The New York Times bestselling author of The Summer Guests returns at long last to her beloved Beach House series in this breathtaking novel about one family’s summer of forging new beginnings against the enduring beauty and resilience of the natural world.

It’s been sixteen years since Caretta “Cara” Rutledge has returned home to the beautiful shores of Charleston, South Carolina. Over those years, she has weathered the tides of deaths and births, struggles and joys. And now, as Cara prepares for her second wedding, her life is about to change yet again.

Meanwhile, the rest of the storied Rutledge family is also in flux. Cara’s niece Linnea returns to Sullivan’s Island to begin a new career and an unexpected relationship. Linnea’s parents, having survived bankruptcy, pin their hopes and futures on the construction of a new home on Ocean Boulevard. But as excitement over the house and wedding builds, a devastating illness strikes the family and brings plans to a screeching halt. It is under these trying circumstances that the Rutledge family must come together yet again to discover the enduring strength in love, tradition, and legacy from mother to daughter to granddaughter.

Like the sea turtles that come ashore annually on these windswept islands, three generations of the Rutledge family experience a season of return, rebirth, and growth. “Authentic, generous, and heartfelt” (Mary Kay Andrews, New York Timesbestselling author), On Ocean Boulevard is Mary Alice Monroe at her very best.

Review:

Captivating, heartfelt, and sentimental!

On Ocean Boulevard is an enchanting, tender tale that sweeps you away to the idyllic South Carolina Lowcountry and immerses you into the lives of the Rutledge family and all the wounds, secrets, smiles, tears, compassion, strength, and loyalty that surround them.

The writing is fluid and clear. The characters are multi-layered, resilient, and authentic. And the plot, including all the subplots, intertwine and unravel into an optimistic, heartwarming tale about life, love, loss, family, friendship, romance, contentment, plastic pollution, sea turtles, and the importance of environmental conservation.

Overall, On Ocean Boulevard is a big-hearted, insightful, timely, family saga by Monroe that reminds us that life is comprised of not only the lovely, special, wonderful moments but all the complicated, messy, challenging, heartbreaking ones too.

This novel is available now.

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