The Beach House

By Mary Alice Monroe

Known for her moving characters and emotional honesty, Mary Alice Monroe brings readers a beautifully rendered story that explores the fragile yet enduring bond between mothers and daughters.

Caretta Rutledge thought she'd left her Southern roots and troubled family far behind. But an unusual request from her mothercoming just as her own life is spinning out of controlhas Cara heading back to the scenic Lowcountry of her childhood summers. Before long, the rhythms of the island open her heart in wonderful ways as she repairs the family beach house, becomes a bona fide "turtle lady" and renews old acquaintances long thought lost. But it is in reconnecting with her mother that she will learn life's most precious lessonstrue love involves sacrifice, family is forever and the mistakes of the past can be forgiven.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
• Release date: May 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781459226975

Mary Alice Monroe

Mary Alice Monroe is a New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of thirteen novels. Her books have received numerous awards, including the RT Lifetime Achievement Award, Florida Distinguished Author Award, SC Book Festival Award, and the International Fiction Award for Green Fiction. An active conservationist, she lives in the low country of South Carolina where she is at work on her next novel.

Reviews for The Beach House

[Sharon Nault Nowling · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

enjoyed the book alot Will recommend it to my friends

[auntieknickers · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was urged to read this on my annual South Carolina beach vacation with old friends. It's a perfect beach book that would also be enjoyable for someone who only wishes she were at the beach. In addition, the reader will painlessly learn quite a bit about loggerhead turtles, the symbol that holds the book together.Caretta Rutledge thinks she has her life in order. Since leaving her Charleston home at 18, she has earned two degrees, become an account executive in an ad agency, and bought a lakefront condo in Chicago. Her boyfriend, with whom she has a cordial but passionless relationship, works for the same firm. But on her fortieth birthday, she is laid off from the agency while the boyfriend is conveniently out of town. Having just received a letter from her mother, asking her to come home, she flees, leaving her laptop and cellphone behind, to the old family beach house on the Isle of Palms.Caretta's mother, Olivia or Lovie, who named her daughter for the loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta)that she cherishes, is dying of cancer -- a fact Caretta doesn't learn until midway in the book. She has returned to the beach house with the companionship of Toy Sooner, a pregnant teenager from the wrong side of town, whose parents and boyfriend have abandoned her. THE BEACH HOUSE is the story of these three women and the summer they share with the turtles, with each other, and with a group of other interesting characters. Caretta and Toy have momentous decisions to make, and Lovie, determined to live fully until her last breath, also needs to mend the long estrangement between her and her daughter. Need I say there is also a romance?This is a great example of the "not-so-trashy-trashy=novel" or, a politer term, domestic fiction. There's much more to it than just romance. If you have never been to the Carolina Low Country, this book will hive you an idea of what it's like. If you have, THE BEACH HOUSE ]will bring back the sight of the dunes, the scent of pluff mud, the taste of really fresh shrimp, and the music of Southern voices. Recommended.

[sheilazhere · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Totally enjoyed this book about a S.C family and their nurturing care of Loggerhead turtles during the summer spent at their summer beach house. A dying mother and her estranged daughter spend the summer and old wounds are healed and new beginnings ae forged.

[nanakitteh · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A beautiful well-written story about several women at different stages of their lives.

[jacketscoversread · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

For the first sixty pages, I struggled to continue reading The Beach House. The story it’s self is not overly fascinated, although it does have it’s frantic page turning sections. However, one of the things I love about Monroe’s books is how believable her characters are. The Beach House’s love story is not gushy, overhwelming. Insteady, the story is weaved with real-life struggles and hardships, allowing the characters to be someone I can identify with.

[labelleaurore · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The Beach house by Mary Alice Monroe is almost a copy carbon of The Richest Season by Maryann Mcfadden, same kind of story... with different people (lost of job, old woman, cancer, beach house, turtles, etc...)A woman loosing her job, her friend lover and moving back with her mother that has cancer, living in a country house by the beach. Good story but feeling like déjà vue did cut me short for liking this book.