The High Tide Club By Mary Kay Andrews

Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader

🧜‍♀️ 4 Mermaid Beach Stars to The High Tide Club! 🧜‍♀️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

I can still remember reading my first book by Mary Kay Andrews. I was in graduate school, and my cousin (one of my favorite reading buddies) told me I just had to read Hissy Fit. Filled with southern charm and humor, I had experienced nothing like it before. Mary Kay Andrews was offering something different!

Several years later, and Mary Kay Andrews continues to offer something different. The High Tide Club is more serious than her previous endeavors. Told in two timelines, in 1941 and the present, I fell in love with the characters. And talk about diversity in ages- they range from their 30s to 90s!

The High Tide Club was formed in the 1930s by Varina, Ruth, Millie, and Josephine. Only two members, Varina and Josephine, are living in the present day when the story begins. There’s a mystery and a story behind the group of women, and it kept me quite intrigued.

The setting on a Georgia coastal island was perfectly described. I felt like I was at the beach the entire time I read. The characters had MKA’s usual fun and charm.

Mary Kay Andrews has dug a little deeper with The High Tide Club. Beach readers looking for a mystery on the side of their southern charm will swoon over this one!

Thank you to Mary Kay Andrews, who never fails to entertain me, St. Martin’s Press, and Netgalley for the ARC. The Hight Tide Club will be published on May 8, 2018.

Julie

The High Tide Club by Mary Kay Andrews is a 2018 St. Martin’s Press publication.

A Southern style beach read-

When ninety-nine- year old Josephine Bettendorf Warrick commissions Brooke Trappnell to gather her old friends from the ‘High Tide Club’ together before she passes away, Brooke is taken aback by her request. Josephine wants to make amends with her old friends and intends to bequeath them her estate on Talisa Island. Brooke is stunned to discover her own grandmother had once been a charter member of Josephine’s club, which could also present a conflict of interest on her part. However, she immediately begins to search for the ladies who will inherit the island, bringing together an eclectic group of women all harboring an explosive secret.

Meanwhile, Brooke asks an old colleague to help with the Josephine’s estate, bringing up a few unrequited feelings, while she also struggles to raise her three- year old son on her own.

Once all the ladies are gathered on the island, mostly descendants of the original High Tide Club, Josephine loosens up enough to begin weaving tale of intrigue and mystery directly involving Brooke’s grandmother.

The revelations continue to pile up, one on top of another as more people come forward claiming to be relatives of Josephine, all wanting a piece of the pie. Is it possible for Brooke to determine who the rightful heirs are? Could a long- ago mystery have any bearing on the case?

Believe it or not, this is my first Mary Kay Andrews novel. I’ve been dying to sample her work for a long time and am so glad I finally took the plunge. I see why this author is so popular and will certainly be adding more of her books to my TBR pile.

I love southern fiction and beach reads and find the two often make a terrific combo. I also love old secrets and mysteries, and especially love it when a group of ladies all work in tandem to get something accomplished.

There is a large cast of characters, which usually causes problems for me, but I didn’t have a bit of trouble keeping up with who was who, and never got confused at any time along the way. The pacing is just a tiny bit slow at times, but I never got bored or tempted to skip ahead. There are some reveals I saw coming, while others completely blindsided me.

While the mystery is quite compelling, it is the friendship and bonding of strong female characters, some quirky, some hard to like, some difficult to figure out, but all united in a common cause, that is what makes this story special. The last few chapters, which wrapped up some personal issues Brooke was dealing with was a little bit rushed through, but the epilogue was simply outstanding!
This is my last ‘beach read’ of the summer. I don’t think I could have chosen a better story than this one to close out my summer reading season.

4 stars

Carrie

The High Tide Club by Mary Kay Andrews is a contemporary read with an added edge of mystery to it as secrets from the past and slowly revealed during the story. The point of view is mainly that of Brooke Trappnell, a thirty something single mother who is struggling to make it as a lawyer in a small town but there are flashes into the long ago past to a group of ladies that called themselves the High Tide Club led by now ninety nine year old Josephine Bettendorf Warrick.

