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Rachel Hanes's Reviews > Mansion Beach
Mansion Beach
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by
Rachel Hanes's review
bookshelves: advanced-reader-copy, books-i-own, from-publisher, giveaways
Mar 31, 2025
bookshelves: advanced-reader-copy, books-i-own, from-publisher, giveaways
So this was another book that took me an exceptionally long time to read. The chapters were super long (a major pet peeve of mine), and there was only one character that I connected with (which wasn’t enough to save this book for me unfortunately). The storyline flipped back and forth a little bit between time periods, with no heading on the chapters informing you of the time period (of course, as you began reading you could figure it out). This book also seemed to be a bit repetitious, and I couldn’t wait for the big reveal to happen (which wasn’t a very big shock or reveal at all).
This story focuses on Nicola moving to Block Island for the summer. Nicola is able to stay for free, at her very wealthy cousin David’s cottage. We come to find out that David has money because he married into wealth, which is Taylor Buchanan. Next door to Nicola’s cottage, many parties are taking place at Juliana George’s home. Juliana is the founder of LookBook, a hot fashion-tech company.
Throughout the book, we learn about the current and backstories of everyone involved. I rolled my eyes more than I can count. Nicola is a 29 year old woman, who in my opinion was very immature. She moved to Block Island for a fresh start, but she sure had lots of growing up to do. No other character in this book was likable. In fact, they were all pompous and self-righteous, except that of Juliana. If it wasn’t for Juliana’s character, I probably would have DNF’ed this book. She was the only relatable character.
After finally finishing this story and reading the Acknowledgements, I read that this story was inspired by The Great Gatsby. I hate to admit this, but I’ve never read The Great Gatsby- and maybe if I had I would have enjoyed this story more. 🤷🏻♀�
I was hoping to enjoy this book more, as I have read one other book by this author and really enjoyed that one. This book however, just didn’t work so well for me.
(2.5 stars)
Many thanks to ŷ, HarperCollins Publishers, and the author for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
Publication date: May, 2025
This story focuses on Nicola moving to Block Island for the summer. Nicola is able to stay for free, at her very wealthy cousin David’s cottage. We come to find out that David has money because he married into wealth, which is Taylor Buchanan. Next door to Nicola’s cottage, many parties are taking place at Juliana George’s home. Juliana is the founder of LookBook, a hot fashion-tech company.
Throughout the book, we learn about the current and backstories of everyone involved. I rolled my eyes more than I can count. Nicola is a 29 year old woman, who in my opinion was very immature. She moved to Block Island for a fresh start, but she sure had lots of growing up to do. No other character in this book was likable. In fact, they were all pompous and self-righteous, except that of Juliana. If it wasn’t for Juliana’s character, I probably would have DNF’ed this book. She was the only relatable character.
After finally finishing this story and reading the Acknowledgements, I read that this story was inspired by The Great Gatsby. I hate to admit this, but I’ve never read The Great Gatsby- and maybe if I had I would have enjoyed this story more. 🤷🏻♀�
I was hoping to enjoy this book more, as I have read one other book by this author and really enjoyed that one. This book however, just didn’t work so well for me.
(2.5 stars)
Many thanks to ŷ, HarperCollins Publishers, and the author for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
Publication date: May, 2025
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Reading Progress
February 17, 2025
– Shelved as:
to-read
February 17, 2025
– Shelved
March 24, 2025
–
Started Reading
March 31, 2025
– Shelved as:
advanced-reader-copy
March 31, 2025
– Shelved as:
books-i-own
March 31, 2025
– Shelved as:
from-publisher
March 31, 2025
– Shelved as:
giveaways
March 31, 2025
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-26 of 26 (26 new)
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Maren’s Reads
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Mar 24, 2025 01:02PM
Happy reading! I have had my eye on this one. Can't wait to read your review!
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Maren’s Reads wrote: "Happy reading! I have had my eye on this one. Can't wait to read your review!"Thank you, Maren! I’ve read one other book by this author, and I enjoyed it well enough. So fingers crossed for this one! 🤗
I have had my eye on this one on Netgalley. Cant wait to hear your thoughts 🤗
KellyJ1028 wrote: "I have had my eye on this one on Netgalley. Cant wait to hear your thoughts 🤗"Thanks, Kelly!! 💗 I just finished it, and I was hoping to enjoy it more�
Sorry this one was a slog! Love The Great Gatsby!
