The Brighter the Light

Written by Mary Ellen Taylor

Narrated by Megan Tusing

From the bestselling author of Honeysuckle Season comes an evocative dual-timeline novel detailing one woman’s journey to discover the hidden stories of her family’s seaside resort.

When a shipwreck surfaces, old secrets are sure to follow.

Or so goes the lore in Ivy Neale’s hometown of Nags Head, North Carolina. When Ivy inherits her family’s beachfront cottage upon her grandmother’s death, she knows returning to Nags Head means facing the best friend and the boyfriend who betrayed her years ago.

But then a winter gale uncovers the shipwreck of local legend—and Ivy soon begins to stumble across more skeletons in the closet than just her own. Amid the cottage’s clutter are clues from her grandmother’s past at the enchanting seaside resort her family once owned. One fateful summer in 1950, the arrival of a dazzling singer shook the staff and guests alike—and not everyone made it to fall.

As Ivy contends with broken relationships and a burgeoning romance in the present, the past threatens to sweep her away. But as she uncovers the strength of her grandmother and the women who came before her, she realizes she is like the legendary shipwreck: the sands may shift around her, but she has found her home here by the sea.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Jul 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781713644866

Mary Ellen Taylor

A southerner by birth, Mary Ellen Taylor has a love for her home state of Virginia that is evident in her contemporary women’s fiction. When she’s not writing, she spends time baking, hiking, and spoiling her miniature dachshunds, Buddy, Bella, and Tiki.

Reviews for The Brighter the Light

[joyfularewe1004 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved this book. It was mostly a nice feel good book with a few family twists and turns

[auntieg0412 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

3.5 stars rounded up

(Free from Amazon Prime Reads) A bit convoluted a time or two, but overall I enjoyed it very much. I ended up drawing a family tree to help me keep track of everybody!

[pennykaplan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ivy Neale returns home to Nags Head on the Outer Banks to settle her grandmothers estate and discovers hidden family secrets as well as love (of course).

[coverloverbookreview · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Brighter the Light contains many of the things I love most in a story—familial love, southern charm, and emotional history. All of this is wrapped in beautiful, nostalgic storytelling. I enjoy a dual timeline, uniting two stories with a cohesive thread. Ivy and Ruth (her grandmother) are interesting, flawed, and realistic characters that became familiar quickly. There are a lot of people to keep straight in the story and there was a time or two I got tangled up but was able to sink back into everything rather easily.There were a few hiccups while reading, mainly trying to keep straight who was who, but overall, the story has wonderful elements of friendship, family, finding a path, and searching out answers. I wouldn’t have minded if there was a bit more romance, but there was enough to satisfy.Disclosure: #CoverLoverBookReview received a complimentary copy of this book.

[virginia51-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved how we got to learn the secrets from the past and the present. Ivy and Ruth are great characters. It was nice learning about Ruth and her past and how it related to Ivy and her friends and what they were all going through. This is a very sweet tale that you will not want to put down until you find out what happened that long ago summer. I received a copy of this book from MB Books for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.

[gingersnap000 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If the Southern Sea coast calls your name, this novel will be.one of your favorite Summer of 2022 reads. I could not put this book because another family secret may be revealed. The description of the Outbank resort in the early days of my childhood made me wish for the Northeast seashore of my youth.

[susan0316 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This dual time line novel gives us Ruth's story in 1950 and her granddaughter Ivy's story in 2022 and they center around the Seaside Resort in Nags Head, North Carolina. Both time lines are very interesting and well written and blended together perfectly.Ruth is 12 years old and living in Nags Head. Her parents own a small motel and she works hard to keep the rooms clean and the renters happy. She's an only child and lonely but this summer, her 14 year old cousin, Tally, has come from the mountains to help out at the Seaside Resort and they become friends. That summer of 1950 was totally booked at the Seaside resort and even though Ruth and Tally work hard, they always find time for adventure. This summer is different from previous years - an old shipwreck appeared on the beach after a big storm. Plus a beautiful singer, Carlotta comes to the hotel to be the entertainer for a few weeks.Ivy has returned to the Outer Banks after the death of her grandmother, Ruth. Her plan is to clean out Ruth's house, sell the cottage and go back to New York. She had lefts Nags head right after high school graduation and left behind her two best friends with no explanations of why she was leaving. They haven't forgiven her for leaving them and she knows that she'll need to face them.. After a large storm, the same shipwreck is washed up on the beach and creates a lot of interest for people in the area. As Ruth goes through her grandmothers piles of junk, she finds some gems that help her understand the mystery of her grandmother's early life.Both Ruth and Ivy were braver and more tenacious than they realized. They both spent their childhoods working at the Seaside Resort and they are both trying to uncover secrets from past generations. Ruth wants to find out who her birth mother is and thinks it may be Carlotta. Ivy wants to find out about her grandmother's life and finds that Ruth has left her some hints in the stacks of stuff that she had in her home. Ivy also has to contend with two old friends and a potential romance when she is forced to decide whether to go back to NYC or stay in the Outer Banks.What can be better than a southern fiction novel to read during a cold and dreary winter day. Southern fiction is my favorite genre and somehow I missed Mary Ellen Taylor's books. She's now on my list of favorite southern authors and I won't miss another one of her books in the future and plan to order some of her earlier books. This book is full of secrets, family, lost friends and missed opportunities over two generations of the same family. If you enjoy a great book with likable characters, you don't want to miss this book!Thanks to the author for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.