If being ninety nine isn’t enough to know that Josephine’s days are limited she has also had to deal with a devastating diagnosis. Carrying a secret for the last seventy years Josephine wants nothing more than to make things as right as she can before she goes and also to protect Talisa Island which her family had owned and lived upon for years and years.

When Brooke receives a call from the eccentric widower curiosity wins her over as she wonders what services Josephine could need her help with and the urge to meet the lady wins over. The tale that Josephine tells is one of a long ago death and three friends she would like to make amends with by including their heirs in her new will which shockingly enough includes Brooke herself.

With wonderful writing it was easy to immerse myself into this read from the opening pages. Weaving the past into the present unfolded nicely along the way with more than a surprise or two to be found. I think more than once while reading this novel I was reminded a bit of Fried Green Tomatoes and it’s story of Idgie in the present reliving her friendship of Ruth and the mystery of who killed Frank Bennett which was always a favorite of mine. We have a bit of the same with this one and Josephine telling of her friends years before and a mysterious death to uncover. The High Tide Club though went one step further bringing the present characters deep into the unfolding tale. In the end I found this a wonderful tale that spans several generations of women and their lives.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

For more reviews please visit
https://carriesbookreviews.com/

Obsidian

Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my review or rating.

Warning. This is not a beach read. This is a story of barely developed characters, subtle racism (overt in some cases) a secret child story-line (I hate those) and a plot that zigs-zags from the past to the present repeatedly. I was left 100 percent disappointed with this read and baffled that Andrews wrote this. I have enjoyed her books over the years and this book feels/reads like a rough first draft to me. I think if maybe the amount of characters had been cut out and or just had Josephine and Brooke as the only "voices" maybe the book would have worked out better. Instead we have a plethora of points of view (POV) in this one and random actions by characters that I didn't believe at all.

"The High Tide Club" deals with almost 100 year old heiress, Josephine Warrick calling up Brooke Trappnell telling her she wants to hire her. Josephine wants to do what she can to leave her estate to friends of her that were part of a so-called "High Tide Club". The state wants to buy all of Josephine's land/home and wants to demo it. Josephine wants Brooke to prevent that by seeking out her friends and wants the opportunity to make amends with them.

Seems simple right? It's not. From the first we have Josephine telling Brooke her story in fits and starts. It doesn't work as a narrative device to have Josephine telling a story and then the book flashing back to the past, and then flashing back to the present, then flashing back to the past again. That happens repeatedly while reading. It took me out of the story every single time. And at one point I started to skim in self defense because I just didn't care anymore and wanted to be finished with this book.

And I did laugh though when Josephine lets Brooke know that one of the people she wanted to contact was Brooke's now dead grandmother. At this point we find out that two of the women from the club are dead and only one, her name is living, her name is Varina, but they had a fight related to Josephine not selling back land she bought from her and other Geechees living on the island.

So then the book segues into Brooke contacting the heirs of the dead women and then coming to the island to hear about what they could possibly be inheriting. Instead there is a death, confusion, and just general bedlam of people scrambling around trying to demand land/money from a woman that any barely seemed to care died. And then we have reveal after reveal hitting you over the head with Josephine looking the worst out of all of the characters with some of the others coming in a close second.

Brooke is an idiot and I was so done with her whole so-called plot. I hate secret children in romance novels. It is not believable at all and just once I would love it if the dude in question called the woman out and said no, I don't want to be with someone that would lie and hide the fact that they had my child for so-called BS reasons.

The other characters were secondary and I didn't care for them much either. Varina's granddaughter or grandniece was shown to be grasping and greedy. Varina herself was portrayed as naive. I hated the fact that the book shows the other so-called members of the club treating her like a doll they could dress up and give expensive things to. But she's African American and could not really be a part of their world at all. In fact most of the African Americans in this book don't look that great at all in the end.