Excellent review, Rachel! Very understandable points!
I received this widget but was on the fence! I just hopped off of it and I will not be downloading. Long chapters and an immature lead are not for me so thank you for this honest and helpful review! 💞
JaymeO wrote: "Sorry this one was a slog! Love The Great Gatsby!"Thanks, Jayme! I think I’ll try to get to The Great Gatsby one day�
Kezia wrote: "Excellent review, Rachel! Very understandable points!"Thank you very much, Kezia!
Terrific review, Rachel!💗I struggle with long chapters, too. Ugh!
Jayme wrote: "I received this widget but was on the fence! I just hopped off of it and I will not be downloading. Long chapters and an immature lead are not for me so thank you for this honest and helpful review! 💞"You’re welcome, Jayme! 💗 These chapters were very long 😬, which did not make for a quick read at all. And yes, an immature lead is not for me either.
Sorry the characters were unrelateable. Fair and balanced review. 🩵
Terrie wrote: "Terrific review, Rachel!💗I struggle with long chapters, too. Ugh!"Thank you so much, Terrie! 💝 Yes, long chapters can often times ruin a book for me.
NZLisaM wrote: "Sorry the characters were unrelateable. Fair and balanced review. 🩵"Thank you very much, Lisa! 💗
Fabulous review, Rachel💖!!!!!!! Long chapters are a no for me as well😴!!!!!!!!
Cara wrote: "Fabulous review, Rachel💖!!!!!!! Long chapters are a no for me as well😴!!!!!!!!"Thank you so much, Cara!!! 💝 I agree about the long chapters� 😴
I'm probably among the few readers who didn't like The Great Gatsby, so much so that if I see a story tagged as its retelling or as being inspired by it, I stay away from that book. Reading your review further confirms my decision. It's annoying to see the number of immature characters these days in fiction. Sorry this didn't work out well for you, Rachel, but thanks for your honest review. Wishing you good luck with your next book pick! ❤️
Rosh wrote: "I'm probably among the few readers who didn't like The Great Gatsby, so much so that if I see a story tagged as its retelling or as being inspired by it, I stay away from that book. Reading your re..."Thank you so much, Rosh!! 💗 If you didn’t like The Great Gatsby, then I’m going to steer clear from it! Especially since this book didn’t work out so well for me. I hope your next book picks are winners too!
Sorry this didn't deliver. I haven't read that book either but this should still stand on its own. Superb review, Rachel. Hope your current read is a 5-star.
Srivalli wrote: "Sorry this didn't deliver. I haven't read that book either but this should still stand on its own. Superb review, Rachel. Hope your current read is a 5-star."Thank you very much, Srivalli! I just had a hard time connecting with any of the characters, therefore I didn’t enjoy the story as much. I hope your current reads are five stars as well! 🤗
You know Rachel I've read, The Great Gatsby within the last 10 years and I wasn't all that impressed with it so one might not be for me either. Fair and honest review!!
Tina wrote: "You know Rachel I've read, The Great Gatsby within the last 10 years and I wasn't all that impressed with it so one might not be for me either. Fair and honest review!!"Thank you very much, Tina! 🤗 From the sounds of it (and from this book), I don’t think I would be very impressed with The Great Gatsby either. At least that’s one book I can take off of my gigantic TBR list. Lol! 🤣
Wonderful review, Rachel. You explained yourself very well. I do not like long chapters either. I hope you love your next read.🤗💕
Shelley's Book Nook wrote: "Wonderful review, Rachel. You explained yourself very well. I do not like long chapters either. I hope you love your next read.🤗💕"Thank you very much, Shelley!! 💝
Great review, Rachel! Bummer this one didn't quite work for you. Hope your next book is more to your liking and doesn't have the dreaded long chapters. ;)
Yun wrote: "Great review, Rachel! Bummer this one didn't quite work for you. Hope your next book is more to your liking and doesn't have the dreaded long chapters. ;)"Thank you very much, Yun!! There’s nothing worse than the dreaded long chapters. Lol! :)
