Erika Montgomery

Mickey has been a chef her whole life. She learned at her grandmother, Cora’s, side. She now owns a fabulous restaurant that gets great reviews. But Mickey’s management has not been on par and now the restaurant is failing. She is too chicken to tell her boyfriend/chef. So she takes her mother, Hedy, up on the offer to head to their beach house for her grandmother’s wedding. But this is a time full of change. Mickey is not sure she is up to all these challenges. And when her boyfriend shows up, she knows it’s time to fess up and come clean.

Even though Mickey is lying through her teeth via omission, I really enjoyed her. She knows she has got to do something about her situation. Then there is Cora and Hedy. They clash when they are together but as the story begins to unfold there is a lot that needs to be said and these two begin to heal some old wounds.

This story is full of family secrets and great characters. And I just love the setting of this beach house and all the drama! And how these ladies come together to help each other adds so much charm! Add in the romances for all three ladies and you have a delicious escape.

Need a sweet, romance for the poolside…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.… (lisätietoja)

What an absolute surprise this book was reader friends! Grab Our Place On The Island, your best sunnies, a cool drink, a floppy hat, and settle into a comfortable chair in the shade! This is the weekend read you’re packing on your next vacay…or your backyard/park/pool! ☀️ I loved multigenerational, immersive romance with a touch of mystery set at Martha’s Vineyard. It’s the perfect summer read to take you away, even if you’re not on the water.

Mickey worked hard her entire life to make her dream of running and owning a restaurant come true. Working side by side with her partner and boyfriend Wes seemed a perfect fit. Somewhere something went wrong and now she’s no longer in the kitchen, and behind on the bills. She’s delayed telling him, not wanting to spoil the glowing reviews being published. Before she can she receives a call from her mother, Hedy. Her grandmother, Cora is getting married in SIX days at their family home, Beech House.

Told from multiple points of view, and going back in time, we learn the complicated history of these three women. This is the story of how people make sacrifices within their relationships, about social hierarchy, and the cost of choosing not to adhere to those norms. It’s the story of women connected by their love of cooking and food, a common language deeply rooted in a home and place, the salt, and earth. It’s about reconnecting, second chances, at any age.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press @stmartinspress Erika Montgomery @erikamontgomeryauthor and Netgalley @Netgalley for the advanced copy.… (lisätietoja)

Our Place on the Island by Erika Montgomery
Like description of this story as winter is just starting here with the snow falling, nice time to read about summer places.
Starts out when Mickey is at her restaurant with her loving chef and she's notified that her grandmother is remarrying. She is up to her ears with bills and running the business and things are not going well.
She escapes to the island where we find her mother and grandmother. Story goes back in time over the years so you can understand why and how things happen in present day.
Love the cooking, tips about smelly fish and how to get rid of that before cooking *PRICELESS*, mention of her favorite author friends in acknowledgments, the island itself, island living and the cooking, redisgn of kitchen and how it all plays out at the end.
With so much turmoil it's any wonder the family moves on, sells house and calls it a day...
Descriptions of food, smells, atmosphere, sounds all come to the forefront for me as i am RIGHT there with them in the kitchen or walking on dewy grass at night...
Can't wait to read more from this author. So captivating.
Love multi generation of women and their effect on the island as they go through many stages over their lifetime. Beautiful ending, never saw it coming out like it did. Ends with acknowledgments and about the author.
Received this review copy from St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Griffin via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.
#NetGalley… (lisätietoja)

Erika Montgomery is an author to follow. Her books always make you feel so good. Such well-constructed stories, likeable characters, interesting history and situations, a plot that captures your interest and draws you in. Just enough suspense to keep you hooked but not enough to keep you seriously worried.

Our Place On the Island is a story about the three Campbell women and their family seaside cottage Beech House. There’s Mickey, who left home years ago to make her mark in the culinary world. Hedy, Mickey’s mother, whose marriage didn’t take so she never put herself out there again, and the matriarch, Cora, Hedy’s mother and Mickey’s grandmother.

Everyone’s coming to Beech House on Martha’s Vineyard because Cora is getting remarried. What? Who? How did this happen? Gossip has always had a life of its own in their community, and now Hedy is hearing that Max, the man Cora is going to marry, is the one who got away, Cora’s one true love. Hedy doesn’t know if that is true or not, but her relationship with her mother has always been fractious and Hedy’s father has only been dead three years. She’s not ready for this wedding. Mickey is close to her grandmother but hasn’t been home in a while and had no clue, but since she’s just run her restaurant into the ground – hey, she’s a chef, not a finance major – and is afraid to tell her head chef/partner/boyfriend Wes about it maybe it’s a good time to return to Beech House after all. She loves him and is afraid she’ll lose him because of this. As for Cora, she’s that head-of-the-family older woman character we all love to read about. Feisty, opinionated, maybe hasn’t always gotten her way or the life she wanted but knows her own mind. She may or may not explain: Why Max? Why now? But she’s not going to apologize. Her marriage to Harry was good and she’s not going to diminish it, but she’s going to live the rest of her life.

Cora has been on the Vineyard since 1948 and the early days of her marriage to Harry. Beech House was their seaside summer home. She was an outsider with a background that didn’t fit in with Harry’s family and friends and that ever present snobbery and gossip, but he loved her and knew she would “come around.” Well, maybe she did and maybe she didn’t but after all these years, she and Beech House are fixtures on Martha’s Vineyard. She loves it. And she loves Max.

The action shifts back and forth between 1948 and 1999, remembering people and events from the past, facing what is the reality of now and accepting what the future might bring. Cora is happy and for some reason has invited everyone to attend the wedding, even those long-time gossips and possible enemies from the old days. Hedy doesn’t understand, but maybe it’s time she unravels herself a bit and live her own life, not the one she thought would please, or at least not disappoint, her father. And Mickey, she needs to come to terms with what she really wants, who she is really meant to be, why she left and why maybe it’s good to be home.
Our Place On the Island is delightful, full of love – lost, found, new, in jeopardy – and disappointments and wishes and dreams. And most of all family. And a custom-built kitchen island that is very, very special. Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for providing an advance copy of Our Place On the Island for my reading pleasure and honest opinion. I loved this story and Erika Montgomery is an author I always want to read. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own.… (lisätietoja)