A Happier Life by Kristy Woodson Harvey

Robin’s Rave Reviews 2024

Yes! Another perfect book for your beach bag this summer! A HAPPIER LIFE by Kristy Woodson Harvey, part historical fiction, part mystery, part women’s fiction, part romance, is told in a dual timeline: present day with Keaton Smith, and in 1976 with her grandparents Rebecca “Becks” and Townsend St. James.

Summary

Keaton, a young professional in NYC, has lost her job and her condo. While she figures out her next move, her mother asks her to clear out Keaton’s grandparents’ house in Beaufort so it can be sold. Keaton knew they died in a car accident before she was born, but this is the first she’s heard of the historic house on the North Carolina seaside. Her mother and uncle have held onto the house for nearly fifty years. Keaton agrees and takes her dog Salt along for the trip. (Who doesn’t love a story with a dog? And this dog is based on Kristy’s own dog named Salt!)

Keaton isn’t prepared to walk into a 1970s time-warp. It looks like Becks and Townsend just stepped away, including dishes left on the dining room table from one of Becks’ famous dinner parties. As Keaton is adjusting to the shock, Anderson, a ten-year-old, boy pops in. He lives next door with his divorced, grumpy, hot dad, Bowen.

While Keaton struggles with the enormous cleaning job, she connects more deeply with the locals. Keaton learns that everyone knows everything in a small town, so different from NYC. She becomes friends with the Dockside Dames, a group of older women who get together every morning for coffee and gossip. Their stories of her grandparents help Keaton connect with family she never knew. Keaton sees what life could be like here. She’s faced with comparing her fast-paced, workaholic life in NYC to what small town life on the ocean with Bowen and his son could be like.

The story of her grandparents dying in a car accident begins to have some holes. Although her grandparents’ car was found submerged in the water, their bodies were never recovered. When Keaton discovers her mother and uncle have suspicions that their parents were actually murdered, Keaton better understands why they never returned to the house. But what really happened to Becks and Townsend?

We go back in time for Becks to tell her love story. Becks was disowned by her parents for marrying Townsend, the love of her life. She focuses on making life easier for others and throwing her famous dinner parties while Townsend starts his doctor practice in Beaufort. Although Becks journals all her entertaining tips for her daughter, her granddaughter Keaton is the one to find it nearly fifty years later. It helps her connect with the grandmother she never knew.

Trying to decide what to keep and what to discard from her grandparents’ life and mother’s childhood is more difficult than Keaton expected. Keaton finally convinces her mother and uncle to come look through some things and get closure. Becks and Townsend left multiple clues behind, leading the family to learn the truth of what happened to them.

My Thoughts

There’s a lot here for readers of several genres including romance, women’s fiction, and mystery. It’s a multi-generational story of family relationships and how we deal with damage done in the past. It’s about forgiveness and reconciliation, about valuing the past and the family who came before us, and about romantic love and second chances. It reinforces that we shouldn’t judge the happiness of someone else’s life because people define happiness differently. What’s right for one isn’t for another. Perhaps when you determine you’ve lived a life worth living, you’ve found true happiness.

I loved A HAPPIER LIFE by Kristy Woodson Harvey. May I suggest you purchase A HAPPIER LIFE here at Bookshop.org? This online bookstore supports mom and pop bookstores nationwide!

Kristy Woodson Harvey, author

If you like…

If this book appeals to you, check out these Kristy Woodson Harvey books I’ve previously reviewed and recommend: The Summer of Songbirds, The Wedding Veil, Under the Southern Sky, Feels Like Falling, and the whole Peachtree Bluff series.

Drop me a comment below! What are you reading that you’d recommend? Who are your favorite authors? Ask me a question about books and/or writing. I’d love to hear from you!

