Reunion Beach audiobook

When Dorothea Benton Frank passed away in 2019, her death rocked our world as writers and readers. And her departure left us wanting to do something special to pay tribute to Dottie's life and her legacy. REUNION BEACH is a beautiful anthology that captures her unforgettable spirit, joy, and humor in stories of reunions and love. It features short stories from me, Elin Hilderbrand, Patti Callahan Henry, Adriana Trigiani, and Cassandra King, recipes from Nathalie Dupree, a poem by Marjory Wentworth-- poet laureate of South Carolina, and other wonderful friends and family.REUNION BEACH is the title of the next book Dottie had planned to write. Today, it's a literary homage and beautiful keepsake to the writer we all loved so much.

Audiobook....11 hours and 47 minutes.... ....stories inspired by Dorothea Benton Frank....by Elin Hilderbrand, Adriana Trigiani, Patti Callahan Henry, Cassandra King, Natalie Dupree, Marjory Wentworth, and Mary Alice Monroe....narrated by Susan BennettCONFESSION.... I haven’t read any of *Dorothea Benton Frank’s* books. And...I’ve only read one book by Erin Hilderbrand.....and no books by any of these other bestselling authors. I chose to read this (listen to the audiobook), out of love&friendship with my friend (sister-type friend), Toni.TONI....not sure what I’m going to write here — but whatever it is ....however it comes out — winging it from the hip— I dedicate this review to YOU....with my deepest love ....treasuring ‘you’....treasuring ‘us’.I LEARNED A LOT ABOUT THE WOMAN & AUTHOR Dorothea Benton Frank. ( friends, fans, and family called her Dot or Dottie)...For a woman I never knew, never read, ......I feel privileged to have been invited to THIS PARTY CELEBRATION of her life, her stories, and the joy of meeting her friends, her tribe, her writing buddies, her family, her husband, best friends, and fans. I truthfully feel honored to have been a guest — Dottie, I miss you too ....I may never have met you, read you, ( until now: I loved your sections in this book)....but in just 11 hours and 46 minutes.....you taught me the value of laugher, happiness, ( the color ‘red’ )....How did you know it was my favorite color?....you taught me the value of true friendships....the joy of CELEBRATIONS....and taking it upon yourself to to do whatever it took to make sure people were happy, that people were having fun no matter what they were doing— you lifted people’s spirits.....PEOPLE MATTERED TO YOU.....[I can relate so deeply]....but Dottie....you were REMARKABLE....(I don’t know how you did all that you did....but HOT DAMN your SUPER-BEING HUMANITY had me in tears. I’m sad for all my own flaws....for losing friends ( whom I still think about and miss)....because I made thoughtless mistakes... I was too harsh, too opinionated, wrong, too rude, too righteous.....( perhaps threatened but that’s no excuse).... I too value people with all my heart —-but at times I put my foot in my mouth and mess things up.....( it’s rare if I’m fully forgiven- but if I am- I’m thankful more than anyone knows)....Dottie..... you saw an element missing in life — THE VALUE of TRUE JOY— you found ways to have joy & happiness as a LIFE PURPOSE ....SO AS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE in others lives!!!I don’t think ( until now- this book - 68 years old/ 69 later this month)....the POWERFUL UPLIFTING ‘choice’ lightness 'is' over darkness....(Choosing and creating lightness)And I’m clear — you were no pushover—and happiness was not a panacea to you...YOU WERE A VERY WISE WOMAN.... sure you saw all the meanness- ugliness - grief - injustice in life - you’d talk authentically and honestly with your friends and family about all these things....... but meanness and ugliness was not where you lived....A few sentences that struck a cord with me: “Good manners are the moisturizers of life” “How do you know when it’s time to stop changing the world, and start writing?” “It’s more important for dialogue to ring true then be grammatically correct” “When you’re at peace, you see everything differently”. “Getting sick is not worth the time, it keeps you from doing the things you wanna do”. I BELIEVE FULLY WHAT YOUR DAUGHTER, *Victoria*, SAID ABOUT YOU.... “She turned humor into an art form and taught the world how to laugh” “Mom was at heart a teacher and storyteller” “When mom was in your corner, you couldn’t lose”. “People mattered to mom. She could take a random person and speak to them for 30 seconds and make them her best friend. I think that’s why she was so successful as a writer” “In this warm and moving anthology, a group of best-selling authos and writers pay tribute to legendary, larger-than-life New York Times best-selling Dorothea Benton Frank and her literary legacy”AMEN! Beautiful!....stories, essays, and poems...( set in Lowcountry of South Carolina), conflicts, arguments and resolution, marriages, divorce, more marriages, illnesses, deaths, friendships, and colleagues, food, recipes, wine, beach pleasures, fashion, aesthetic beautiful things, ( saying goodbye to those things no longer needed), awesome friendship bonding, (always with great food and drinks, sometimes a little weed), tidbits about her books, writing, and the business of the book world, and downright heartwarming vibrancy!This novel’s achievement is pretty special to many people....It delights, it’s hilarious, and deeply affecting.

