Lily St. Claire's father has died, and he's left her a cottage in Florida that she never knew he own. It's a surprise that he owned it because it had long belonged to her aunt, her mother Caroline's sister Lily-Mae, who died a year earlier. Lily's back from Paris, before heading to a new job with a major fashion design house in Italy, but she's got a month before she'll start there. Curious and frustrated by her mother's long-standing hostility and silence about Lily-Mae, and puzzled about why Lily-Mae left the cottage to her father, who then left it to her, Lily heads off for Sand Pearl Cottage in Hideaway Key, Florida.

What she finds there are new friends, and old, disturbing revelations about her mother, her aunt, her father, and even herself.

The book alternates between Lily-Mae's journals from the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, and Lily's story in 1995. Lily-Mae's story is painful, heart-breaking, even, while Lily has her own emotional upheavals to go through, but with more hope for a better outcome.

Hideaway Key is a charming small town with a thriving tourist industry, and I like the people Davis has populated it with. In some respects, though, despite the absence of cell phones and other contemporary technological trappings, it feels like 2015, not 1995. I don't understand why Davis made that particular choice; very few changes would have been needed to Lily-Mae's story to make it work twenty years later. Or the most obvious features that feel like 2015 in 1995 Hideaway Key could have been dropped. It's an unforced error in the story, though it doesn't change the fact that this is an enjoyable story overall.

Overall, this is a great beach read. Recommended.

I received a free electronic galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. ( )

I forgot to do my review for this book, I finished it pretty quickly and it was a good sit by the pool read. ( )

The summer at Hideaway Key starts out with two little girls being dropped off at a poor house, Mt.Zion, by their mother. The girls are terrified, but they believe that their mother will come back for them once she can support them again. This is a time, 1953 when times are tough for a single mother to make it on her own let alone with two little girls. The poorhouse is run by a couple, a not very nice woman by the name of Sister Ruby and her husband preacher Brother Zell. The girls are set to work at different tasks in the kitchen and laundry. Lily had been told by her mother to look out for Caroline, which she tries to do. Brother Zell notices Lily of course and wants her to help him in his office. Well, of course, there is an ulterior motive to his wants. Before Lily knows it she has been molested by Brother Zell. By this time she knows that her mother is never coming back for her and Caroline and is determined that she is going to take her sister and leave. She has not figured out how to do this yet but when Brother Zell sets his sights on Caroline she knows that it is time to leave. She tells her sister to pack and that their mother will meet them. Lily steals some money and Brother Zell's truck and they run off.

Lily St.Claire is a young woman who is a clothing designer and will be accepting a dream job at a top fashion house in Milan. She has recently come from Paris, after the death of her father, Roland, and at the reading of the will, she is totally surprised that her father has left her a property in Hideaway Key, Florida. Her mother Caroline is not only equally surprised but actually quite upset about it. Lily doesn't want to be tied down to a property but can't figure out why her mother is so upset. Lily has never gotten along with Caroline as Caroline is a cold demanding woman who really has shown any love to Lily. All the love and affection Lily received from her father.

Cottage at Hideaway Key was a property that had been owned by Roland, passed on to him on the death of Caroline's sister and Lily's aunt, Lily-Mae whom Lily never knew existed. Apparently Caroline and her sister had a falling out and haven't spoken in years. So inheriting the cottage is very mysterious to Lily. Upon arriving at the cottage she finds it in disrepair and loaded with boxes. She is to report to her new job in Milan within a month so she reluctantly starts making some sort of order to what she needs to do with the cottage and its contents. She comes across some journals and is instantly swept away in the life of her aunt. While she is in Hideaway Key she meets some people and actually comes to like it there.

Told in alternating voices, Lily's and her aunt Lily-Mae's, the reader learns more about each of these women and the people they meet along the way. Women with love and relationship issues, definitely flawed. Will finding out more about her aunt finally give her the reason why her mother is so cold and distant? Can she find peace with herself? Summer at Hideaway Key had me turning the pages in anticipation that each of the Lily's lives would be happy ones. Doesn't always happen that way though. This is definitely one of those stories that stays with you long after you have put the book aside, a book to share with your bestie. 5 stars for sure. ( )

An inherited beach cottage with memories of its own, a beach cottage filled with journals about the life of an unknown aunt, a job as a fashion designer in Milan, and decisions, decisions, decisions.

Lily St. Claire had no idea that her father had left her a beach cottage that once belonged to her estranged aunt or why he left it to her especially with all the secrets between her mother and her mother's sister. Lily needed to see the cottage for herself and was curious enough to head to Florida to Sand Pearl Cottage to find out what it was all about.

What Lily found was definitely not what she expected. Lily found boxes everywhere that held her aunt's possessions as well as the story about her life that no one was aware of and one that her mother would never talk about.

Lily needed to decide if she wanted to stay to uncover all she could find about her aunt or just leave the cottage and head to Milan for her dream job.

SUMMER AT HIDEAWAY KEY had a storyline that any women's fiction fan will not want to put down.

We meet a number of interesting characters, find secrets that had never been revealed, get a glimpse into her aunt's life, see the decisions Lily must make in her personal life, and see how Lily desperately tries to get her mother to shed some light on why her mother and her aunt never talked for over 30 years.

SUMMER AT HIDEAWAY KEY is another marvelous book by Ms. Davis. The characters, the setting, the atmosphere, and the storyline will keep you turning the pages and still want more. It was a glorious read up until the very last word.

Ms. Davis has a way of pulling you in and not letting go. There is always something lurking that you "must" know along with a touch of romance.

The journals made for an absolutely wonderful read....terrific book.

I always enjoy journals. When you read about journals in a book, do you ever ask yourself why you didn't do something like that or if you did leave journals what folks would think after they read them?

5/5

This book was given to me free of charge by the publisher and without compensation in return for an honest review. ( )