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@author.robin.shelley

August 31, 2023

The Summer of Songbirds by Kristy Woodson Harvey

Robin’s Rave Reviews

Do you want to hang on to summer a little longer? Try The Summer of Songbirds by Kristy Woodson Harvey. It will take you back to fond childhood memories of going to summer camp. Even if you never went to summer camp, you will enjoy this story of three women who became friends as children and create a bond that lasts into adulthood.

Camp Holly Springs has a special place in the hearts of these three women since they first met there at age six. They continued attending every year, even becoming camp counselors in their teens. Now in their thirties, they learn the camp is floundering after Covid. The girls kick into high gear to help save it. Otherwise, Daphne’s Aunt June will have no choice but to sell out to a developer. While the three friends devise and carry out plans to save the camp, the story is complicated by their personal lives.

Mary Stuart is getting married. The guest list includes her friends Daphne and Lanier, and Lanier’s brother, Huff. Daphne and Huff were “a thing” a long time ago, and Lanier would like it to stay that way. Could seeing each other at the wedding reignite the flame? After the wedding, Mary Stuart has time to put her PR/marketing background to use to help save the camp.

Lanier, a bookstore owner, is engaged, but she isn’t as excited about getting married to Bryce as she should be. She senses he isn’t telling her something. When the girls throw her a bachelorette party at the camp, Lanier runs into Rich, the owner of the neighboring boys’ camp AND her teenage crush. What will come of this temptation?

Before Lanier’s bachelorette party, Daphne, a lawyer, is put into an impossible situation. She knows Bryce has multiple lawsuits against him that will tarnish his professional reputation and financially destroy him. As a loyal friend, she should tell Lanier before she marries him, but telling her would lead to Daphne being disbarred. As a single mother, Daphne has a son to support. To top it off, seeing Lanier’s brother Huff at Mary Stuart’s wedding was . . . interesting. Unfortunately she knows Lanier isn’t the forgetting type when it comes to Daphne’s past struggles.

Harvey uses Lanier’s, Daphne’s, and June’s alternating POV, so it’s important to keep the characters straight. Mary Stuart doesn’t have her own POV chapters, probably because her life is the most stable. She’s an anchor for the others.

♥ What I loved ♥

*Camp Holly Springs reminded me of good times at the summer camp I attended as a child–the activities, the new friendships, and the sense of freedom.

*The entire story isn’t about the camp’s problems. Kristy Woodson Harvey included multiple complications going on in the lives of these women.

*Bryce’s poor decisions put Daphne into one of those situations where she just doesn’t have any good choices. That makes for great conflict.

*The women regularly sent each other emails asking the others to do the “hard things” for them. They each used their strengths to help in areas where their friends struggled.

*Daphne had a great plutonic relationship with her son’s daddy, even though they never married.

*A strong storyline revolved around one character who experienced a challenging childhood. She makes her own mistakes in her twenties but learns to overcome. This past struggle still taints a friend’s perspective of her today. Will this friend truly forgive and put the past in the past? Will she support her friend now?

This isn’t just a summer book. The Summer of Songbirds is a wonderful choice for the fall as well. Kick the leaves on the ground as you take a walk to the campfire. Sit down and relax to the crackling of the fire, watch the firefly embers float off into the night sky, and indulge in a S’more. Lose yourself in watching three friends navigate their personal problems while also trying to do good for the camp, Aunt June ,and the community.

The Summer of Songbirds by Kristy Woodson Harvey hit the New York Times Best Sellers list shortly after its release. It was also a Good Morning America buzz pick. Interested in other books by Kristy Woodson Harvey? Click on the title to go to other KWH book reviews I’ve written: The Wedding Veil, Under the Southern Sky, Feels Like Falling, or if you’re interested in a series, The Peachtree Bluff series.

Also catch Kristy on the Friends and Fiction weekly podcast with co-anchors Mary Kay Andrews, Patti Callahan Henry, and Kristin Harmel. Every Wednesday at 7 PM the group talks about their books and interviews other authors with recent releases. It’s a great way to discover new titles and authors! Join in the fun by joining the Friends and Fiction Facebook group or go to their YouTube channel where you can watch live and catch up on older episodes.

