A Beach Wish audiobook

My Rating:4.5Favorite Quotes:Zoe took a quick last look in her rearview mirror, where her family appeared as a perfectly framed photo for a bare second before dispersing out of frame. Like an Etch A Sketch drawing turned upside down.Actually I’m, uh, working remotely.” Just a little white lie. Just reshuffle the words and you had “I’m not remotely working.”A feud, star-crossed lovers, an angry old rock star, and a missing hotel proprietor—it’s just like Shakespeare in the Park without the mosquitoes…He whipped off his hat. His hair sprang out like a ballerina’s tutu from a totally bald head.Stupid, really, that even though she was currently unemployed, she was still herding relative strangers. Ha. Relative strangers. Strange relatives. Yep. She had plenty of both.My Review:This multi-textured tale was filled with long-held secrets, small-town corruption, a forty-year-old feud, adorable elderly hippies, a greedy and menacingly villainous ninety-year-old matriarch, and loads of complicated and turbulent family dynamics and drama; it was a tasty summer treat that didn’t require a cooler and supplied its own sand. Upon her mother’s death, Zoe was tasked with the errand of spreading the ashes on an unfamiliar beach, which lead to a multitude of challenges and earth-shattering revelations about her mother as well as herself. The storylines and writing were observantly insightful and engaging while laced with uncertainty and emotional tension as well as shrewdly placed snippets of wit and levity. My curiosity and interest were well engaged and I enjoyed the unusual premise as much as the peculiarity and vagaries of the diverse and large cast of compelling characters. This was my first time sampling the clever wordplay of the divine Shelly Noble yet Goodreads lists twenty books and novellas to her credit, where have I been?

People should not wait until they die to share family secrets.

I love reading books about the beach during the summer. This was much more than a beach read - it was the story about family and love and a fun book to read. There were a lot of characters and I think some of them could have been left out with no problem but I was able to keep up with all of the main characters. My favorite had to be Zoe. She was on a quest to fulfill her mother's final wish and even though it made absolutely no sense to her why her mother wanted her ashes scattered on a beach that no one in the family had ever heard of, she was going to do it and then she was going to find out WHY Wind Chime Beach and WHAT her mother's connection was to the people who lived there.Zoe always wanted to be involved in the music business. After she failed her audition at Julliard, she went to business school as her family wanted and was thrilled to get a job in the music industry. When her job got downsized, she was left wondering what she wanted to do with her life. When her mother's final wish was for Zoe to scatter her ashes, she decided to do it despite the disapproval of her three brothers. When she gets to town, she runs into a lot of interesting people including an old hippie couple who still live life in a commune. She wonders what the connection is between her straight laced and proper mother with this place and with the older couple. What she finds out will totally change her opinion of her mother as well as change her future plans for her life.This was an easy read about family and love. Most important it was a reminder of the fact that our parents had lives before we were born and they were often very different than what we imagine.Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.

I good quick summer read!

This is much more than a light beach read. Zoe has always done what her family thought she should do but her mother's last request of her changes everything she and her brothers always believed. Excellent story!

Full disclosure: I received this novel in an e-book edition through a First Reads Goodreads giveaway, but that in no way affected this review.All families have their own dysfunction, and this family is no different; however, the protagonist doesn't know it's dysfunctional when the novel opens. After her very proper mother dies, Zoe Bascombe is specifically tasked with dealing with her ashes. Not her brothers, but her. She is to scatter them on Wind Chime Beach, a place she has neither visited nor knows anything about, but despite her brothers being against her going, she plans to honor her mother's last wish.Her trip to this secluded New England town brings huge surprises, and shows Zoe a new side to her mother's life. Actually, after talking to (and getting to know) some of the locals who have lived there for years, Zoe realizes that she has just stepped into a new reality...a reality that finds her straddling two worlds, that is, a whole other side of her family. With this realization, she finds out that she is not who she thinks she is, and that she has more family than she knew. What's more they are feuding with each other, and with a new sister, nieces, and more, she is pulled into the middle of it. This is women's fiction, which explores what it means to be family. It further explores redemption, love, and acceptance. Will the past repeat itself, or will there be a new recognition of family connections? Will there be closure for this new family, or just more dysfunction?The story is complete as is, but the ending almost felt like a sequel could be coming sometime in the future. Loved the wind chimes, and there were few if any WTT trends.

