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Reviews"Mary Alice Monroe's inspired choice to write about the pandemic during the pandemic has paid off in this next installment of her acclaimed Beach House series, which can easily be read as a stand-alone, too. Quarantine isn't so much an issue as it is a setting in the book, bringing unlikely housemates together into a gathering storm of questions and consequences, as the youngest members of Monroe's beloved Rutledge family try to find their proverbial way from sand to sea, just like the turtle hatchlings Monroe writes so vividly about. A novel of growing up, saying goodbye to the past, and learning to ask yourself the hard questions, including one of the most vital of all: 'Who do you really want to be?'" --Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author of The Forest of Vanishing Stars, Praise for The Summer of Lost and Found "Mary Alice Monroe takes you on a trip to the idyllic sun, sand, and gracious lifestyle of a Southern summer. This season's must-read!" --Nancy Thayer, New York Times bestselling author of Surfside Sisters, "The latest in Monroe's long-running Beach House series gives dedicated fans a chance to catch up with old friends, and provides enough background on the characters for new readers to enjoy. The intimate island atmosphere keeps the focus on family and romantic relationships, as the characters deal with a global pandemic. Monroe's book acknowledges some of the hardships that real people endured over the past year, addresses loss and change, and finds hope where it's possible, which gives depth to this timely story." -- Library Journal
SynopsisA timely, tender, and compassionate tale of perseverance, love, and the bonds of family in the face of tremendous and sometimes painful upheaval in this latest novel in the New York Times bestselling Beach House series. The coming of spring usually means renewal, but for Linnea Rutledge, this spring is a season of challenge. Linnea faces another layoff, this time from the aquarium she adores, and her family's finances, emotions, and health teeter on the brink. To complicate matters, her new love interest, Gordon, struggles to return to the Isle of Palms from England. Meanwhile, her old flame, John, turns up from California and is quarantining next door. She tries to ignore him, but when he sends her plaintive notes in the form of paper airplanes, old sparks ignite. When Gordon at last reaches the island, Linnea wonders--is it possible to love two men at the same time? Love in the time of COVID-19 proves challenging, at times humorous, and ever changing. Relationships are redefined, friendships made and broken, and marriages tested. As the weeks turn to months, and another sea turtle season comes to a close, Linnea learns there are more meaningful lessons during this summer than opportunities lost: that summer is a time of wonder, and that the exotic lives in our own backyards. Poignant and moving, The Summer of Lost and Found is "a novel of growing up, saying goodbye to the past, and learning to ask yourself the hard questions, including one of the most vital of all: 'Who do you really want to be'" (Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author).
LC Classification NumberPS3563.O529S875 2021