're a Saint or you're an Ain't"). Traci Eddings is both, a local who married into the family that owns the Saint, now left to run the business after her husband died. Determined to save the resort from a postpandemic slump, she hires a group of twentysomethings for the summer, who put themselves in danger when they uncover oddities with the hotel's inventory and investigate on their own. Meanwhile, Traci is preoccupied by a new guy in town who's looking into a drowning that happened while Traci was lifeguarding at the Saint as a teen. The suspense adds a bit of darkness to Andrews' (Bright Lights, Big Christmas, 2023) usual lighthearted fun, and there's a little too much going on to pull readers in immediately. The investment is worth it, though, as most of the characters are likable, and the nail-biting conclusion is a satisfying resolution. Give this to rom-com readers who want a few more thrills in their plot.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this mesmerizing mix of mystery and romance, Andrews (Bright Lights, Big Christmas) details one woman's mission to ensure her late husband's legacy. Four years after Traci Eddings's husband, Hoke, died in a plane crash, she struggles to keep afloat the Eddings family's long-running St. Cecelia resort hotel on an island off the Georgia coast. As employees leave for better opportunities, Traci hires a new executive chef and gets her niece, Parrish, to run the front desk, further straining her contentious relationship with her entitled brother-in-law, Ric, who's trying to cut Traci out of his father's will. Then tragedy rocks the hotel staff when someone close to Traci is murdered. As she works to keep guests happy during a police investigation, the hotel's landscaper, Whelan, a former P.I., mounts an investigation of his own. Mutual attraction ignites between Traci and Whelan even as he unearths some unusual information about a decades-old drowning death at the Saint that tore apart Traci and her former best friend, Shannon. Andrews's expert exploration of complex family dynamics, hidden secrets, and class divisions in a small resort town add authenticity to the gripping mystery and swoony romance. Series fans and newcomers alike will be riveted. Agent: Stuart Krichevsky, Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency, Inc. (May)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Best seller Andrews (Beach Town) offers up another fun, heart-warming, and intriguing summer read. Resolute and determined, Traci is struggling to keep her late husband Hoke's resort out of bankruptcy after his unexpected death. Located on the Eddings family's private island off the coast of Georgia, the St. Cecelia resort was a fairy-tale dream to Traci when she was growing up in the neighboring working-class town. Marrying into the wealthy Eddings family brought the fairy tale closer but also posed new challenges for Traci. Now that Hoke is gone, his conniving older brother is trying to wrest control of the resort away from Traci. She must also compete with a new getaway in the area, while the St. Cecilia's finances continue to dip further in the red. Then disaster strikes, and a tragic past incident involving a teenaged Traci and her now-estranged best friend Shannon threatens to come to light. Traci and her new St. Cecilia employees go into investigative mode to figure out what went wrong. VERDICT For readers who'd enjoy a blend of friendships (old and new), budding romance, and secrets held within the walls of a hotel that needs rescuing, as in Elin Hilderbrand's The Hotel Nantucket.--Joy Gunn
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