Beach Vibes

An emotionally thought-provoking novel about two entangled couples who face a betrayal that tests their love and loyalty.

Susan Mallery takes a surprisingly deep dive into the complicated dynamics of family and friendship in her emotionally resonant novel, Beach Vibes.
 
Two sets of adult siblings--two women and their two brothers--anchor the story, which centers on Beth Nield, a recently divorced, 38-year-old who owns and operates Surf Sandwiches, an eatery in Malibu, Calif.
 
Workaholic Beth now lives with her 67-year-old, widowed Aunt Agatha who took in Beth and Rick, her younger brother by three years, when they were just children. Protective, self-sacrificing Beth always looked out for Rick—proudly rooting on her smart, good-looking, charmingly single brother, who is now a “big-shot surgeon.” When Beth starts to volunteer at a local food bank, she meets Jana Mead, a hard-working medical billing clerk who dreams of becoming a nurse. Jana is a single mother to a precocious four-year-old and lives with her widowed brother, Teddy, and his four children. As Beth and Jana strike up a friendship, Beth realizes that Jana is actually dating her brother, Rick. The lives of these four people intersect and overlap, and Beth starts a romance with Teddy. Problems arise, however, when a betrayal amidst the quartet raises questions surrounding love and loyalty, while also testing the bonds of family and friendship.

A welcome wave of thought-provoking dilemmas washes over what initially appears a breezy beach read. First-rate storyteller Mallery (One Big Happy Family) intimately plumbs the depths of perception and self-discovery.

Beach Vibes by Susan Mallery

Canary Street Press, $30.00 hardcover, 9781335402530, 384 pages

Publication Date: March 18, 2025

Learn more about Susan Mallery HERE

 

 

 

Thief of Fate

The final installment in a time-travel romance trilogy about an Irish rogue and thief from 1844 Ireland who, in order to gain eternal life for his troubled soul, is tasked (a century later) with devising a plan to bring two people together in love.

Life doesn’t always turn out according to plan…and in the case of Liam O’Connor, choices he made in 1844 Ireland continue to haunt him. When Liam fell in love with Cora McLeod over 100 years ago, their intense romance changed both of their destinies in tragic ways.

But time marches on…or does it?

In order for Liam to save his soul, he sent back to earth to alter the course of Cora’s current romantic destiny. In 1844, Cora was never supposed to fall in love with Liam. And 100 years later, she doesn’t remember her Ireland life or the brief, yet intense, romance she and Liam once shared. Back then--as now--she was/is destined to end up with Finley Walsh—her always intended soul mate.

Cora is a head-strong, independent police officer in Providence Falls, North Carolina—a far cry from the woman Liam fell in love with a century before. She works with Finley, who is also a cop. Finley loves Cora, but Cora is taken and falling hard (again) for Liam, whose covert job (in this century) is to finally bring Cora and Finn together. As Cora, Finn and Liam all work to together to solve a murder case, old romantic feelings stir between Liam and Cora. Will Liam repeat history and make the same mistakes that interfere with destiny? Or will he stick to his quest, do the right thing and fulfill what fate always designed for Cora and Finn?

Each book in this spellbinding, mystical epic by Jude Deveraux and Tara Sheets (Chance of a Lifetime, An Impossible Promise) delivers well-plotted mystery and suspense—and stunning cliff-hangers. In Thief of Fate, fans of romance, historical fiction and time-travel stories will be treated to an exciting, passionate conclusion to this inventive, imaginative series.

Thief of Fate by Jude Deveraux and Tara Sheets (Book 3 of 3: Providence Falls)

MIRA (Harlequin), $16.99 paperback, 9780778386551, 320 pages

Publication Date: October 25, 2022

To order this book on INDIEBOUND, link HERE

Out of Her Depth

A gripping romantic thriller about an idyllic summer of young love and friendship in Italy that surprisingly turned deadly.

 

Florence, Italy and the hills of Tuscany serve as the backdrop for Out of Her Depth, a menacing psychological thriller from Lizzy Barber.