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@author.robin.shelley

June 27, 2023June 12, 2023

The Peachtree Bluff Series

Robin’s Rave Reviews 2023

This summer, if you want to get lost in a good series about family, love, and secrets, try the Peachtree Bluff series by Kristy Woodson Harvey. This is a four book series. Did you love Mary Alice Monroe’s The Beach House series? Do you love Elin Hilderbrand books? Nancy Thayer? Then The Peachtree Bluff books may be a good choice for you!

This family, a mother and her daughters (and their families), brings a variety of personalities and baggage, but their bond is unbreakable. Pull up a chair and they’ll bring you some sweet tea. I’ll give you a taste of each book, enough for you to see if they pique your interest, but not enough to spoil any of them.

Slightly South of Simple

The first book, Slightly South of Simple, focuses on the mother Ansley and her daughter, Caroline.

When Ansley’s husband passed away, she was left with nothing. Even her own mother wouldn’t help her. From NYC, Ansley took her girls south to a house she inherited from her grandmother in Peachtree Bluff, Georgia, but it needed a lot of repairs. There she built a design business from the ground up and raised her children.

Her three daughters, now adults, all find themselves returning home for various reasons. For example, Caroline’s husband has been cheating on her in a very public way. With a failing marriage while she’s pregnant, she escapes with her nine-year-old daughter to the safety of Mom’s house in Peachtree Bluff. Then her sisters arrive with their troubles. Meanwhile, with the full house interrupting Ansley’s normally quiet life, Ansley’s first love, Jack, reappears. She tries to keep her distance, but the attraction is still there. The problem? He knows a secret Ansley wants to keep buried.

The Secret to Southern Charm

The second installment, The Secret to Southern Charm, focuses on the middle daughter, Sloane. She returns to Peachtree Bluff with her two children when her military husband is deployed. In this book, she learns her husband is MIA. In the past, she has emotionally dealt with his deployments, but MIA is a whole different ballgame. The story also continues the storylines of the other sisters and the mother.

The Southern Side of Paradise

Emerson, the youngest daughter, gets center stage in The Southern Side of Paradise, appropriate since she’s an actress who is shooting an important role for her career nearby. The role itself becomes a source of contention in the family. While home, she cautiously rekindles a past love interest from her teen years, but should an actress who will be returning to LA get involved with a small town boy with roots?

Christmas in Peachtree Bluff

The last installment in the series, Christmas in Peachtree Bluff, brings a different kind of conflict right before Christmas – a hurricane. When the storm approaches, the family gets split up. Some of them escape to NYC while others stay behind in Peachtree Bluff. With the bridge out, it becomes a rescue mission to get to the trapped family. This story also brings Vivi, the eldest grandchild, into the forefront with mother-daughter tension and teenage angst that puts herself and others into danger.

My Take

I really like how each book focuses on a different character. Although I didn’t always like some of the characters, I appreciated experiencing their growth as people and within the family. This is especially true of Caroline. I didn’t like how she acted so entitled. Yet, it’s through our trials in life we learn to become better. It’s the same with characters.

The Peachtree Bluff series certainly had a lot of drama to dig into, but it was also full of love. Although the books could be read independently, you’ll get the most out of reading them in order so you have the backstory for context. This series of books is a good choice for beach reads this summer.

You can read my reviews of some of Kristy’s other books: The Wedding Veil, Under the Southern Sky, and Feels Like Falling. As you can see, she’s a favorite author of mine! Learn more about Kristy Woodson Harvey and her books at her author website here. You can also preorder her newest book, The Summer of Songbirds, coming out July 11. My copy is on order!

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@author.robin.shelley

April 24, 2023

Sneak Peek of Upcoming Book Reviews

It’s good to be back! And I’ve got some good stuff for you. I’ve returned with a sneak peek of upcoming book reviews! You see, I’ve been reading a lot. What else was a girl to do while recovering from surgery?