The writing was rough in a lot of places. As I said above, maybe cutting out all of the extra characters and the jumping back and forth in the story would have helped. It was hard to keep things straight. When Josephine dies (not a spoiler, it's in the synopsis) the story loses it's forward momentum.

The setting of the island doesn't feel real at all. I think maybe just telling the story from past to present would have helped it to feel more centered in the book. Instead I didn't get why anyone was killing themselves trying to save the place.

The ending was supposed to be moving and uplifting, I just was glad to be done.

Mary

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 / 5 rounded up.

The High Tide Club by
Mary Kay Andrews was exactly the type of book I needed to read right now. It made me think of a hug - warm, fuzzy, and it made me feel good. There is some drama and it's not {all} fun and games, but that's what made it great.

I remember reading another book by this author and not loving it, but The High Tide Club was amazing. I think it is definitely the epitome of the perfect beach/summer read and it got me in the mood to go to an island.

The story focuses mostly on the present, but there are some flashbacks to the past which was a very enjoyable way to read this book. You see present through the eyes of a lawyer named Brooke and I really loved her as a character. Frankly, I think I loved at least one thing about every single character except for a couple. I found a lot of very relatable people in the book plus a lot of very current, relatable subplots.

The High Tide Club talks about a group of friends in the 40s who called themselves the High Tide Club. Brooke gets hired by one of the women to find the rest of her friends because she is 99 years old and wants to make amends for ways she has wronged them. This book is chalk full of secrets, betrayals, and even a murder. And you also get a glimpse at Brooke's life and her past at the same time.

I took my time with The High Tide Club and I savored it (which is why it took me 3 days to read it). All the descriptions made it very atmospheric, and I felt like I was right there in Georgia with the characters.
Mary Kay Andrews can definitely paint a picture through words for you, and I loved it.

Final Thought: Words can't even explain how enjoyable of a book this is. It's got a little bit of everything and even the serious topics are told in a light enough manner that make the book more uplifting than sad. So many funny moments and the characters were people I would love to meet. I highly recommend this for summer (or any time you are in the mood for a beachy read), and lovers of great characters who enjoy a shot of mystery in your beach read. I will definitely be reading whatever Ms Andrews comes up with next!

The High Tide Club in 3-ish words: Absorbing, Fun, Imaginative

Brandice

The High Tide Club is a story about friendship and the great lengths people will go for their true friends.

Brooke Trappnell, a young attorney and single mom to 3-year old Henry, receives a call regarding an unspecified legal matter from the well-known, Josephine Bettendorf Warwick, of Talisa, an island off the coast of Georgia. Brooke visits 99-year old Josephine who is ill and wants to preserve her home and property in Talisa, as well as make amends with her three friends: Millie, Ruth, and Varina.

Together, back in the early 1940s, the foursome dubbed themselves The High Tide Club, skinny dipping on nights with a full moon. Since then, they mostly lost touch and grew apart, letting differences get the best of their friendships.

Brooke tries to sort out matters related to Josephine’s estate and track down the other women, or in some cases, their relatives. In the process, old mysteries resurface, new friendships are formed, and Brooke attempts to balance this with motherhood, family matters, and her own love life.

The High Tide Club is a good story and I was curious to see how things would play out, predicting some elements correctly, but there were others I was not expecting. Even with the predictable elements, I for the most part, enjoyed the book, but there were definitely parts that dragged on. It did, at multiple points, feel long. This was my first read by Mary Kay Andrews and it’s clear she can write a solid, southern story.

Tina

It's the cover that drew me to this book. It's lovely! The story was just ok for me. It was not really what I was expecting and I found it to be really slow especially the beginning to the middle.

I usually enjoy past to present timeline stories. Perhaps I didn't find the characters all that memorable.

The story in the 1940's involves a group of women who call themselves, "The High Tide Club" as they go skinny-dipping on their vacation island in Georgia together. There's a murder that occurs very early in the novel.

It switches to present day when a lawyer, Brooke is contacted by one of The High Tide Girls, Josephine. She is dying and wants to make amends. There are buried secrets and some surprises that arise.