If you are a fan of Dorothea Benton Frank, REUNION BEACH a must-listen/read! Also, Susan Bennett is award-winning! I adore her and one of my favorite narrators.I miss DOT so much, her books, humor, entertainment, sass, and tales of the Lowcountry. She was bigger than life. I always looked forward to her fab beach reads. You can imagine her smiling at this book and laughing out loud. I also ordered the hardcover. A perfect gift for Mother's day and book clubs. The stories are nostalgic, funny, and sassy like the author and the food and wine will make your mouth water. I could actually listen to Patti Callahan and Mary Alice Monroe's stories for an entire book. The "Postcards from Heaven" was a nice touch and laugh out loud hilarious. This collection is a treasured gift and grateful to all the authors for this beautiful tribute to this beloved author. Highly recommend! My favorite stories: "The Bridesmaids" by Patti Callahan"Postcards from Heaven" by Adriana Trigiani"Mother and Child Reunion by Mary Alice Monroe Introduction by Victoria Benton Frank (her daughter)Peter's Speech at the Celebration of LIfe for Dottie (husband)Afterword by William Frank (son) "Essays by Dorothea Benton Frank" Included with the audiobook, you get a PDF (download) with all the delicious recipes mentioned and other enhancements! Well done. A classic. Highly recommend!#JDCMustReadBooks

Reunion Beach is a beautiful tribute to Dorothea Benton Frank filled with lovely short stories and essays from her friends and family. While it does fill slightly disjointed, the stories aren’t connected, it is a world class tribute to one lovely lady, and all of the writing is as beautiful as ever. I throughly enjoyed the stories!

This book is a tiny treasure that I will cherish for a long time!I hope to one day have friends and family love me the way they have loved Dorothea Benton Frank.Reunion Beach is a tribute to the late Dorothea Benton Frank. In this book are memories and stories told about times with DBF, or how they met her. This book also includes many short stories from some wonderful authors that I typically do not read (but I can assure you these authors are now on my TBR list!). I especially loved ‘Postcards From Heaven’ by Adriana Trigiani. In addition to the wonderful stories throughout this book, there are also recipes that are shared. In fact, I really want to make some cornbread after reading this. If you are a fan of Dorothea Benton Frank, you will want to get yourself a copy of this beautiful book. The authors all did a wonderful job, and I am so glad that I had the pleasure of reading this anthology.I would like to thank Goodreads and HarperCollins/William Morrow for an ARC of this book.

I bought this book only to read Hilderbrand's novella Summer of '79. As with all of her books I flew through it. It was so worth getting this book.You will really be glad you read it.

When Dorothea Benton Frank died at 67 years of ages in September, 2019. she left behind not only her family and many wonderful friends but also millions of loyal fans. We enjoyed her books set in the lowcountry of South Carolina and featuring strong women characters of all ages. She was planning her next book when she died and the title was Reunion Beach. A group of authors who loved her decided to put together a book in memory of her with the same title. This book features short stories from some of the best Southern authors writing today as well as remembrances from her editor, her son and daughter and husband. Before each story, each author shares a memory of Dottie and this entire book shares their memory of her sprit, her love of her family and friends and the literary legacy that she has left behind. If you haven't read her books, she left behind 20 memorable novels. I can't recommend a book for you because I loved them all! Reunion Beach is a beautiful memorial to a fantastic woman and writer who helped to bring the lowcountry alive for her readers.

Such a lovely tribute to a such a wonderful author and woman. As a fan, I miss Dorothea BF soooo much! Be at peace, Sistah…y’heah?!

Must read for fans of southern authors.

Review to follow!

I really enjoyed this book and all of the stories. All of them paid tribute to Dorothea Benton Frank. This is a VERY GOOD READ. The first time I met here, you were not a stranger to her she made you feel like someone she had known for a long time. This book so concentrates on that. A MUST READ if you enjoyed her books.

A beautiful memoriam to an obviously beloved woman. Elin’s Summer of 1979 was 5 stars and the reason I read this anthology. But, I really enjoyed the other stories too and am going to try out some new authors, include Dorothea Benton Frank, as a result

This anthology about Dorothea Benton Frank (Dottie) and was written by many bestselling authors, including Adriana Trigiani and Elin Hilderbrand. It was a tribute to Dottie because of her untimely and sudden death. Dottie was a huge bestseller since "Queen Bee" rocketed to number two in the charts. "Reunion Beach" features letters, short stories, poems, and essays written by Dottie's friends and her editor. It also includes her son and daughter's essays and a piece from her husband, Peter."Reunion Beach" moved me so profoundly. I didn't know Dottie, but I felt I could recognize her on the street after reading this book. The author's collectively painted an intimate portrait of Dottie. This story was a memorial service in a book and was such a tribute to her life.To listen to my interview with the author, go to my podcast at:https://zibbyowens.com/transcript/adr...

Tbd

What a beautiful tribute to one great writer and lady. Dorothea Benton Frank introduced me to the low country through Sullivan's Island and I never stopped reading her books until unfortunately there were no more. When I finally got to visit the low country it was everything she said it would be. This is a wonderful tribute to her. Short fiction stories, essays. My favorite was Low Country Stew. That one made me chuckle.

What a wonderful tribute to Dorothea Benton Frank! I admit I enjoyed some of the stories more than others, but overall it had the "feel" of DBF. The Letters to My Readers she wrote that were included at the end of the book just made me miss her even more! There will never be another like her!