Summer at Firefly Beach by Jenny Hale

Hallie Flynn’s favorite place in the world is her great Aunt Clara’s beautiful beachside house, with its inviting wraparound porch and enchanting views across the sparkling turquoise ocean. For Hallie, going to Firefly Beach, filled with magical memories, feels like coming home, but in one moment Hallie is left broken-hearted when her adored Aunt Clara passes away…

As always, Aunt Clara has thought of everything. In her last letter she included a bucket list Hallie wrote as a child, for Hallie to complete. Leaving her dead-end job and predictable schedule, Hallie returns to Firefly beach and embraces Aunt Clara’s words. All the time her childhood best friend Ben Murray, with his golden charm and infuriating ability to be right all the time, is by her side.

Spending the summer with Ben, as they enjoy drinks on the pier and endless talks stretched out in the soft sand, Hallie begins to remember the things that matter most to her. But following the bucket list isn’t an easy journey. It forces her to face the pain of her past as she starts to fall for the person who has been there for her all along…

Just as her heart is healing, an encounter with a newcomer to the beach town, wealthy and talented photographer Gavin Wilson, leaves her questioning her future and shows her she has to make a difficult decision that could mean losing everything.

My Review

This isn’t your typical lighthearted summer read. The author includes a complex storyline that includes grief, life’s unplanned sorrows, and true love. This book does have a clean romance. The book’s main subjects are Hallie and Ben, best friends, but it is an up-down relationship with secrets, heartbreaking scenes, and tears of joy. The journey in the book is memorable and intriguing, and there are moments of summer captured in the pages. However, this story isn’t what I expected from the “feel-good summer romance, ” but it was a different take on a beach romance.

Hallie’s world has turned upside down; her great aunt has passed away and left her behind a to-do list that Hallie wrote years ago to complete to get her inheritance. Her best friend ben is very smart but also young.

She has fond memories of Starlight Cottage and her favorite aunt. I don’t know about lighthearted and feel-good the first part of this book Hallie is burdened by grief and her own issues.

Ben is an amazing true-book boyfriend, and it is sad Hallie doesn’t see the love in front of her face. She has some suspenseful secrets that are keeping her from finding true love.

Her secret comes out, but I wish she would tell him. He deserves to know, and I’m not sure where this friend to lovers summer beach romance is going.

I will admit this book has all the summer feels with the quaint small town, beach, fair, and even the beautiful views. There are moments of sunshine in this story between the gloomy ones, which are amazing. Ben and Haliie’s relationship and not telling everything is heartbreaking. Unfortunately, I don’t think it is fair to this kind-hearted man and sweet book boyfriend. That girl is crazy to me. This book brings tears to my eyes as Hallie makes a tough choice; it is difficult for me to comprehend. I don’t know about feel-good romance; so far, it is grief, loss, heartbreaking choices, and complex relationships.

The book goes from sad and teary eyes at the end to happiness and the relief that the characters finally took the path of destiny and fate in front of them. This story was about opportunity and dreaming big but also about moving on in the face of grief, heartbreak, and unexpected medical issues. Ben finally gets the girl, and I enjoyed that part of the story.

If you want to read Summer at Firefly Beach by Jenny Hale, you can find this book on Amazon. As an Amazon Assocaite, I earn on qualifying purchases.

If you like this book, you may enjoy books with these tags and categories. Clean and Wholesome Romance, New Adult Fiction, and Summer.