For the most part I think the story was just too slow for my liking. I'd say it wasn't light enough to be called a, "beach" read but a cross between ChickLit and Women's Fiction.

I'd like to thank St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this Advanced Reader copy.

Elizabeth of Silver's Reviews

Finding her childhood friends and making amends was one of Josephine Bettendorf Warrick’s dying wishes. Josephine and her two childhood friends had created THE HIGH TIDE CLUB during one night of fun.

The girls were lifelong friends until Josephine had words with them. Brooke Trappnell was hired by Josephine to find these women or their descendants because she wanted to leave her island to them since she had no children of her own.

Josephine is an ornery woman who wants what she wants. Brooke desperately needs the money so she takes this job.

Brooke wasn’t sure she would legally be able to take on this assignment because she and her mother surprisingly were named in the inheritance that included twenty acres of land and a pink mansion.
 
THE HIGH TIDE CLUB is set in Georgia and has eccentric, fun characters. We follow Brooke as she goes on her search for these women and/or family members.
 
We also get the treat of going back to 1941 and seeing first hand all of the antics and mischief THE HIGH TIDE CLUB girls got into along with secrets kept and heartaches.

Ms. Andrews smoothly goes from one time period to another linking both stories and keeping your interest with her marvelous, detailed writing style and story line.

The fun of finding these friends and/or family members made this book delightful. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters and the story line.

The story line became better every time I turned the page and especially when secrets were revealed about Josephine’s life and those in it.

The characters were the highlight for me as well as the location.

The island, its history, and its description made you want to be there with the characters.

I enjoyed the lives of the characters in 1941 as well as the present-day family members.

This was my first book by Mary Kay Andrews, and it was a very pleasing, entertaining read.

If you enjoy family sagas, secrets, and mysteries, you will want to read THE HIGH TIDE CLUB. 5/5

This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher and NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Meredith B. (readingwithmere)

4.5 Stars..rounded up!

Any other Mary Kay Andrews fans? I just adore all her books and this one definitely did not disappoint! Her books intertwine relationships in such a meticulous way and it's something I love most about her books!

The high tide club, that sounds like a group of people who maybe like to go boating or live by the shore right? Well this is a different kind of high tide club. This is four close girlfriends who grew up together, were like sister but had many secrets intertwined. The group forms because of events that happen that only the four of them know about. They come across all things such as abusive relationships, children in and out of wedlock, race issues, etc.

This book flips back and forth between 1941 (when they were teens) and present day when only 2 of them are alive and well into their 90's. We meet Josephine who has inherited a ton of property but has stage four cancer and needs to get her Will written up to ensure it goes to the right people. Brooke is contacted by Josephine and she can't figure out why this woman is contacting her and not someone else. Josephine tasks her with finding kin of the women who are still alive because she wants the High Tide Club to inherit the property/money and no one else.

Now there's kin of all four women together + one of her friends, Varina, who don't know each other but need to make a dying woman's wish come through. However Josephine starts to spill secrets but Varina is holding onto even more secrets as the story goes on. Brooke, Lizzie, Felicia and Marie have to figure out who is telling the truth. Were Josephine's cousins, who could potentially inherit the estate, really close to her? Who is C.D. and how is he connected to the family? Could your love interest really be out for you for your money?

What if everything you knew had been a lie?

This book totally empowers women and weaves us in and out of how relationships work. It goes through how friends, who are like sisters, will go through great lengths to protect one another and even at 99 years old secrets are forever kept. What an amazing story of the true power of friendship.

Everyone, put this in your beach bag ASAP and read this book. It is so good and highly recommended!

Patricia Williams

Mary Kay Andrews is another of my favorite authors. She always has a good read. The characters are great and so is the story. This one had a little bit of a mystery in it which made it really good IMO. I told friends about the book and told them I could see this as a TV movie on Hallmark or Lifetime. The characters are that easy to relate to and you love them all. Definitely recommend especially if you like Southern authors and stories about the South.

