Beach House Reunion

Written by Mary Alice Monroe

Narrated by Mary Alice Monroe

The New York Times bestselling author and “skilled storyteller who never lets her readers down” (Huffington Post) returns to her beloved Beach House series with this “authentic, generous, and heartfelt” (Mary Kay Andrews, New York Times bestselling author) tale of new beginnings, resilience, and one family’s enduring love.

Cara Rutledge returns to her Southern home on the idyllic Isle of Palms. Comforting in its familiarity, it is still rife with painful memories. Only through reconnecting with family, friends, and the rhythms of the lowcountry can Cara let go of the past and open herself to the possibility of a new career and love.

Meanwhile, her niece Linnea, a recent college graduate with an uncertain future, leaves her historic home in Charleston, with all its entitlement and expectations, and heads to her aunt’s beach house. On the island, she is free to join the turtle team, learn to surf, and fall in love. Remembering the lessons of her beloved grandmother, Lovie, the original “turtle lady,” Linnea rediscovers a meaningful purpose to her life and finds the courage she needs to break from tradition.

In “this tender and openhearted novel of familial expectations, new boundaries, and the power of forgiveness” (Booklist), three generations of the Rutledge family gather together to find the strength, love, and commitment to break destructive family patterns and to forge new bonds that will endure long beyond one summer reunion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: May 22, 2018
• ISBN: 9781508257370

Mary Alice Monroe

Mary Alice Monroe is the New York Times bestselling author of 27 books including her newest novel The Summer of Lost and Found (May 2021, Gallery Books), and her first Middle Grade book The Islanders (June 2021, Aladdin Books). Monroe’s books have been published worldwide. She’s earned numerous accolades and awards, including: Induction into the South Carolina Academy of Authors’ Hall of Fame; Southwest Florida Author of Distinction Award; South Carolina Award for Literary Excellence; RT Lifetime Achievement Award; the International Book Award for Green Fiction, and the prestigious Southern Book Prize for Fiction. Her bestselling novel The Beach House is a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie. Mary Alice Monroe is also the co-creator and co-host of the weekly webshow and podcast Friends and Fiction. Monroe found her true calling in environmental fiction when she moved to the Isle of Palms, South Carolina. Captivated by the beauty and fragility of her new home in the lowcountry, Monroe’s experiences gave her a strong and important focus for her novels. Monroe and Dorothea Benton Frank were lowcountry neighbors. Dottie--as she was called among friends-- lived across the inlet from Isle of Palms on the neighboring Sullivan’s Island. Together they became part of a small tribe of Lowcountry writers who gathered together over the years for meals and conversation supporting each other’s careers and personal lives. Dottie’s energy and spirit will be forever missed.  

Reviews for Beach House Reunion

[fictionalblonde · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My Review Of
BEACH HOUSE REUNION BY MARY ALICE MONROE
We begin this tale with the return of Cara to the beach house where it really all began for her. Cara has a baby now that she adopted named Hope and now Cara is struggling with the demands of motherhood verses career and her guilt at enjoying work while struggling with adjusting to motherhood. Meanwhile things are going downhill fast for Cara’s brother Palmer’s family. Linnea, Cara’s niece, cannot leave the her family’s beautiful and historic house in Charleston fast enough, she takes the nanny position for Hope and moves in with Cara for the summer. I enjoyed how this installment of the Beach House series continued to deal with the environment. I have really learned so much about turtles and birds from this series. We also deal with issues such as alcohol, drugs and verbal abuse. This book gets heavy at times in some places then becomes light and romantic in all the right places. We learn more about what Lovey, Cara’s mom, had to endure from a verbally abusive and controlling husband. We see the effects that it has on Palmer and how he tries to control his family as well. Meanwhile Cara has found romance in the most unlikely of places.

Sit back, sip wine or lemonade and savor this installment of the Beach House Series.

[mchwest · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Done, and sad, but I hope this isn't the last of this series. And I also hope they make it into a Hallmark movie!!

[whybehave2002 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Let me say that I did not read the first 4 books in this series and never once felt like the author was having to hand feed me information to understand this story. I loved this book. I couldn't put it down. It is a wonderful beach read but would also be great in the dead of winter by a fire.

[dknight0918 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved this fifth book in the series. I enjoyed spending more time with Cara at Primrose Cottage.