Life is full of twists and turns, valleys and mountaintops. Although I prefer the mountaintops, I’ve been traversing my way through the twists, turns and valleys for the last few months, including surgery for my rotator cuff and bicep. Although I had a similar surgery done two years ago on the other arm, this one has been a much harder recovery. So, three months later, I’m still having pain and I don’t have full range of movement, but I’m working through the PT to recover. I just couldn’t wait any longer to reconnect with you!

When I couldn’t hold my arm up to type yet, I read. So – I have some great book reviews coming up! I’ll spread them out so you don’t have to rush out to get them all at once. I found it interesting that I was picking a wider variety of books, some out of the genres I usually read. But that’s great! Maybe my venturing out will give you something new to consider, too. Some books are brand new and others have been out a few years.

A new book review will come out later this week. Make sure you watch your email for it! If you don’t get email notifications when I write a new blog, why not? I promise I won’t stuff your inbox. (I normally only write 2-3 blogs per month.) Don’t put it off. I know how it goes. If you tell yourself you’ll do it later, you probably won’t. You simply need to type in your email address. Sign up on the bottom of any page on my website or go directly to https://robinshelley.com/home/contact-info/. Do it! Do it now!

And now… (drumroll please), here’s a sneak peek at some of the book reviews coming in the next few months ( in no particular order):

The Liz Taylor Ring by Brenda Janowitz, Beautiful Little Fools by Jillian Cantor (for The Great Gatsby fans), The Peachtree Bluff series by Kristy Woodson Harvey, This Close to Okay by Leesa Cross-Smith , Big Fish by Daniel Wallace, The Last Secret of the Secret Annex by Joop van Wijk-Voskuijl and Jeroen De Bruyn (for those interested in the Anne Frank story), The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren, Perilous Times by Thomas D. Lee, The Paris Daughter by Kristin Harmel, The Summer of Songbirds by Kristy Woodson Harvey, and The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry.

Just a reminder:

Mother’s Day is just around the bend. Wouldn’t Mom love a good book for her spring/summer reading? If you order at bookshop.org, your purchase supports small, independent bookstores. You can even pick which store you want to support! (I’ve been supporting MacIntosh Books as they recover from the hurricane that hit the Sanibel Island/Fort Myers area in Florida.)

June 28, 2022

The Wedding Veil by Kristy Woodson Harvey

Robin’s Rave Reviews – 2022

The best book I’ve read so far this year?

The Wedding Veil by Kristy Woodson Harvey! I’m so excited to encourage you to pick this one up!

This dual timeline story has something for almost everyone. The Wedding Veil is women’s fiction, contemporary romance, and historical fiction all in one book. It has wedding stories (wins and fails), family drama, multi-generational stories, younger and older characters, tradition – and breaking tradition. The story travels from the ocean side of North Carolina to the mountains surrounding the grand estate of Biltmore in Asheville, North Carolina to the ocean side of St. Thomas. I am truly impressed that Kristy Woodson Harvey wrote two equally strong storylines, an especially difficult task when the fictional modern story has to compete with the story of the Vanderbilt family.

In the present day, the story focuses on Julia Baxter and her grandmother, Babs. Julia plans on wearing a wedding veil that has been passed down in her family. The stranger who gave it to Julia’s great-grandmother told her it has been a symbol of good luck in her family. Women in Julia’s family have worn the veil, a symbol of happy marriages, ever since. The wedding weekend festivities have already begun, but Julia has reason to believe she is making a mistake, and she doesn’t want to be the one to break the good luck of the veil. Panicked, she escapes to the Virgin Islands for a honeymoon for one. The events there change the course of her life. Meanwhile, Babs, who is grieving the loss of her husband, leaves the emptiness of the house they shared and moves to a retirement community. She doesn’t expect a romance story of her own to begin.

