Beach House for Rent
Mary Alice Monroe
June 2017 · Simon and Schuster
4.7star
7 reviewsreport
eBook
416
Pages
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About this eBook
New York Times bestselling author Mary Alice Monroe returns to her beloved Isle of Palms to tell the poignant, charming story of two women, one summer, and one very special beach house.
When Cara Rutledge rents out her quaint beach house on Isle of Palms to Heather Wyatt for the entire summer, it’s a win-win by any standard: Cara’s generating income necessary to keep husband Brett’s ecotourism boat business afloat, and anxiety-prone Heather, an young artist who’s been given a commission to paint birds on postage stamps, has a quiet space in which to work and tend to her pet canaries uninterrupted.
It isn’t long, however, before both women’s idyllic summers are altered irrevocably: the alluring shorebirds—and the man who rescues them—begin to draw Heather out of the shell she’s cultivated toward a world of adventure, and maybe even love; at the same time, Cara’s life reels with sudden tragedy, and she wishes only to return to the beach house that had once been her port amidst life’s storms. When Heather refuses to budge from her newfound sanctuary, so begins the unlikeliest of rooming situations. While they start out as strangers, as everything around the women falls apart they learn that the only thing they can really rely on is each other.
And, like the migrating shorebirds that come to the island for the summer, these two women of different generations must rediscover their unique strengths so by summer’s end they, too, can take flight in ways they never imagined possible.
When Cara Rutledge rents out her quaint beach house on Isle of Palms to Heather Wyatt for the entire summer, it’s a win-win by any standard: Cara’s generating income necessary to keep husband Brett’s ecotourism boat business afloat, and anxiety-prone Heather, an young artist who’s been given a commission to paint birds on postage stamps, has a quiet space in which to work and tend to her pet canaries uninterrupted.
It isn’t long, however, before both women’s idyllic summers are altered irrevocably: the alluring shorebirds—and the man who rescues them—begin to draw Heather out of the shell she’s cultivated toward a world of adventure, and maybe even love; at the same time, Cara’s life reels with sudden tragedy, and she wishes only to return to the beach house that had once been her port amidst life’s storms. When Heather refuses to budge from her newfound sanctuary, so begins the unlikeliest of rooming situations. While they start out as strangers, as everything around the women falls apart they learn that the only thing they can really rely on is each other.
And, like the migrating shorebirds that come to the island for the summer, these two women of different generations must rediscover their unique strengths so by summer’s end they, too, can take flight in ways they never imagined possible.
Ratings and reviews
4.7
7 reviews
Glenda Harris
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1 June 2017
The author of 21 books, Mary Alice Monroe continues to deliver characters we love and stories we crave. “Beach House for Rent” is the 4th in the Beach House Series and we revisit Cara Rutledge, her husband, Brett, as well as other beloved characters on the Isle of Palms. To her many loyal readers, each book is like a reunion with old friends. If you are new to Mary Alice Monroe, you have many happy hours of page turning ahead. Lucky you. The setting is Cara’s oceanfront cottage on the Isle of Palms. Close to her heart and far more than just a house, Cara inherited the cottage, named Primrose, from her mother, Lovie. The long-cherished beach house is filled with warm memories which serve to ground Cara when work and life careen out of control, soothing her soul, healing her heart. In “Beach House for Rent”, Cara rents her home to a young woman, an artist in need of precisely such a place. This latest work continues the satisfying tradition of Monroe’s southern fiction stories about contemporary women and the coastal environment. During one life-changing summer, Cara and her young renter find they have much in common and form a bond of friendship with each other and a very special beach house. Mary Alice Monroe sets herself apart among southern fiction authors by weaving real time conservation issues and solutions into the fabric of the plot. Previous books have focused on the plight of sea turtles on South Carolina’s barrier islands, bottle-nosed dolphins, Monarch butterflies and more. In this latest novel, she shines a light on the problems faced by shore birds of the southeastern coast and how the irresponsible littering of our oceans and beaches is causing great harm to these beautiful birds. Monroe does all this without preaching or politicizing. Her readers learn and want to help, volunteer initiatives are created and progress is being made. Monroe is much more than a writer. She is a game changer. The word is this is the last book in the Beach House series. Of course, her loyal readers would wish for these stories to never end but we can be assured whatever story Mary Alice Monroe has planned next will be full of new characters that feel like old friends and we will all be signing up to lend a helping hand.
Robin Hurtado
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9 October 2017
Truly inspiring, loved it.
About the author
Mary Alice Monroe is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty-seven books, including the bestselling The Beach House series. Monroe also writes children’s picture books, and a middle grade fiction series called The Islanders. She is a member of the South Carolina Academy of Authors’ Hall of Fame, and her books have received numerous awards, including the South Carolina Center for the Book Award for Writing; the South Carolina Award for Literary Excellence; the SW Florida Author of Distinction Award; the RT Lifetime Achievement Award; the International Book Award for Green Fiction; the Henry Bergh Children’s Book Award; and her novel, A Lowcountry Christmas, won the prestigious Southern Prize for Fiction. The Beach House is a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, starring Andie MacDowell. Several of her novels have been optioned for film. She is the cocreator and cohost of the weekly web show and podcast Friends & Fiction. Monroe is also an active conservationist and serves on several boards. She lives on the South Carolina coast, which is a source of inspiration for many of her books.
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