The Beach Trap
By: Ali Brady
Published Year: 2022
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 384
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this novel.
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Two best friends torn apart by a life-altering secret. They have one summer to set the record straight.
When twelve-year-olds Kat Steiner and Blake O’Neill meet at Camp Chickawah, they have an instant connection. But everything falls apart when they learn they’re not just best friends—they’re also half-sisters. Confused and betrayed, their friendship instantly crumbles.
Fifteen years later when their father dies suddenly, Kat and Blake discover he’s left them a joint inheritance: the family beach house in Destin, Florida. The two sisters are instantly at odds. Blake, who has recently been demoted from regular nanny to dog nanny, wants to sell the house, while social media influencer Kat is desperate to keep the place where she had so many happy childhood memories.
Kat and Blake reluctantly join forces to renovate the dilapidated house with the understanding that Kat will try to buy Blake out at the end of the summer. The women clash as Blake’s renovation plans conflict with Kat’s creative vision, and each sister finds herself drawn into a summer romance. As the weeks pass, the two women realize the most difficult project they face this summer will be coming to grips with their shared past, and learning how to become sisters.
First Impressions
This cover is so cute and summery. It definitely caught my eye and mad a strong first impression. The summary also intrigued me because it was focused on the relationship between sisters and not romantic relationships.
What I thought
I preferred the first half of this book to the second half. By the second half I got a bit annoyed with some of the repetitive nature and the immature attitudes of Blake and Kat. I did learn after reading that Ali Brady is an author duo of two best friends and I think it might explain some of the repetitiveness if they were each writing a character and didn’t read each other’s chapters.
Kat and Blake are half sisters but didn’t discover the other existed until overnight camp at 12 years old. When their dad showed up, he walked away and the two girls never spoke again. Now 15 years later, their dad has died and left them a beach house to share. Little do the know, the house is run down and in order to sell it (Blake) or buy the other sister out (Kat), they need to renovate it.
So, I talked a little bit about what I didn’t like, but what I did like were the relationships. I loved watching Kat and Blake develop and start to reconnect, though I would’ve preferred if it happened a little quicker. There were also secondary romantic relationships and I enjoyed each of those moments too. I think between the two, I preferred Kat’s chapters to Blake’s. They just seemed a little more complex ad I felt like she had a lot more going on than Blake did, even if she was naïve and immature.
This was a fun beach read that I would recommend if you’re looking for something that’s not romantic or not YA. The sisterhood and friendship is well done. There’s not much too this book, so therefore not really too much to say about the plot. It’s nothing life changing, but I feel like that’s often best at the beach. I am looking forward to reading the next book by Brady, as there was a snippet for their next book and I got sucked in right away.