The other timeline follows Edith Dresser, the woman who married George Vanderbilt. As a child, Edith often tried on her mother’s magic wedding veil. Her mother told her it would bring a fairy-tale life to all who wore it. Readers experience what life was like for Edith at Biltmore, a majestic home her husband built in the mountains of North Carolina. Edith and her daughter Cornelia had so much and yet hard financial times fell on the Vanderbilts through George’s premature death, war, flooding and the depression. Trying to make the estate self-sustaining to keep George’s legacy alive was no easy task for the Vanderbilt women. On her twenty-fifth birthday, Cornelia became the legal owner and new mistress of Biltmore. Less than a year later, Cornelia wore the family veil for her wedding to John “Jack” Cecil. Cornelia’s husband became a great help to Edith as they modernized processes to save money, but Cornelia struggled with being tied down to the estate, not the life she wanted for herself.

I want to tell you so much more, but I won’t spoil the story for you! Let’s just say Kristy skillfully connects the modern story with Vanderbilt history. Read my reviews of other novels I’ve enjoyed by Kristy: Under the Southern Sky and Feels Like Falling.

Kristy Woodson Harvey, author of The Wedding Veil

I was able to visit Biltmore a few years back. This book brought back wonderful memories and made them richer. Now Biltmore seems like so much more than a beautiful mansion preserving a time in history. The Wedding Veil brought the people who lived and worked there alive for me, making the experience more personal. When Kristy described where the family sat down for breakfast the morning after Cornelia’s birthday parties, I pictured the banquet hall with the immense table and enormous tapestries hanging on the walls. When Kristy described Edith sitting in George’s library, talking to his spirit as she smoked a cigarette, I remembered seeing the walls of books, smelling the leather and old paper, and admiring the ceiling painting worthy of any museum.

While visiting Biltmore, we drove around the grounds, getting a sense of how complex it was to keep the estate running – the mansion, the gardens, the farm, the dairy, and more modern additions – the vineyard and winery. The Vanderbilts needed a small army to run the estate, so they built a town on their property where their workers lived and raised their families. Even though Edith Vanderbilt could have simply enjoyed her great wealth, she had a passion to help lift the community.

The balcony has a panoramic view of the mountains.

If you are interested in the history of Biltmore, you’ll enjoy how Kristy brings it to life. Pick up your copy of The Wedding Veil by Kristy Woodson Harvey! And if you haven’t visited Biltmore, put it on your bucket list! To learn more about Biltmore, go to the Biltmore Estate website here. Also check out this short video of the Biltmore Estate .

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@author.robin.shelley

February 9, 2021February 16, 2021

Under the Southern Sky by Kristy Woodson Harvey

Kristy Woodson Harvey‘s newest book Under the Southern Sky is my first ARC (Advance Reader Copy). An ARC book is given to reviewers before the book hits mass distribution in exchange for an honest opinion.

Right from the first page, I was sucked in. It wasn’t just the story or characters but a freshness and energy in the writing. Originally I was a bit hesitant about the topic, but Harvey brought hope and joy to a tricky, sensitive situation.

When journalist Amelia digs into her research for a story, she discovers that her childhood friend Parker and his late wife Greer have frozen embryos that have been classified as “abandoned.” Bringing it to his attention adds to Parker’s pain of his loss but also gives him new options to consider.

I had to keep turning the pages to see how their friendship would evolve as they dealt with these adult situations. A nice addition to the list of characters included best friend/meddling mother characters that were patient and subtle. I also enjoyed Aunt Tilley’s character. She’s lovable, quirky, and more complex than first meets the eye. Plenty of twists and turns in the story keep readers engaged.

I would highly recommend reading Under the Southern Sky by Kristy Woodson Harvey. It comes out in April 2021, but you can pre-order a copy from your favorite bookstore today. Pre-orders are very helpful to authors so if you think you’ll buy this book, why not pre-order today? If your sweetheart is looking for a special gift to get you for Valentine’s Day, ordering this book would be a great suggestion.