[beverlyant · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Author Mary Alice Monroe returns her readers to her much beloved Beach House series in this fifth book, Beach House Reunion.Let me preface my review by saying, I read this novel twice and I never want this series to end <3The love, compassion, and family dynamics in the Rutledge family and Lovie's, now Cara's, beloved Primrose Cottage is rife with pain filled memories, new discoveries, hope and healing. Author Monroe speaks from her heart and soul like no other author has ever moved me before. Monroe returns her readers to her beloved Lowcountry, Isle of Palms, South Carolina. Beach House Reunion is so beautifully and thoughtfully written that you'll feel as though you're right there in the summertime on Lovie's front porch, rocking gently in a cane back chair from this multi generational historic home, overlooking the gorgeous beach with the great dunes and ocean as far as one can see, feeling the humidity condensate on your skin, sipping from a glass of sweet tea, reflecting on a history so vast, the present with so many of life's dynamics and yet the hope for a bright and forgiving future.My favorite passage from Beach House Reunion was regarding Brett's pergola that he'd built for Cara. "This one Brett had built for Cara. He'd chosen the best wood, thick and strong. Built to last, he'd declared. Cara looked up and saw that the canes of the roses were twisted and broken. More red petals had drifted down to dot the deck. But this time, Brett's pergola had persevered. Oh Brett, she said, and hugged the pillar of the pergola. This was her sign. Strong and sure. I know what you're trying to tell me. And I hear you. No more tears. I'll weather the storms. I'll persevere. Live Again. Love Again. I will treasure each day. She reached up to wipe away the last of her tears. And each day, she said looking out at the endless sea, I'll remember you."Mary Alice Monroe's newest novel, Beach House Reunion, leaves me with tears of happiness, a sense of renewed hope and love again in my heart. Mary Alice you are my rock star, in the literary world and have given a part of myself back that has been missing for so long <3

[teachlz · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

“Beach House Reunion” by Mary Alice Monroe, is an entertaining, captivating, emotional and heartwarming novel. “Beach House Reunion” is the fifth book in the Beach House Series, but it can be read by itself. The Genres for this book are Fiction, Women’s Giveaway, with an essence of ghost-like feeling. The timeline of this story is set in the present, unless it goes to the past where it pertains to the characters or events. The story takes place in Charleston, South Carolina and the southern family beach-house on the Isle of Palms.The author describes her characters as complex, and complicated. Most of the characters have problems of their own. Cara Rutledge, a 53-year-old widow with a young baby returns to her Grandmother’s Beach- House. Cara is leaving a professional life but wants to give her daughter a better life. She has to revisit connections with friends and neighbors, and yet work at some type of job. Since her husband’s death, Cara has not moved forward until now. What lies in store for her?Cara’s niece, Linnea, has just graduated from college and goes to the Beach House as well, to try to figure out what she is going to do with her life. She becomes a babysitter-nanny for Cara. Linnea has left her dysfunctional family at home, and looks forward to the beach and the ocean. Linnea loves being part of “the Turtle Team”.I appreciate that Mary Alice Monroe describes the importance of family, emotional support, friends, neighbors, love, faith and hope. Is it possible to break the toxic problems of the past? The author discusses growth, strength and courage for her characters to make better choices. I would recommend this novel to those reader of Women’s Fiction. I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest opinion and review.

[lisasharvey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Beach House ReunionMary Alice MonroeMY RATING ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️▫️PUBLISHERGallery BooksPUBLISHEDMay 22, 2018 Beach House Reunion is light and breezy and a joy to read. SUMMARYBeach House Reunion is the fifth novel in the Beach House series by Mary Alice Monroe. The series weaves together the triumphs and struggles of the Rutledge family of Charleston South Carolina. Beachhouse Reunion is a tale of new beginnings, as Cara Rutledge, 53, returns from Tennessee to live once again in her beloved beach house on the Isle of Palms, with her newly adopted baby, Hope. In need of childcare, Cara hires her niece, Linnea, to help her for the summer. Linnea has recently graduated from college and is struggling to figure out her next steps and relishes the idea of living with her aunt at the beach until she knows what she wants to do. Both women join the “turtle team,” make new friends, explore new directions for their lives and find the strength to attempt to break destructive family patterns. REVIEWA perfect book for a day at the beach. It’s light and breezy and a joy to read. A delightful tale that can either be devoured in a day or savored over several. Mary Alice Monroe is known as an active conservationist, particularly regarding sea turtles, and sea turtles alway plays a meaningful role in the Beach House series. While you don’t need to read each book in the series in order, if you are anything like me, after reading one, you are going to want to go back and read the others. Now, I consider Cara Rutledge a good friend and totally enjoy reading her ongoing story Thanks to Netgalley, Mary Alice Monroe and Gallery Book for an advance reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

[susan0316 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It was a chilly grey Saturday in my part of NC but I spent the weekend at the beach and never left home! Reading a Mary Alice Monroe book is like taking a vacation at the beach - her love of the lowcounty shines through in her books and her descriptions of the area make you feel like you're there.This is book 5 in the Beach House series. It can be read as a stand-alone but all of the books in the series are so good that you need to read them all! In this book, Cara Rutledge returns to Primrose Cottage on Isle of Palms. She left three years earlier after her husband died but felt like it was time to go home to raise the new baby that she's adopted. When she tries to work from home, she finds out that it's difficult so asks her niece Linnea to move to the cottage to take care of the baby while she's job hunting. They both lead a more relaxed life style at the beach with lots of friends and a bit of romance for both of them. Through their time together and the beauty of the island, the Rutledge family is about to become even closer despite issues that have been passed down from previous generations.This is a beautiful story of love and family, new beginnings and learning to live in the future instead of the past. As with all of Mary Alice's books, her love of the environment shines through her novel. In this book, its the loggerhead turtle and every chapter starts with a fact about sea turtles. There is also a lot of information about how pollution in the ocean hurts the turtles and other sea animals. So along with my mental trip to the beach, I was able to learn more about sea turtles! I highly recommend this book!Thanks to the author for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.