Suzzie

These women and their ancestors were incredibly to read about. This was my first Mary Kay Andrews book and I found it so amazing! I will be checking out her other books in the near future for sure. The way this story and the characters are woven together is beautifully done. The way the story has mystery, friendship, romance, and family is perfectly done. I adored this book!

My quick and simple overall: wonderful book and reading experience.

Zoe

Mysterious, sentimental, and uplifting!

The High Tide Club is an alluring tale that delves into the life of ninety-nine-year Josephine Bettendorf Warrick and all the friendships, lies, secrets, and promises she made, told, and broke over her lifetime.

The prose is clear and fluid. The characters are well-developed, unique, and inquisitive. And the plot, alternating between past and present, is a nostalgic, twisty tale full of familial drama, loss, grief, war, forgiveness, deception, happiness, love, skinny dipping, southern life, and murder.

Overall, The High Tide Club is a humorous, emotional, heartbreaking, suspenseful story that highlights the intricate and dynamic bonds between friends, both old and new, that gets better and better as it goes along and is an excellent choice for a summer read!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

All my reviews can be found on my blog at
https://whatsbetterthanbooks.com

Holly

I picked the best Summer book:) And it was all based on the cover, which just screams beach read. This was my first book by this author and I really liked her style of writing. Will definitely be looking at more of her books.

In this story we follow Brooke as she gets a phone call from an eccentric old lady that lives on on a tiny island, Talisa, in the south of Georgia. Curious, Brooke goes to talk to Josephine who is at the end of her life and wants to make amends with her old High Tide Club friends. We get flashbacks to the 1940’s of this club—there’s a mystery to be solved—and we get to know the club members from then. In the present, we get to know various family members from each girl. What follows are mysteries to be solved, unlikely friendships that form, and a good dose of southern charm. I loved all the elements of this story. So happy that I picked this one up:)

*Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Darcia Helle

I wish I could tell you I loved this book, but I didn't, and so I'll do my best to explain why.

The story is told in two timelines that seem to compete more than to complement each other. All four women from 'The High Tide Club' have narrating parts in the past timeline, and their stories meander, providing so much extraneous detail that it distracts from the present. The present timeline is told mostly from Brooke's perspective, and also gets caught up in the tendency to wander outside the point of it all. The result is a story that lacks cohesion and focus.

We have a whole lot of characters, but none of them are particularly well developed or likable. Many feel like stereotypes, and all behave in stereotypical ways.

By the time we get to the twists and all is unveiled, I wasn't the least bit surprised. We spend so much time in the past, with so much detail provided, that it's like having neon signs point the way. It's all there if we pay the slightest bit of attention.

The content should have been powerful enough to move me to tears, yet I didn't feel any emotion at all. Part of this, I think, is explained by the lack of character development. The characters seem devoid of reaction and emotion, and so, as a reader, it's impossible to feel more deeply than the characters themselves.

Overall, the story has the feel of a daytime soap opera. In fact, the characters themselves even make that comparison a few times. The major difference is that daytime soaps are all about drama and emotion, while this story has the drama without the emotional investment.

*The publisher provided me with an advance ebook copy, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.*

Sherri Thacker

This is my 4th book by Mary Kay Andrews and this was a huge hit with most of my Goodreads friends but not with me!! What first caught my attention with this book is the lovely cover!! But the cover doesn’t really “go” with the book and you realize this after starting to read it. The 2nd thing is the main character is 99 years old. I have a thing for older characters! I can’t help it. There are a lot of characters in this book to keep track of and I found myself getting confused. It started off REALLY slow and i almost gave up reading by the 12th chapter but then it got better so I kept going. But then it slowed down again and I found myself skimming through the pages. I’m stopping at page 312. I just can’t read it anymore and i really don’t care what happens in the end. Just not for me!

Melissa

While the story is intriguing from the start, it was somewhat a slow start for me. I had difficulty to jump into it. But once inside, oh my. There are a lot of twists and turns. It could have been disorienting, but Mary Kay Andrews won't let you down.

Big thanks to the publisher for my e-copy through NetGalley.