January 15, 2021December 9, 2020

Feels Like Falling by Kristy Woodson Harvey

Time to share another book recommendation with you. Feels Like Falling was the first book I’ve read by Kristy Woodson Harvey. If you are looking for a light and easy read in women’s fiction, Feels Like Falling is a great choice. It’s a pleasant story to escape into. I really enjoyed the unlikely friendship that develops between two women from opposite socio-economic positions. Feels Like Falling is an uplifting example of friends, new and old, supporting each other through good times and bad.

The structure of this book was refreshing since it was different from the women’s fiction books I’ve been reading.The structure switches POV back and forth (in a clear way) between Gray and Diana so the reader can experience these women’s thoughts and actions through their eyes.

While Gray seems to have it all, she struggles with a divorce that drags on and with dating again as a single mom. On the other hand, Diana seems to have nothing, living in her car after leaving an abusive relationship and getting fired from her job. When Gray gives her a chance to improve her situation, Diana takes the opportunity which changes the direction of her life. Both women become better people through the development of their friendship. Readers will enjoy unfolding their stories page by page.

Harvey has also written the Peachtree Bluff series as well as Dear Carolina. Under the Southern Sky is currently on pre-order and slated to be released in April 2021.

Let me know if you’ve read a book by Kristy Woodson Harvey. If so, which one(s)? What did you think of it?

August 4, 2020August 4, 2020

Friends and Fiction Author Chats

I want to share something with you that shouldn’t be kept a secret. Do you remember in my recent book review on The Beach House by Mary Alice Monroe, I mentioned a Facebook group I came across during the pandemic? The Friends and Fiction FB group is sponsored by five women fiction authors: Mary Kay Andrews/Kathy Trocheck (Hello, Summer), Mary Alice Monroe (On Ocean Boulevard), Kristin Harmel (The Book of Lost Names), Patti Callahan Henry (Becoming Mrs. Lewis), and Kristy Woodson Harvey (Feels Like Falling). (The books listed are their most recent.)

During the pandemic these authors felt the need to connect with each other since they couldn’t get together in person. They started connecting through Zoom for a virtual happy hour – enjoying a drink while talking books. They realized how much they were missing in-person book tours and meeting their fans so they decided to open up their weekly chat to fans by making it a weekly live video on Facebook each Wednesday at 7 pm eastern. (You can also view it later at your leisure on the FB page.) In just a few months this Facebook group has already gained 14,000 members! What started as a “limited time event” looks like it’s here to stay.

Sometimes the live chats are the five of them discussing writing and books while other times they invite a special guest to join them. Past guests have included Delia Owens (Where the Crawdad Sings), Jasmine Guillory (Party of Two), Susan Elizabeth Phillips (Dance Away with Me), Jayne Ann Krentz/Amanda Quick/Jayne Castle (Close Up)), Lisa Wingate (The Book of Lost Friends), and Drew Copeland and Ken Block (members of the band Sister Hazel) to name a few. Upcoming interviews on the summer calendar include Elin Hilderbrand on Aug. 5 (TOMORROW!), Karin Slaughter on Aug. 12, Kristina McMorris on Aug. 19, the Friends and Fiction 5 on Aug. 26, and Etaf Rum on Sept. 2. The F&F5 are finalizing other author interviews for the fall.

“The authors quickly make fans feel like good friends just hanging out together.”

I look forward to watching the live video on Facebook every Wednesday. The authors quickly make fans feel like good friends just hanging out together. We can also submit questions for them and for their guest authors. An independent bookstore is highlighted each week as the authors encourage fans to support them, especially while these businesses are struggling during the pandemic.

Friends and Fiction is a closed FB group, but anyone can join. On Facebook type Friends and Fiction in the “search groups” bar. Just ask to join and soon you will have access to their past videos, their live videos on Wednesdays, and comments and recommendations from other fans/readers. (Also check out friendsandfiction.com.) I’m amazed that with all these ladies have on their plates they want to continue doing this, but I’m so glad they do. Come join us!