Book Review for Beach House Rules by Kristy Woodson Harvey

 

Beach House Rules by Kristy Woodson Harvey

Published:  May 27, 2025 by Gallery Books

Genre:  Summer Reads, Chick Lit, Southern Charm

Taken from Goodreads:  "Southern bestselling sensation” (Katie Couric Media) Kristy Woodson Harvey returns with a delightfully moving new novel about a mother-daughter duo learning to lean on their community of women—and each other—after their world is turned upside down.

When Charlotte Sitterly’s husband is arrested for a white-collar crime, she and her daughter Iris are locked out of their house by the FBI and—what’s potentially even worse—thrust into the spotlight of @JuniperShoresSocialite, the town’s snarky anonymous Instagram account. Cut off from her bank accounts and feeling desperate, Charlotte takes up an acquaintance’s offer to stay at a beachfront former bed-and-breakfast that’s home to a community of single mothers and draws plenty of gossip in the small coastal North Carolina town.

Charlotte and Iris find solace and are surprised by how much fun they’re having with the other families despite their circumstances. But when the women discover a secret link between them, it changes everything they thought they knew about the unconventional family they’ve created and leaves them wondering whether their coming together was a coincidence at all. Will the skeletons in the mommune closets help Charlotte and Iris reclaim their place in the Juniper Shores community—or shatter the sisterhood forever?

“Perfect for fans of Elin Hilderbrand and Jennifer Weiner” (Country Living), Beach House Rules is a charming exploration of the joy of friendship, the true meaning of family, and reclaiming the power to reshape our own destiny.

My Thoughts:  Kristy Woodson Harvey is an author that writes books set in the south.  Her characters are full of southern hospitality, her settings are small fictional southern towns, and her story is full of everything southern.   Beach House Rules is exactly that and so much more.   I devoured the entire book, I did not even really mean to read the whole book.  I picked it up just to see what it was about, read the inside flap, and I found myself turning page after page, reading chapter after chapter, and pretty soon (36 hours) I had read the entire book.  

The women and children that live together in the mommune become a true family.  Maybe I read too many thriller books, but I had some not so nice thoughts about Alice and some of her rules, but am happy to report that the mommune is an amazing concept.  The support of the women and the way the children take care of each other is the true definition of family.  Each woman has their own life trials they are going through, the children are working to find their way through life, and together they just work.  

Beach House Rules is a must-read summer read. 

Thank you Gallery Books for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

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Meet the Author (taken from her website):  Kristy Woodson Harvey is the New York Times, USA Today and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author of twelve novels including Beach House Rules, A Happier Life, The Summer of Songbirds, and The Peachtree Bluff Series. Many of her books have been optioned or are in development for television and film and have received numerous accolades, including Good Morning America’s Buzz Pick, Southern Living’s Most Anticipated Reads, Katie Couric’s Featured Books, and Joanna Garcia Swisher’s The Happy Place Read. Kristy is the winner of the Lucy Bramlette Patterson Award for Excellence in Creative Writing and a finalist for the Southern Book Prize.