A Happier Life hits shelves today and your favorite local bookstore and I’m sharing my review from last month in its honor. Grab your copy today!
Thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
Becks Saint James is legendary. Well, at least her dinner parties are! The gatherings are the talk of the town from the guest list to the food to the conversation. Becks and her husband Townsend are the picture of a perfect marriage with two grown children starting life on their own. When they disappear in what everyone considers a simple car crash it baffles their friends and it becomes the stuff of legends in town. But eventually Becks’ dinner parties along with their disappearance are mostly forgotten. That is, until the family decides to finally sell their house forty years later and send Keaton, their granddaughter, to go through everything they left behind. Keaton is looking for a fresh start after a disastrous month professionally and personally. Will she get that fresh start, or more than she bargained for when secrets start to unravel?
A Happier Life is Kristy Woodson Harvey’s latest release, due out in June 2024. The bestselling author of The Peachtree Bluff series pulls from her personal life for this romcom novel both in the location on the Carolina coast, and her dog Salt! Known for her ability to convey both strength and vulnerability in her female lead characters, the author has delivered another beautiful story about putting the past behind us and accepting that our best future may not look how we intended. This is a book about discovering where you came from and surrounding yourself with the family you choose.
I give A Happier Life 4 out of 5 stars. This book is very relatable for many in my generation who left home to make it big in the city, only for it all to come crashing down around them. I appreciate the family dynamics between both Becks and her husband and children, as well as Keaton and her brother and mother. I did find myself frustrated with a few decisions Keaton makes later in the book – it felt like she came so far in her development to go back to the toxic environment she came from. I also felt like some of the conversations with the neighbor’s son felt too mature for that character’s age – my son is the same age and would never speak that way. I hope we get more with these characters in the future though – especially the troupe of ladies who support Keaton on this journey!
If you are a fan of the family dynamics and strong female characters in Heather Webber novels like South of the Buttonwood Tree you will love this book. If you like the light romcom novels with a bit of a mystery twist like Mary Kay Andrews’ works, this one is for you, too! With some discussions of cancer and death, this may be best directed to more mature audiences over 13.
I have loved Kristy Woodson Harvey’s works since I read The Wedding Veil last year. When I saw her latest book was available for early review, I jumped at the chance to grab a copy! I can’t wait to share this book with my daughter and her friends – this is a great book for a quick summer read!
A Happier Life will release June 25, 2024, but you can preorder your copy on our Bookshop.org page now!
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What I’m Reading
- Current print book: The River We Remember, William Kent Krueger
- Current audio book: Biloxi, Mary Miller
- Book I’m most looking forward to: Legends of the Fall, Jim Harrison
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