The Beach at Painter's Cove - Fiction Blog Tour Review

About The Beach at Painter's Cove

• Paperback: 432 pages • Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (June 13, 2017) From the New York Times bestselling author of Whisper Beach comes another heartwarming story of four generations of women who reunite in their crumbling family mansion by the sea for a dramatic summer filled with love, family, secrets and sisterhood. The Whitaker family’s Connecticut mansion, Muses by the Sea, has always been a haven for artists, a hotbed of creativity, extravagances, and the occasional scandal. Art patrons for generations, the Whitakers supported strangers but drained the life out of each other. Now, after being estranged for years, four generations of Whitaker women find themselves once again at The Muses. Leo, the Whitaker matriarch, lives in the rambling mansion crammed with artwork and junk. She plans to stay there until she joins her husband Wes on the knoll overlooking the cove and meadow where they first met. Her sister-in-law Fae, the town eccentric, is desperate to keep a secret she has been hiding for years. Jillian, is a jet setting actress, down on her luck, and has run out of men to support her. She thinks selling The Muses will make life easier for her mother, Leo, and Fae by moving them into assisted living. The sale will also bring her the funds to get herself back on top. Issy, Jillian’s daughter, has a successful life as a museum exhibit designer that takes her around the world. But the Muses and her grandmother are the only family she’s known and when her sister leaves her own children with Leo, Issy knows she has to step in to help. Steph, is only twelve-years-old and desperately needs someone to fire her imagination and bring her out of her shell. What she begins to discover at the Muses could change the course of her future. As Issy martials the family together to restore the mansion and catalogue the massive art collection, a surprising thing happens. Despite storms and moonlight dancing, diva attacks and cat fights, trips to the beach and flights of fancy, these four generations of erratic, dramatic women may just find a way to save the Muses and reunite their family.

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My Thoughts:

This was a gloriously summer read with a beautiful setting and an incredibly dysfunctional family trying to find their strength.  Right from the start I loved Issy.  She's carved out a career that she loves but has always missed the house she grew up in with her loving grandparents.  When everything falls apart she's the only one who can and will go back to set things right.  I loved watching her try and figure out what to do and realize that things might not have always been as they appeared in the best possible of ways.  The other characters were a little harder to warm up to but as the book went along they became part of life at the Muses and it was fun to see the changes (particularly in Jillian and Stephanie).  

This was an entertaining family saga with imperfect characters trying to find their way.  It's perfect hammock reading with bits of humor and heart but never silly.  This was my first Shelley Noble book but it most definitely won't be my last.  Rating:  Loved it!

About Shelley Noble

Shelley Noble is a former professional dancer and choreographer and has worked on a number of films. She lives at the Jersey shore where she loves to visit lighthouses and vintage carousels. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and Romance Writers of America. Find out more about Shelley at her website, and connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.