Review: Mansion Beach by Meg Mitchell Moore

Mansion Beach by Meg Mitchell Moore

Blurb from Goodreads:

It’s the beginning of the summer, and Nicola Carr has just arrived on Block Island, RI, eager for a fresh start and some R&R. But her plans for a tranquil summer are derailed as the extravagant parties from the grand home next door pique her curiosity. She soon discovers the home belongs to Juliana George, an enigmatic entrepreneur with a past shrouded in mystery.

Juliana George, CEO and founder of a hot fashion-tech company, is at the top of her game. She’s spending the summer on Block Island preparing for a major IPO. But she’s chasing her dreams in more ways than one. This summer she hopes to rekindle a flame with a man from her past—a man who has a surprising connection to her neighbor Nicola.

Taylor Buchanan, the wife of Nicola’s cousin, is second-in-command of a real estate empire. Her life is exactly the way she planned it: she has the wealth, the family, the prestige, and the power. And there’s nothing she’ll let get in her way of Having It All. But when everything suddenly verges on the edge of collapse, she has no choice but to take matters into her own hands.

As Nicola, Juliana, and Taylor’s summers unfold, the three women are set on a collision course that leads to inevitable self-discovery, unforgivable betrayal, an unavoidable love triangle—and, most unexpectedly, a dead body.

A sophisticated escapist novel filled with light humor and surprising observations, Mansion Beach explores the depth of human relationships, our cruelly classist society, and the price of secrets that refuse to stay buried.

 

I enjoyed this Gatsby retelling a lot but the end was just as sad as the original!  Just in terms of the fact that I kept hoping for a happy ending.  Definitely a good beach read -- rich people being rich and bad on a beautiful island. Meg Mitchell Moore does not disappoint!!

Mansion Beach comes out next week on May 27, 2025 and you can purchase HERE.  

Someday soon this whole summer will seem like nothing but a fever dream.

Jack pulls up to Nicola's cottage.

"Goodbye, Jack," she says. Almost, almost, she allows herself to see this as a romantic scene from a movie. Or at least from a Hulu limited series. Two lovers from different backgrounds and circumstances, with two different futures ahead of them, saying goodbye. She imagines that the stars in the sky might weep, watching them.