Summers at the Saint

Mary Kay Andrews is one of my favorite authors. I enjoy reading summer-themed books all year round. Living in Alaska with almost 9 months of dark and cold weather, nothing beats a good summer read in December.

I love going into books blind too, as I did with this one, and being pleasantly surprised with the overall read. This has summer fun, with mystery thrown in, and a little romance to top it off. Just what I needed.

I sincerely appreciate the author and NetGalley for the review copy.

[b:Summers at the Saint 195790574 Summers at the Saint Mary Kay Andrews https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1697249850l/195790574.SY75.jpg 197724423], a hefty story (448 pages) by [a:Mary Kay Andrews 21387 Mary Kay Andrews https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1616599433p2/21387.jpg], earned every page. I thought initially it seemed like a big book [b:Summers at the Saint 195790574 Summers at the Saint Mary Kay Andrews https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1697249850l/195790574.SY75.jpg 197724423] because I was reading the “large print” edition (696 pages), but I'm glad I was. By the time I got halfway through the book, I didn't want to put it down and the large print edition let me read well into the night. . . long after my eyeballs normally would have given out. The book is somewhat a cast of 1000s, but, oddly, I didn't have trouble keeping track of them all. The author does a good job of reminding you who is who, especially if a character hasn't been mentioned in a while. This is a technique that usually goes unnoticed when done well, which it was. I wasn't flipping back through what I'd already read to figure out who someone was.I liked that the main character (Traci Eddings) was a little more mature while many of the other players were younger. We could see the story through a more thoughtful, mature viewpoint while the craziness of youth played out. I liked the setting as well, a resort on the coast in Georgia. A little southern charm never hurts. Traci ran the resort while the younger characters were working there, something Traci herself had done when she was younger before marrying into the resort-owning family. The Eddings were both good and bad—but when they were bad, they were awful! But, the same went for the young employees. Some fine, upstanding people, some cold heartless jerks. Of course, the sexy love interest for Traci, named Whelan, didn't hurt either.The action was non-stop. The conniving, the secrets, the danger just kept coming. It's the kind of book you almost break your arm patting yourself on the back for having found and read. Now I have to check out more [a:Mary Kay Andrews 21387 Mary Kay Andrews https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1616599433p2/21387.jpg] books. I hope they are all as good as [b:Summers at the Saint 195790574 Summers at the Saint Mary Kay Andrews https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1697249850l/195790574.SY75.jpg 197724423].

Not A Casual "Beach Read". With the cover and even a common understanding of the description, one might think going into this tale that it is a breezy easy beach read. Well, I'm of the belief that any book you read at a beach is a beach read, but this book takes some effort. If you're looking for a simple tale... this aint that.

What this *is* though is a solid tale of survival on so many different levels. Yes, you have the tale of the struggle to save the resort that the description points out. But there is also *so much more* here, and the problems at the resort go *so much deeper* than is initially believed.

At first, this seems to be a tale of the resort manager building her team, Nick Fury building the Avengers style. As this slow burn story continues though, we see that not everything is as it seems, and Nick may have found Loki posing as Thor rather than the actual Thor...

Ultimately, all of the separate characters and threads do come together in a wonderful tapestry, but it takes a while to see the full picture of all that is happening and why, but for those that demand books that wrap up everything... this *is* one of those tales, at least.

Very much recommended.

3.5 stars. This was my first Mary Kay Andrews novel and probably won't be my last because I really did think that this was fun and kept me on the edge of my seat at the end. First, let me tell you about the things I really liked. The characters were thoroughly fleshed out and their dynamics were fun. I felt this was part social commentary - with touches on class disparity, race, and homophobia. The middle was a little hard to get through, but the last few chapters - WOW! PLOT TWIST PAGE TURNERS!

Now on to the things that irked me while reading: There were too many characters. After reading some other reviews, it seems this is common for a Mary Kay Andrews novel, so probably doesn't bother her fanbase much. Although they were fleshed out and done well, it was almost too much. Similarly, there were TOOO MANY PLOT LINES! When I reached 50% I was asking myself what this book was actually about?? Romance? Mystery? Just contemporary/women's lit? I think there were parts that went on too long, and a lot of repetitive conversations so that each of the many character could be caught up to what was happening. The romance between the main character and someone else (no spoilers) honestly, didn't add anything to the story and could have been left out completely to shorten things a bit. I think the cover is misleading and the prognosis too, to an extent. It is not a romance beach read. This is a mystery novel with a romance subplot and a lot of other stuff going on. I definitely thought it was a fun read, but a lot to process.

Thank you to Mary Kay Andrews and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.