Summer by the Tides by @DeniseAHunter ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

"Maddy Monroe was cowering behind a ficus tree near the hostess station when her cell phone rang. Her hands shook as she silences the phone before it drew the attention of the staff." (p. 1)

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

May 2019; Thomas Nelson; 978-0785222705
audio, ebook, print (320 pages); women's fiction

Denise Hunter's new book takes us right to a beach house on the NC coast. It has a little bit of everything - three sisters trying to move past a hurtful past and family secrets, a good looking neighbor, a little romance, a hurricane and a lot of beautiful descriptions of the beach.

Maddie, the youngest of the three sisters gets a phone call from her grandmother's neighbor on what was already the worst day of her life. She had lost her job and her boyfriend all in the same day and now she finds out that her grandmother is missing. When she rushes to her grandmother's seaside cottage, she meets Connor, the handyman who helped her grandmother. He tells her that he had also called her other two sisters and she immediately knows that there will be trouble since the sisters are estranged and haven't talked to each other for years. While Maddie is thrilled to see her sisters and get their help finding their grandmother, she quickly tires of being in the middle of the nasty comments that Emma and Nora continue to make to each other. The continued resentment over what happened at the beach house years earlier threatens to end any relationship that the sisters have. As they are going through boxes in the attic, they are continually reminded of the carefree summer days that they'd all spent together in the past. Will they be able to get past their resentment and learn how to be sisters again? Will Maddy's fear of love and happily ever after keep her from developing a relationship with Connor? The answers are all in the well written and fun read.

I enjoy reading books about the relationship between sisters because I have two sisters. I had a bit of trouble understanding the betrayal of one sister to another and was hoping that they would find common ground.   My favorite character was Maddie - she had lost so much and I wanted her to find happiness in her life.

This is a heartfelt story of family secrets, forgiveness, and unexpected romance. I highly recommend it for your beach bag!

Buy Summer by the Tides at Amazon

About the Author

Denise Hunter is the internationally published bestselling author of more than 25 books, including A December Bride and The Convenient Groom, which have been adapted into original Hallmark Channel movies. She has won The Holt Medallion Award, The Reader's Choice Award, The Carol Award, The Foreword Book of the Year Award, and is a RITA finalist. When Denise isn't orchestrating love lives on the written page, she enjoys traveling with her family, drinking green tea, and playing drums. Denise makes her home in Indiana where she and her husband are rapidly approaching an empty nest.

Connect with Denise
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Susan Roberts lives in North Carolina when she isn't traveling. She and her husband enjoy traveling, gardening and spending time with their family and friends. She reads almost anything (and the piles of books in her house prove that) but her favorite genres are Southern fiction, women's fiction, and thrillers. Susan is a top 1% Goodreads Reviewer. You can connect with Susan on Facebook, Goodreads, or Twitter. 

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