Summers at the Saint by Mary Kay Andrews ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

 

Welcome to the St. Cecelia, a landmark hotel on the coast of Georgia, where traditions run deep and scandals run even deeper. . . 

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

May 2024; St. Martin's Press; 978-1250278388
audio, ebook, print (448 pages); women's fiction

You can always tell that summer is just around the corner when you get a new Mary Kay Andrews book to read.  Once again, she has given her readers a fantastic mix of romance and mystery in a book full of lovable and quirky characters in a beachside hotel.  What can be better than that?

The Saint Cecelia Hotel is a resort on the Georgia coast where the rich and famous want to spend their summers.  Traci and her best friend Shannon are from the wrong side of the tracks and when they are 19, they get jobs as lifeguards at the Saint.  They learn very quickly that if you stay at the hotel, you are considered a Saint but if you are working class, you are considered an A'int.  A horrible event at the hotel ended their friendship and it didn't get any better in later years.  Traci met and fell in love with Hoke, the son of the owner of the resort. When he died in a helicopter crash, the hotel became hers but her father-in-law and brother-in-law wanted her to fail and work against her as frequently as possible.  Here she is at 40 trying to return the hotel to its glory days as her brother-in-law works to make her fail.  Several of her key employees leave right before the summer season begins and she resorts to hiring people who wouldn't normally work at a high-end hotel.  With her quirky cast of characters, the hotel starts the summer season.   Then along comes Whelan, looking for information about his younger brother who died in the pool 20 years before when Traci and Shannon were the lifeguards.  His questions make an already stressful season even more difficult but add a great mystery to the story.

This book has it all -- a twisted mystery from 20 years earlier, a vindictive brother-in-law who is trying to make Traci fail, an estranged best friend who has no use for Traci, a bunch of quirky characters who work hard to make the summer a success and a bit of romance to lighten things up.  Along with that -- add the beautiful sunsets over the ocean and you have a perfect summer read.  Mary Kay Andrews never disappoints!

 

Buy Summers at the Saint at  Amazon

Susan Roberts grew up in Michigan but loves the laid-back life at her home in the Piedmont area of North Carolina where she is two hours from the beach to the east and the mountains in the west.  She reads almost anything but her favorite genres are Southern Fiction and Historical Fiction.   

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