Elle G. Reads

Release Date: May 8, 2018
Genre: Women's Fiction

The High Tide Club is much different than what I anticipated going into it, but it was well worth the surprise. Mary Kay Andrews has a way with words. She weaves beautiful and original tales that play on readers emotions while also opening up their minds and hearts. Even more, she brings her characters to life by building them up and making them seem like real people. I love the flow of her stories, how everything comes together in perfect detail, and the originality that I know I am always going to find when I dive into her novels. This one, while not my ultimate favorite plot wise, is a wonderful story of female friendships, past relationships, dark secrets, and sisterhood. It's one of those stories that empowers women, makes them feel alive, and puts a huge smile on their faces. It's just an all around great read and I very much recommend it.

ABOUT THE HIGH TIDE CLUB

This book weaves a story that started in the past and continues to the present tense. Andrews uses both past and present details to allow readers insight into how everything came to be and how it effects future generations. This is a partial historical novel as some of it takes place in the early 1940's when these women were girls, but also contemporary as it also highlights the characters of the present (the great-granddaughters).

Ailing Josephine is on her deathbed, but needs a lawyer to save the precious island that she has lived on her whole life. So she chooses Brooke, a woman from Georgia to make her final wishes come true. In hiring Brooke though she needs to find the others- long last friends and their heirs- in order to make amends for past doings that have hurt those she loved the most. But this opens old wounds, sheds light to dark secrets, and may be the end to everything...

In the novel, you will follow Josephine and the High Tide Club (from the past) and Brooke and the heirs of Josephine's late friends (in the present) as they try to figure out how to save the Island and make amends for the wrongdoings of the past. In doing so, old wounds will reopen, people from the past will come back to haunt them, and dark secrets that were long ago buried will come back to life.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

This is a whip smart, emotional, enlightening, and beautiful read from one of my favorite authors of all time. Mary Kay Andrews weaves this story in the best ways possible, and keeps readers engaged, excited, and nervous for what's to come for these wonderful characters. It's not a light read like some of her former titles, but it is a DEEP one filled with a lot of heart. I really enjoyed reading it and I look forward to many more books of Andrew's in the coming future.

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Myrna

Wow! I really enjoyed this book. The plot switches back and forth between two time periods but not all the answers are in the past. This novel is full of secrets, twists with splash of romance. The characters are complex and the coastal island setting is inviting. Put this beach read on your summer list! 4.5 stars!

Tammy

What a PERFECT summer read. It’s southern life reminiscent of Gone With the Wind and the WWll 50’s era mixed into the present. All taking place on picturesque Talisa Island off Georgia’s coast.
Friendships, love, mystery and murder. Yes, MURDER in an MKA novel! Mary Kay Andrews books are a hit or miss for me, but this is definitely a HIT!! I highly recommend!! 5 ☆ 🌊🦀

Chandra Claypool (WhereTheReaderGrows)

Seems every book I've read that's been placed in the South has a huge mansion on an island type with virtual no signal for cell phones. AND I LOVE IT! The author takes us from the early 1940s to present day as we get to know the ladies back then, to the offspring now. A story within a story and both just delightful to read.

The history of the island, the people that occupied it, the way the world was then as compared to now... we get it all - including the drama and secrets that are kept in both. The High Tide Club was formed by four close friends who are utterly different but bound by their friendship and their loyalty to each other. While they may have gone their separate ways, it's Josephine, and her impending death, that brings their successors together. Oh the secrets to be let out. Some obvious, some not so. And while Brooke, the lawyer on the case specifically asked for by Josephine, her mother and a gaggle of other women come to the island, there are secrets of their own to be meted out.

Honestly, this was a fantastic read. It's definitely not all sunshine and rainbows, but what fun would it be if that was ALL there was to it? I love the way the author really shows the spunkiness of the older women. They have LIVED, kept their secrets, have learned what is truly important in life and won't back down. The younger generation wants what is best for them... but end up learning that what they think is correct may not actually be. We all have lessons to learn, at any age - and this story brings this to light.

