Review: The Beach at Painter’s Cove by Shelley Noble

Genre:
Women’s Fiction

Format:
E-Book

Publisher:
William Morrow Paperbacks

Release Date:
June 13, 2017







Synopsis from Goodreads:

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.

My Review

Issy’s world turns upside down when she receives a frantic call from her eight year old niece. Her mother left her and her two siblings with their grandmother at the family estate. Their grandmother had to be hospitalized and now the children had no one to care for them. The only one they could call is Issy.

She immediately leaves her NYC job as a museum designer and rushes to the mansion in Connecticut to get the whole story. She got way more than she bargained for. It seems her sister and her husband have disappeared leaving the children behind. Not to mention that the estate is falling on hard times and may have to be sold. It’s up to Issy to deal with all the family drama, even though she’s been estranged from her family for years.

I don’t want to give away too much of the storyline. For those readers who love a family saga, this is quite an intriguing one. There are four generations of women under one roof. Each one has their own story and their own set of secrets.

Issy is the main star of this stand alone book. She’s a strong character who is doing her best to hold the family together. At the same time, she is coming to terms with resentments from her own past. She has her work cut out for her but she’s more than up to the task.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author, but it won’t be my last. It’s a good beach read. The cover alone made me want to go to the beach. It’s fast-paced and well-written. Another author whose backlist I need to check out.

Disclosure: I borrowed this book from the library. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.