BLURB:

Mary Kay Andrews, the New York Times bestselling author and Queen of the Beach Reads delivers her next page-turner for the summer with The Newcomer.

In trouble and on the run…

After she discovers her sister Tanya dead on the floor of her fashionable New York City townhouse, Letty Carnahan is certain she knows who did it: Tanya’s ex; sleazy real estate entrepreneur Evan Wingfield. Even in the grip of grief and panic Letty heeds her late sister’s warnings: “If anything bad happens to me—it’s Evan. Promise me you’ll take Maya and run. Promise me.” So Letty grabs her sister’s Mercedes and hits the road . . .

With a trunkful of emotional baggage…

and her wailing four-year-old niece Maya. Letty is determined to out-run Evan and the law, but run to where? Tanya, a woman with a past shrouded in secrets, left behind a “go-bag” of cash and a big honking diamond ring—but only one clue: a faded magazine story about a sleepy mom-and-pop motel in a Florida beach town with the improbable name of Treasure Island. She sheds her old life and checks into an uncertain future at The Murmuring Surf Motel.

The No Vacancy sign is flashing & the sharks are circling…

And that’s the good news. Because The Surf, as the regulars call it, is the winter home of a close-knit flock of retirees and snowbirds who regard this odd-duck newcomer with suspicion and down-right hostility. As Letty settles into the motel’s former storage room, she tries to heal Maya’s heartache and unravel the key to her sister’s shady past, all while dodging the attention of the owner’s dangerously attractive son Joe, who just happens to be a local police detective. Can Letty find romance as well as a room at the inn—or will Joe betray her secrets and put her behind bars? With danger closing in, it’s a race to find the truth and right the wrongs of the past.

MY THOUGHTS:

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for letting me read this book prior to its publication. My opinion is 100% honest, unbiased, and my own.

The first thing that caught my attention when I decided to request a copy of this book was the cover. It didn’t look like the typical thriller or mystery cover to me, but it really works because this novel is a bit of thriller, a bit of romance, a bit of beach read.

I really enjoyed the way the author was disclosing details and pieces of information about what was going on little by little. I do like to do a bit of detective work while I’m reading. What happened to Letty for her to run away? Who is Maya? What the hell are they doing in a motel in a small town in Florida? Everything starts making sense bit by bit and I like books that don’t give you all the information from the start.

We find a whole range of different characters in this book. The main characters were well defined and developed, but then we have the whole group of snowbirds — regular clients of the motel who are retired and like spending their winters in Florida. And I had a bit of a problem with them. They all seemed almost cartoonish to me, from their irrational and entitled requests to their crazy behavior in certain situations. I guess they were supposed to add sort of a comedic effect to the whole situation, but I didn’t think it was funny at all. They just irritated me every time that they appeared on the pages.

The pace is a bit slow at the beginning, but once we know everything that is going on with Letty and Maya’s situation it speeds up. I thought it was going to lead to a rushed ending, but I’m glad to say that wasn’t the case, so well done.

Overall, a good book to enjoy while spending the day at the beach or at the pool.

So, for all of that, I give this book… 3 TEA CUPS!