When Hattie Norwood visits her parents in fictional Mountain View, South Carolina, having learned their farm fields are too depleted to grow peanuts any longer, she is confronted with a big challenge on behalf of her hometown in Sing Me Home to Carolina by Joy Callaway coming out June 10.

Although Hattie just planned to stay the weekend, the mayor wants Hattie to use her skills as an event planner in Charlotte, North Carolina, to help the small town fight the proposed building of the new Carolina Panthers football stadium in their town. Hattie resists because she thinks the stadium would be a big boost to Mountain View, while town folks like their town just like it is.

To complicate things further for Hattie, her former boyfriend Lee, is back in town after his career in the Atlanta Braves was brought to an end thanks to a shoulder injury. Not only is she still attracted to Lee even though they broke up 11 years ago, but also she is curious about the new guy in town, Fox.

Rather than let her friends and neighbors down, Hattie agrees to stay in town long enough to help put on a benefit to stop the stadium during the annual Founder’s Day celebration. Lee makes the suggestion that the celebration be held at the Norwoods’ barn thinking the farm could transition from a peanut farm to a music and event venue. He even insists on paying for improvements to the old barn.

Who might win in this small town vs a football stadium competition? How might the Norwoods adapt from farming to running an event center? Will Hattie stay in her hometown and settle down with Lee…or Fox…or will she return to Charlotte?

Joy Callaway writes  historical fiction and southern contemporary romance novels. With a degree in journalism, she served as a marketing director for a wealth management company. She resides in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her family.

 It’s one thing when your husband is arrested by the FBI for wire fraud but it is quite another when a social media account for the town of Juniper Shores, North Carolina, blasts this personal information and many updates in the latest beach read from Kristy Woodson Harvey, Beach House Rules, hitting store shelves on May 27.

Denied bond for white-collar crime, Charlotte Sitterly’s husband Bill has left her and their daughter Iris in a very vulnerable situation in which they cannot access their bank accounts, their house, their car, their personal belongings. But a stroke of luck in the form of neighbor Alice Bailey offering accommodation at her former bed and breakfast where she is already providing a safe harbor to two other families, is just the stroke of luck Charlotte and Iris need.

On the other hand, Alice’s beachfront home is a favorite target of social media gossip primarily because Alice is being targeted as a Black Widow having lost a husband to an avalanche on a ski trip, a second to a car accident, and a third to a fall from their three-story home.

But Charlotte and Iris are embraced by Alice and the other two families, and in this environment, they start to put their lives back together as Charlotte, always a homemaker, re-enters the job force and Iris is able to keep attending her school thanks to her popular friends who rally around her.

What are the chances that Bill has been framed, that someone else committed the crime? If he is guilty, can Charlotte possibly restore funds to those who have been cheated, especially to those who have had their entire retirement dollars wiped out? Will Charlotte and Iris ever be able to claim their home or will they continue group living in Alice’s home for the foreseeable future?

Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Journalism, Harvey’s writing has appeared in numerous publications, including Southern Living, Parade, Traditional Home, and USA TODAY. She lives with her family in Beaufort, NC.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting May 3, 2025.

I would like to thank Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster LLC, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.