Review: Hello, Summer by Mary Kay Andrews

Hello, Summer

by Mary Kay Andrews

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Pages: 432

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  It’s a new season...

Conley Hawkins left her family’s small town newspaper, The Silver Bay Beacon, in the rearview mirror years ago. Now a star reporter for a big-city paper, Conley is exactly where she wants to be and is about to take a fancy new position in Washington, D.C. Or so she thinks.

For small town scandals...

When the new job goes up in smoke, Conley finds herself right back where she started, working for her sister, who is trying to keep The Silver Bay Beacon afloat—and she doesn’t exactly have warm feelings for Conley. Soon she is given the unenviable task of overseeing the local gossip column, “Hello, Summer.”

And big-time secrets.

Then Conley witnesses an accident that ends in the death of a local congressman—a beloved war hero with a shady past. The more she digs into the story, the more dangerous it gets. As an old heartbreaker causes trouble and a new flame ignites, it soon looks like their sleepy beach town is the most scandalous hotspot of the summer.


Kritters Thoughts:  An interesting combination of women's fiction, romance and mystery and executed really well.  Conley Hawkins thinks she is headed to the next career step on the ladder to a paper in Washington, D.C. until the eve of the move and news comes out that it has lost its funding, so home to the small town newspaper that her family started is where she goes.  She ends up in Florida living with her grandmother and trying to figure out what is next.  

I loved the dynamics between Conley and her grandmother and her sister.  I will always love a book with a great sibling situation in it.  I also loved the romance plot line.  It was sweet and nice and I loved that with the book being a little extra long, Mary Kay Andrews took the pages to develop the romance with ease - no instalove here.  I also loved that there was a heavy amount of the story devoted to Conley and her work.  I appreciate it when the author recognizes that normal humans have a lot of time spent on their jobs and therefore it should reflect that it in fiction.  

My one small complaint is in a minor plot line that came and went so fast.  It is hard to describe it without giving too much away, but towards the end our main character has some weird interactions that end up with a large incident and I felt as though this came out of left field and then resolved real quickly.  It just seemed odd and out of place.  I think the book could have been just fine without the entire plot line.

Mary Kay Andrews always does great plot and characters and this one lines up with the other books that I have read by her.  I would recommend this one to readers who already like her, but also to readers who maybe haven't tried her yet.  


Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

 Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from St Martin's Press.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.