Publication June 25. 2024-Gallery Books-Women’s Fiction-384pp
Book Summary
Present Day: Keaton Smith is desperate for a fresh start. So when her mother needs someone to put her childhood home in Beaufort, North Carolina, on the market—the home that Keaton didn’t know existed until now—she jumps at the chance to head south. But the moment she steps foot inside the abandoned house, she’s confronted with secrets about grandparents who died before she was born. And as she gets to know her charming next-door neighbor, his precocious ten-year-old son, and a flock of endearingly feisty town busybodies, she soon finds she has more questions than answers.
1976: Rebecca “Becks” Saint James has made a name for herself as the best hostess North Carolina has ever seen. Her annual summer suppers have become the stuff of legend, and locals and out-of-towners alike clamor for an invitation to her stunning historic home. But she’s struggling behind the façade. Becks strives to make the lives of those around her as easy as possible, but this summer she is facing a dilemma that even she can’t solve. And as the end of the season looms, she is brought to a decision she never wanted to make.
As both Keaton and Becks face new challenges and chapters, they are connected through time by the house on Sunset Lane, which has protected the secrets, hopes, and dreams of the women in their family for generations.
Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab
As an homage to Southern hostesses and the legendary Becks St. James, here’s my formal invitation to this FIVE star book event!
Kristy Woodson Harvey & Gallery Books Cordially Invites Readers to the Publishing Celebration for
A Happier Life
Twenty-Fifth of June, Two Thousand Twenty-Four
At the Home of Rebecca & Townsend St. James Seven Sunset Lane, Beaufort, North Carolina
Theme: “Houses Hold Our Stories” Setting: 1930’s -1970’s -Present Day
M E N U
Aperitifs
Beaufort’s Blue Moon Cocktail-‘A Happier Life’
Appetizers
Keaton’s Marketing Opportunity Secrets of an Abandoned House
Main Course
Mysterious Disappearance of Legendary Becks & Townsend St. James
Sides
The Old Homes Tour & The Dames Rebecca St. James’s Guide to Entertaining (Recipes, Tips, Advice)
Dessert
Second Chances & “Salt,” A Mini Goldendoodle
Cordials while Lingering on the Porch
Sky Meets Sea Sunsets Never Too Late to Begin
Kristy Woodson Harvey is the New York Times, USA Today and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author of eleven novels including A Happier Life, The Summer of Songbirds, and The Peachtree Bluff Series. Many of her books have been optioned or are in development for television and film and have received numerous accolades, including Good Morning America’s Buzz Pick, Southern Living’s Most Anticipated Reads, Katie Couric’s Featured Books, and Joanna Garcia Swisher’s The Happy Place Read. Kristy is the winner of the Lucy Bramlette Patterson Award for Excellence in Creative Writing and a finalist for the Southern Book Prize. https://www.kristywoodsonharvey.com/
The Grateful Reader 