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.