The Sandcastle Hurricane by Carolyn Brown is a beautifully written and engaging romance. With new owners for the Bed and Breakfast, quirky but lovable guests and a huge hurricane on the way, things start happening pretty quickly!
This story just tugged at my heartstrings and engaged me from start to finish. I very much enjoyed reading this book and highly recommend it to y'all!

5 Stars

I received this book for free. A favorable review was not required, and all views expressed are my own. Thank you to Montlake Publishers and Mrs. Brown for the opportunity to read and review this book. ( )

A heartwarming story of family, friendship, and love that brings together a diverse group of people, young and old. Tabby and Ellie Mae are cousins who are more like sisters. As children, they spent summers with their Aunt Charlotte in Sandcastle, Texas. Both women experience grief and loss and are at crossroads in their lives because of it. In serendipitous timing, Aunt Charlotte decides to retire from running her B & B and move to Colorado, leaving Tabby and Ellie Mae to run the business.

They've only been there a few weeks when Hurricane Delilah sets her sights on Sandcastle. The book opens as the women make preparations for the storm. Aunt Charlotte calls to tell them she's sending help in the form of handyman Alex LaSalle, who will stay at the house and take care of the generator and repairs. She also tells them that he will bring four local assisted living center residents with nowhere else to go. The hope is that they will be able to return to the center after the storm, but the reality becomes quite different.

The four oldsters are Chloe, Maude, Frank, and Homer. Chloe is a woman who has lived life on her terms. She ran off and joined a carnival as a teenager, met and married her husband there, and ended up owning the whole shebang. She is fun and full of life and loves pushing the buttons of a fellow resident, Maude. Maude is an uptight and bitter woman who can't seem to find a nice thing to say about anyone, especially Chloe. It isn't until halfway through the book that we learn of the connection between the two and what has caused their enmity. Frank and Homer are childhood friends and veterans who went to Vietnam together, then built a business together after their return. They are kind-hearted, reasonable men who provide a sense of calm around their more volatile friends.

Alex is a longtime friend of Aunt Charlotte's who has helped her during previous storms. He also has a history with Tabby, with whom he shared a first kiss when they were teenagers. Alex is an all-around nice guy who fits in well with the rest of the crowd. He is also an excellent cook and shares kitchen duties with Tabby. They are initially wary around each other, but it doesn't take long for their old friendship to reassert itself. It is quickly apparent that Alex has feelings for Tabby, but she's still struggling with the death of her daughter.

Ellie Mae struggles with the recent loss of her best friend, Sam. Despite their different sexes and races, they had been best friends and roommates for many years. Having the B & B gave Ellie Mae a purpose to keep her from wallowing in her grief. I liked watching her throw herself into the repair work after the storm, keeping her mind and hands busy. When Alex brings in his friend Ricky to help with the work, Ellie Mae finds a gentle and sympathetic listener for her Sam stories. I liked watching her grief ease as she got to know Ricky.

The story is full of laughs and tears as these eight people (plus a stray dog, a mama cat, and her kittens) learn to coexist and cooperate to meet a common goal. There are stories and secrets shared over pie and glasses of sweet tea, advice given and taken along with milk and cookies, and a family forged over shared meals and work. I loved the contrast between the forged family and the blood family. Tabby and Ellie Mae come from families whose members are more interested in appearances than genuine caring. When those families descended on the B & B for the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, they got more than they bargained for. I laughed out loud as I watched Tabby and Ellie Mae turn the tables on their obnoxious families and send them running for cover.

With the assisted living center destroyed, our four seniors propose paying Tabby and Ellie Mae to live at the B & B permanently. Several twists led to a change in plans, and I loved watching their vision come to fruition. I loved seeing the changes in everyone by the end of the book. The epilogue was excellent, and I enjoyed seeing the results of their hard work, physically and emotionally.

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