I guessed the main twist long before it was revealed but let me tell you... even as the biggest twist of the story to really bring things together, there are many little twists along the way that will leave you surprised. I loved all the characters in their own right... well, among the women anyways 😉.

A fantastic read for those who love secrets, betrayals, sassiness, history and love in all ways.

Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this copy!

Mary

I am going to say something I never thought I would about a Mary Kay Andrews book...I almost hated it. I almost put it down and didn't finish it. This book was so unlike the good time sassy romps I'm used to from MKA. And don't let the cover fool you....This wasn't really a feel good beach-y caper read, it was about murder, racism, and lies all told in dual timelines. And not well done, either. If it weren't for the sarcastic and snarky Brooke, I'd have thought I was reading something from a completely different author. Yes, I finished it, there were parts of it I liked, many I didn't. As always, her characters, food, and humor were there. But the story just didn't do it for me. I told a friend that reading a MKA book was always a good time. That was before I read this one. Not really a good time at all.

Maranda

POSITIVES OF THIS BOOK ARE TOO MANY TO LIST!!! NEGATIVE is simply that the story came to an end. The events of 1940's on an island in Georgia. Narration switches between POV along with time periods. Excellent characters, secrets revealed, and numerous happenings that make this an enjoyable entertainment option. Andrews started out with the introductions that at first seemed cloudy. Loved the length of the book that allowed for extended read time. "A copy of this book was provided by St. Martin's Press via NetGalley with no requirements for a review. Comments here are my honest opinion."

Kate Olson

Thanks to the publisher for this review copy!

BEACH + small coastal town + motherhood + romance + a historical mystery + a disputed inheritance + a private island = yet another book from Mary Kay Andrews that I absolutely ADORED! She is one of my go-to authors for Lowcountry summer reads, and this one more than lived up to my expectations. This one deserves a spot high on your summer TBR!

Amy

Fun and wonderful! I love Mary Kay Andrews and this is a great one! Her books always deliver exactly what they promise - fun, drama, and lightness. This has a bit of everything - contemporary fiction with bits of romance, family dynamics and mystery. It’s a quintessential beach read (in my opinion). Southern fiction at it’s best! Loved this and I highly recommend you add this to your summer reading list!

[Thank you to the publisher for providing a free copy of this book for an honest review.]

Jennifer

The High Tide Club is Women's Fiction mixed with mystery. This was my first book by this author.

The main character is Brooke Trappnell (34 years old). She is a lawyer who lives in St. Ann's Georgia.

The book is about 99 year old Josephine Bettendorf Warrick who lives on Talisa Island in Georgia. Josephine is very old and about to die. She wants to hire Brooke to 1)protect her island and 2)make amends with the heirs of her closest friends from the past (Millie, Ruth and Varina).

In addition to Brooke's chapters in the present we also get glimpses of the past (some chapters are set in the early 1940s).

This book was not really what I was expecting. The book focuses on female friendship, secrets and an unsolved murder. I really enjoyed all of those aspects of the story. Plus I really liked the island where Josephine lived. And the characters on that island were very interesting.

The cover doesn't really accurately depict what this book is about IMO. This is not a beach read. And romance is not really the focus. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy books like The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. The High Tide Club weaves history with Women's Fiction and mystery. It was a very entertaining read.

Thanks to netgalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read this book.

☆Dani☆ ☆Touch My Spine Book Reviews☆

I really enjoy Mary Kay Andrews' novels and this book is no different! I loved the characterization in this book and the dual time lines. Sometimes in books you can be very confused by time lines and it would just drive you crazy but with this book it was well written and worked out perfectly. I felt attached to the characters and at times my heart wrenched with them and I also got happy tears with them as well. The characters were relatable but also unique with a custom background of their own. The only complaint I have with this story is that it was a bit slow at times but overall I enjoyed this novel and would recommend. I love books based in the South of course because I am a South Carolinian ya'll but I think even the slow parts added more depth to this deep, tragic, and heartwarming story.

