The Seaside Sisters by Pamela Kelley
Contemporary chick lit, women’s fiction with romance. Multiple POV.
After a personal loss and now suffering from panic attacks, Hannah Brewster is struggling to write her second book. She accepts an invite to return home to Chatham, Cape Cod for the summer. She’s hoping that being back in her home town will help her reconnect with life, family and hope. Plus, she’ll be able to spend time with her sister Sara.
Sara is married with four children and feels stuck in her life. So many family responsibilities and no time for herself. Sara gets a job at a local bookstore which puts pressure on other needed changes in her life.
Aunt Maddie is having her own marriage issues. Having Hannah and Sara back in her life for the summer helps her make some of her own changes.
It’s a summer of family.

🎧 I alternated between an ebook and an audiobook which was narrated by Stephanie Nemeth-Parker. There are distinct voices for the main three women in the story bit for me they did tend to blend together. I had to listen closely to the beginning of each section or chapter to make sure I knew who I was following. Of course, they lead very different lives with different issues so the content was easily allocated. There were no drastic emotions so the audiobook was smooth and well modulated with no discernible subsequent editing. It was a wonderful performance overall. I listened to this at 1.5 which is my preferred speed.

Choosing between an ebook and audiobook is really choosing between two different experiences. For this book, I would recommend the ebook simply because of the multiple POV’s and inconsistencies of when the POV changes occur.

Family and personal connections, self respect, confidence and most importantly, happiness in the one life we get to lead.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and publisher Macmillan Audio. ( )

Hannah is an author who is struggling writing her second book after her mother's death. She lives in Brooklyn but decides to visit her Aunt Maddie in Chatham (on Cape Cod) for the summer to try to break her writer's block.

While there, she slips into a comfortable routine writing in a local coffee shop and making friends with the barista. The coffee shop is attached to a bookstore (this story line is a bit of a continuation from The Bookshop by the Bay) where Hannah's sister, Sara, ends up getting a part-time job.

The description and setting of Chatham is pretty spot-on. I felt like I was there on the beach throughout the story. Hannah, Sara and Maddie are having relationship issues which, honestly, were a bit predictable but the stories were good. ( )

3.5 Stars

This was not a romance, although there was a happy ending for both sisters and their Aunt Maddie!
This was not a book I would compare to Mary Kay Andrews- MKA's books have a little sizzle to them, but this book does not. It is a very clean romance. This novel deals more with the grief each sister has to get over when their mother dies. Hannah, the youngest sister, has a bit of writer's block; Sara, the older sister, has some issues with her marriage, and Aunt Maddie has issues with her marriage.

We learn a lot about Cape Cod, 'ghost' a lawyer for some writer's tidbits, and find out how a mother of four copes with a recalcitrant husband and a new job and make a ton of new friends.

A pleasant read for a day at the beach, even if it's not Cape Cod!

*ARC was supplied by the publisher St. Martin's Griffin/ Macmillan Publishers, the author, and NetGalley. ( )

What a treat I received when I downloaded an ARC of The Seaside Sisters by Pamela Kelley from Netgalley! I have enjoyed reading her ebooks and this one was an exceptional read! The story tells us about Hannah, a writer who decides to return to Chatham, a beautiful seaside Cape Cod town where she lived growing up. She decided to spend the summer months while writing her latest book with her Aunt Maddie, a literary agent for years. Also she will see her sister, Sara, who lives in this town with her husband, Tom, and their four sons! I loved reading about all the characters, such as Joy and Ben, the neighbors of Aunt Maddie and their grandson, Spencer.. I also loved the descriptions and happenings while the characters visited the downtown shops, such as the bookstore and the coffeeshop, the seafood restaurants, and especially the mention of all the foods and recipes which made me wish I could be there myself. Pamela Kelley is an amazing writer, well worth a reader's time spent reading her books. Kudos to Pamela Kelley! ( )