Shelly Noble is becoming one of my "summer" authors. I find myself always reading her latest at this time of year.This book was a bit of an emotional read for me and it was slow going because of it. That's just me. I just lost my mother this past Oct and any book that involves the death of a parent, especially a mother is hard for me to read, no matter how good it is.When Zoe's mom dies, she discovers that her mother has kept some secrets. She finds that out when she has to take her mom's ashes to a place called Wind Chime Beach. These aren't any old secrets either, this is, mom had a whole other family that no one knew anything about.I loved how Zoe slowly becomes friends with everyone, even though she kept to herself at first. Truth be told, I didn't understand why she didn't say why she was there, instead telling people for awhile that she was just really vacationing.The other family she discovers is full of drama. (Romeo and Juliet kind of drama). I want to give props to Shelley Noble for referencing The Reflections song Just Like Romeo and Juliet in the book.I loved how all the characters managed to tie together. I loved Eve and her daughters that had there own drama. Then there was Henry and Floret and the hateful grandma, Hannah. The characters may all seem small at times but each played a big part in the outcome one way or another. Not to mention Lee, Mel and EliThis was a wonderful story about families and secrets and one that was perfect for a lazy afternoon when you can get lost in a book.

I was able to read this beach read at the beach – it doesn’t get much better than that, does it? This is my second book by Ms. Noble; I had previously read her Stargazey Point. In A Beach Wish the reader is introduced to Zoe, a young woman who loves music but failed at her goal to get into Juilliard so is now just treading water through her life. Then her mother dies which rocks her world. Her mother leaves instructions for Zoe to scatter her ashes at a place called Wind Chime Beach. A place that Zoe nor anyone else in the family has ever heard of. Her stepbrothers want to forgo her last wishes but Zoe heads out to follow them. While there she finds not the end of her mother’s life but rather the beginning. She also finds herself.A Beach Wish was a quick and easy read. I read it in an afternoon. It’s full of interesting and diverse characters who are at odds with one another. Zoe knows nothing of this place but soon comes to realize that her mother had a completely different life before her second marriage. The ending was pretty easy to figure out but it still made for a good story. The compulsory bad actor seemed a bit over the top but there does need to be conflict of some sort.Overall a satisfying read with a solid plot and interesting characters.

This is great fun to read. For most people, being in a family gives them their first sense of place, of "belonging", in a much larger world. Author Shelley Noble takes this idea, wrings it out, and turns it completely upside down. When their mother dies unexpectedly, Zoe Bascombe and her three older brothers are further surprised that their mother doesn't want to be buried in the family plot on Long Island; rather, she specifies in her will that she wants to be cremated and her ashes scattered at a remote beach in New Hampshire. And she wants Zoe, an unemployed event planner, to do the honors. So after much heated debate within the family, Zoe schleps off to find Wind Chime Beach and try to determine the reason her mom wanted her remains to be left there. When she finally arrives, she finds an old hippie commune behind the beach where her very strait-laced, suburban mom once apparently lived. Digging deeper, she finds that she has a sister as well as another extended family. A Beach Wish is a journey of discovery, and Author Noble keeps the plot twists and turns racing throughout the story, making this a very entertaining read.

I enjoyed this book a lot. I will have to admit right off the bat that I am a sucker for books dealing with mothers and daughters losing their mothers. They usually tend to be tear jerkers for me. I lost my mom 22 years ago and it is something you never get over. When the main character is chosen to scatter her mother's ashes, I knew I was going to shed a few tears. If a book is able to pull raw emotion right out of you, it is going to be a good book and one that I would highly recommend. There are several topics being dealt with in the book and that keeps it from being mundane.I would recommend this book for anyone wanting a beach read. I love the Shelley Noble books that I have read and I would put this one at the top of the list.

A quick summer read. Zoe is tasked to take her mother's ashes and spread them on a beach of a town the family has never heard of. Upon Zoe's arrival at a local inn, she eventually discovers that her mother had a life she never spoke about when she was a teenager. Zoe also learns that she has a bunch of relatives she was unaware of that may or may not be accepting of Zoe. As to not include spoilers, Zoe and other people go through a lot of turmoil before coming to terms with decisions that were made long before most of them were alive.

I won this Kindle book through a Goodreads Giveaway. I love the cover! Looking at it, I would have guessed that it would be a romance. There is a smidge of romance, but I would say that this book is more about all the different relationships within a family and the major shocks that can reverberate when secrets come to light. The characters are compelling and the location is devine. The calm and loving elderly hippy couple next door help to offset the anger, bitterness and unforgiveness of the octogenarian matriarch. This was a great virtual trip to the beach and the small town beside it.

I really enjoyed this book. I wish I could have been at the beach reading it. Zoe's mom Jenny, has passed away and left very detailed instructions of what she wants. She wants Zoe to take her remains to a place that no one in her family has ever heard of, Wind Chime Beach. Confused, Zoe says good bye to her upset brothers and heads out. Once there, Zoe begins to realize that her mom had a life before marriage and kids.This was an easy read that kept me interested with its drama, love and family.