 

The novel is told via the intimate, first-person narrative voice of Rachel, a Brit. At 21-years-old, Rachel travels to Italy for the summer, working as a maid in a quaint Villa in Florence. Hoping to brush up on her Italian-language skills before setting off to Cambridge in the fall, working class Rachel falls in with—and falls under the spell of—a wealthy gal, Diana, who is shrewd and manipulative…especially when it comes to Sebastian, the rich and very handsome godson of the Villa's owner, and Valentina, a new recruit to the hotel staff.  A fun, exciting summer filled with budding friendships--lust and love--suddenly shifts into dark power-plays, resentments and jealousies.

 

The story then cuts to twenty years later: Rachel, now 41-years-old, is a teacher at an exclusive, private school in England who remains traumatized and haunted by secrets from that one life-changing Italian holiday. Readers learn that the foursome never again saw each other, and Sebastian has spent 20 years in prison for a murder that played out that fateful, tragic summer. What exactly happened? What went wrong?

 

Barber (A Girl Named Anna) suspensefully rolls out details of a surprising friends-to-enemies story that probes themes of guilt and shame, secrets and regrets. Barber’s skillful storytelling elevates a traditional beach read into a stunningly deep page-turner.

Out of Her Depth: A Novel by Lizzy Barber

Mira Books (Original Edition), $16.99 paperback, 9780778386445, 400 pages

Publication Date: July 12, 2022

To order this book on INDIEBOUND, link HERE

Late in the Day

A moving, multifaceted novel explores how a sudden death changes the lives of two British couples and their children.

More than 30 years of love and friendship--and the loyalty and betrayals therein--are central to Late in the Day, a psychologically astute novel by Tessa Hadley. The story launches with a death that disrupts the lives of two British couples bonded inextricably since their college years.

Zachary Samuels, one of the four, dies suddenly from a heart incident. The death of this middle-aged gallery owner overwhelms his needy, helpless wife, Lydia. And this tragic news also shocks the lives of Lydia and Zachary's closest friends: Christine, an artist who had many showings at Zach's gallery, and her husband, Alexandr, a poet who gave up his writing dreams to become headmaster at a progressive primary school.

Zach is absent throughout the narrative, but his presence looms large in these three lives--and those of the offspring of each respective couple. In Zach's wake, roads not taken are reconsidered, affections shift and old wounds and jealousies are resurrected. This all leads to responses and actions that ultimately upend these once seemingly settled lives.  

As in her other work, Hadley (The Past) has a firm grasp on the complexity of grief and the strengths and foibles of human nature. This exquisitely rendered, character-driven novel probes emotional depths of an ensemble cast of ordinary people who are forced to come to grips with the meaning of life through loss and death.

Latein the Day: A Novel by Tessa Hadley

Harper, $26.99, Hardcover, 97800062476692, 288 pages

Publication Date: January 15, 2019

To order this book on INDIEBOUND, link HERE

NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (January 15, 2019), link HERE

Always

An engaged woman unexpectedly reunites with an old flame, forcing her to reconcile her feelings for two men.

Just when Kailey "KC" Crane is about to start a new chapter of her life, the successful journalist--in her 30s, working for a Seattle newspaper--is brought face to face with an old flame. The chance encounter happens one night after KC and her handsome, attentive fiancé, Ryan, a high-end property development manager, dine in an upscale French restaurant. As Ryan fetches the car after dinner, good-natured KC offers a painfully thin, homeless man her leftovers only to discover the man is Cade McAllister, a once-successful music business mogul and also the long-lost former love of KC's life.

What ensues is a richly drawn, emotional story rife with conflict. Cade has suffered a traumatic brain injury--origin unknown--that has compromised his memory. KC eagerly advocates to help Cade, while trying to piece together what happened to him and why he disappeared from her life ten years before. In her quest, KC's heart is pulled in two directions, and she is forced to reconcile the choices that have shaped her own life: Will KC have a fulfilling future with Ryan? Might she still be in love with Cade, even in his altered state?

Jio (Goodnight June) braids a thought-provoking narrative that examines the forces that brought KC and Cade together and pulled them apart--the tenuous bond of their love--versus the cushy, comfortable life KC shares with Ryan. Contrasting past and present perspectives and KC's choice between old love and new makes for a suspenseful and highly charged romantic conclusion


Always: A Novel by Sarah Jio
BallatineBooks, $27.00 Hardcover,  9781101885024, 288  pages
Publication Date: February 7, 2017
To order this book on INDIEBOUND, link HERE


NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (February 21, 2017), link HERE