Beach Wedding
by Michael Ledwidge

A high-society wedding party stirs up new evidence in an unsolved murder in this thrilling stand-alone from the New York Times bestselling coauthor of James Patterson’s Now You See Her and The Quickie.

Hamptons sand… Hamptons money… Hamptons murder…

When Terry Rourke is invited to the spare-no-expense beach wedding of his hedge fund manager brother, he thinks that his biggest worry will be flubbing the champagne toast. But this isn’t the first time Terry has been to the Hamptons.

As the designer tuxedos are laid out and the flowers arranged along the glittering surf, Terry can’t help but take another look at a decades-old murder trial that rocked the very foundations of the town—and his family. He soon learns that digging up billion-dollar sand can be a very dangerous activity. The kind of danger that can very quickly turn even the most beautiful beach wedding into a wake.

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

The running of the bullshitters.

My Review:

This book tickled my fancy as well as tripped my curiosity and held my rapt attention throughout with unpredictable and entertaining intrigue combined with lashings of amusingly wry and whip-smart wit. I fell right into this well nuanced and engaging tale and was huffing to keep up with the active storylines while my mind was racing with countless theories. Though totally unfamiliar to me, this prolific author has crazy good word voodoo and an impressive backlist. I’ve got some catching up to do.

MICHAEL LEDWIDGE is the writer of seventeen novels, the last dozen being New York Times bestsellers co-written with one of the world’s bestselling authors, James Patterson. With twenty million copies in print, their Michael Bennett series is the highest-selling New York City detective series of all time. One of their novels, Zoo, became a three-season CBS television series. He lives in Connecticut.

From bestselling author Dani Atkins, a new collection of three irresistible love stories, all linked by one very special dress.

Suzanne is engaged to be married to the man of her dreams – except the lead-up to her wedding is beginning to feel more like a nightmare. Can Suzanne uncover the truth about her fiancé ahead of her big day?

Bella’s life was on track until the day of the hen party when everything changed. Now she must find the strength to rebuild her future – and decide who she wants to spend it with.

Mandy’s grandmother has fallen in love but her family doesn’t approve. For her grandmother’s dreams to come true, Mandy has a secret wedding to plan, and a very special dress to find.

These are the three strangers whose stories are about to be woven together by one perfect wedding dress.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Tall and as thin as a crochet hook, she was dressed from head to toe in black. Even her hair was ebony, the kind of shade that nature doesn’t do on Caucasian women. It was pulled back into the sort of topknot that surely had to hurt, and was neat enough to look as though it had been superglued into place. Absolutely no hairpins required.

…my mother would have been far easier to win over if I wasn’t forcing her to play happy families with the man she once claimed she never wanted to see again– well, at least not until Hell had begun offering ice-skating sessions.

Sasha smelled of sunshine and Tresemmé shampoo, mixed with an indefinable sweet aroma, which I swear exuded from her pores like a pheromone.

He believes your gran is delusional. Weirdly, he’d rather accept she has Alzheimer’s than consider she’s fallen in love with someone.’

A shiver ran through me. It was the same every time a Sunnymede resident passed away. It felt like death was a predator on the Serengeti, picking off the weakest of the elderly one by one. And every time it happened I felt as though I was one dreadful step closer to losing my grandmother.

 My Review:

This was a trifecta of tales, each one skillfully crafted while equally heart-squeezing and an amusing delight. The storylines were crisply written with endearing characters, witty exchanges, and sneakily observant and emotive insights with an eye-stinging poignancy.   The main characters were lovely people I’d enjoy knowing and spending time with, who all stumbled upon the perfect bridal gown in a time of need.   The mystical wedding dress was cleverly slipped into each story as if by magic, I suspect it may have contained a bit of fairy dust sewn into the hem. This was my initial exposure to Dani Atkin’s agile word skills and I believe I may have become her most avid acolyte somewhere around page two.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

It is a microcosm of motherhood here, women huddled in clusters around the edge of the playground, shaking out Goldfish, handing over juice boxes, wiping away dirt from little hands… Men are so absent, you would forget they existed at all.

But there’s something wrong with me, Suzy. Something very, very wrong.

My Review:

This was a disturbingly realistic and disquieting piece packed with warped and fractured characters who were all rather lacking in the areas of mental health and likable personalities. The writing was insightful and perceptive with a constant thrum of apprehension and risk of discovery, but the discovery of exactly what was always in question. I was deeply curious and invested in their tale and had developed multiple theories as I read, and all of them were wrong. How I love it when that happens!

The tale unraveled slowly while ratcheting up the tension, which was present and tautly held from the first page to the last word. I was impatient at times when the storylines appeared to falter or veer in other directions although I later realized the author was weaving in additional threads as the characters became increasingly unhinged.   But that ending has left me tapping my little foot while I contemplate my feelings, I’m quite unsettled and bordering on distressed. I have a feeling I will be ruminating on this one for some time.

About the Author

Amazon
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter
BookBub
Instagram

 

Flora Collins was born and raised in New York City and has never left, except for a four-year stint at Vassar College. When she’s not writing, she can be found watching reality shows that were canceled after one season or attempting to eat soft-serve ice cream in bed (sometimes simultaneously). Nanny Dearest is her first novel and draws upon personal experiences from her own family history.