Kris

This was my first read by this highly popular author and will absolutely not be my last. I would say this would be a great beach read, it’s a lot of pages, but easy to follow and fly through. I enjoyed every aspect of this book evenly, which is unusual because I normally find myself liking one story line more than others.

Brooke is definitely one of my all time favorite characters, she is independent, determined and just an overall good person. I found myself enjoying all of the characters, yes even Josephine! It was one of those books where when you find out the reasoning behind each characters actions, everything just works. The mystery involving the High Tide Club’s past was very intriguing.

I enjoyed the past and present chapters, it helped everything to roll out at exactly the right time to bring all the story lines together. It was a great way to add in the backstory. I thought the multiple story lines really worked in this book and kept me guessing how things were going to unravel. I thought the pacing throughout the book was really well, it wasn’t rushed nor too slow. There were plenty of twists and turns to keep your interest throughout the whole book.

Tamara

Review to come.

Quick thoughts:

LOVE the cover.

Loved how the story was revealed in 2 timelines- in the 40's and current time.

And I now want to go to Mermaid Beach on a full moon night and become a member of The High Tide Club.

Marcia reading past dark

I have always been a Mary Kay Andrews fan, but who can resist a cover like this? And what is The High Tide Club? Surfers? Shrimpers? Shell collectors? This club is a group of four close girlfriends who grew up together and have deeply hidden secrets entwined among them. This book moves back and forth between 1941 (their teens) and present day when the only two still living are well into their 90's.
Like all MKA books, she hooked me at the beginning. And with each page that turned, I was less and less sure of what was truth and what was a lie. What makes this book fabulous is how it empowers women and shows how our relationships weave us together with both family and friends. How far will we go in the name of sisterhood? How long is a secret safe with us? It’s a heart-touching, amazing story of the longevity of those strong friendships.
Order a copy and stick it in your beach bag. Very good highly recommended!

Eilonwy

3-1/2 stars

Brooke Trappnell is just a small-town lawyer on the Georgia Coast, trying to scrape up a living for herself and her 3-year-old son. So there doesn’t seem to be any good reason why Josephine Bettendorf Warrick, an ancient heiress who owns half of an island, would call her for any legal work. But Josephine doesn’t just want to update her will and fight the state to keep her property from becoming part of the state park that takes up the other half of the island. She wants Brooke, in particular, to help her with a deeply personal mission. One that is connected to a 70-year-old mystery.

I’ve seen Mary Kay Andrews’s novels on my library’s New Books Shelf many times, but never felt pulled to actually check one out and read it. This one was given to me as a holiday present, though, so I was determined to read it in a more or less timely fashion.

This was definitely entertaining, so I can see why this author is so popular. The characters are all sympathetic, even the grouchy ones like Josephine. The supporting characters are interesting and well-rounded. There are enough different plot threads to almost justify all the pages (although it sagged a teeny bit in the middle for me), and enough nods to different genres -- a bit of female friends and family issues; a bit of mystery/suspense; a touch of romance -- to make the story appealing across a variety of reading interests. It’s generally well-paced and kept me flipping the pages through a pretty quick read. The scary parts are not too scary; the violence is not too detailed; and the tension between characters is generally not too tense, as the story mostly maintains a sunny tone.

This is one of those books that leaves me with not a ton to say about it. It was perfectly enjoyable while I was reading it, but with nothing particularly memorable on either the good or bad side of the scale. It’s literary enough not to tie everything up too perfectly, but genre enough that everything does get tied up at the end, with no annoying questions left for the reader to fret over.

It doesn’t leave me thinking I must read more Mary Kay Andrews books, but it does leave me thinking that I might pick more up in the future when I need something both fun and exciting and not too heavy.

Title	:	The High Tide Club
Author	:	Mary Kay Andrews
Rating	:
ISBN	:	1250126061
ISBN-10	:	9781250126061
Language	:	English
Format Type	:	Hardcover
Number of Pages	:	470
Publication	:	First published May 8, 2018

The High Tide Club Reviews

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