When the Bennett family arrives at the shore house to spend the summer together, they bring more baggage than just suitcases…

When Kaye Bennett, the matriarch of the Bennett family, summons her adult children to the shore house, she anticipates a vacation full of nostalgia. It’s a chance to relive the carefree joy of summers past: basking in the hot sun, cooling off in the surf, and enjoying long, relaxing evenings watching fireflies on the deck. But when Kaye’s son and daughter arrive, late and uncooperative, it becomes clear the family desperately needs to reconnect.

Kaye and her daughter Stacy have been quietly at odds for years and resentment has grown around words unsaid. Faced with spending the summer months in such close quarters, Kaye is determined to remind Stacy of happier times and why she once loved their beautiful beachside home.

But both Kaye and Stacy are holding something back… and only when a heart-stopping moment on the beach puts what Stacy most loves at risk are the two women finally able to set free the secrets in their shared past.

Titles in the Dewberry Beach series include – The Shore House –

Title:  The Shore House
Series:  Dewberry Beach #1
Author:  Heidi Hostetter
Genre:  Women’s Fiction, Romance
Published:  July 20, 2020
Publisher:  Bookouture
My Rating:  4 stars

‘The Shore House‘ begins the ‘Dewberry Beach‘ series which in itself is a rather unique series as it will consist of the stories of the families along the shore, each with their own book.  So while the location, the town, and such will remain (and perhaps we might run into a familiar face) each new book in the series will focus on the life, loves, and drama of one family.  After finishing the Bennett family story I’m anxious to discover the next family on Dewberry Beach.

This was my first time reading this author and I completely enjoyed her voice, the way she brings the reader into the story with a strong sense of sight, smell, and always emotions.  ‘The Shore House‘ shows one summer at the beach for one family who has faced a medical scare for their father/husband, but it also shows a daughter’s long-held resentment which has nothing to do with her strong marriage or adorable children yet longs for her career, as well as a favored son and the girl he brings along who really doesn’t fit or even try to fit in with her boyfriend’s family.  There are enough emotions, anger, resentment, fear, and deep love lying under the surface throughout this family’s story to keep your own emotions always on high alert.

Most of what you’d want to know can be found in the cover description, the rest you’ll have a good time discovering firsthand as this family will face some rough waters this summer – but at their core is a strong love that cannot be denied.  I enjoyed myself in this world.  It’s full of what I want in what I’d consider a family saga in the sense of different points of view, voices raised in anger, and wavery with tears, and… eventually forgiveness.  This is going to be a roller coaster of emotions, but you’ll be caught up in the lives of the Bennett family every step of the way.  I will be keeping an eye out for the next title in the series – and in the meantime, I’ll go look up some of this author’s other works.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher, Bookouture via NetGalley. That does not change what I think of this story.  It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*

Available in paperback, audio, and your favorite e-reader, mine is the Kindle.