The Beach Trap by Ali Brady – summer beach read

The Brach Trap is heartfelt, fun, lovely, and wonderful summer beach read with so many emotions, layers, and Parent Trap vibe.

Disclaimer – Many thanks to Berkley for eARC via NetGalley.
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Synopsis

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.

Review

lovely, and wonderful summer beach read

The Beach Trap is fun and heartening story of Blake and Kat meeting at summer camp and finding out they are half-sisters that create huge misunderstanding and rift until they are trapped by their father’s will to the beach house in Florida that changes their life, making them reconnect, rethink their past, and repair the damage of their relationship.

The Beach Trap is about friendship, sisterhood, acceptance, forgiveness, family, letting go of past, second chance, family expectations and responsibility, abandonment issues, perfection in imperfection, being true to yourself, self-discovery, and love.

Writing is engaging, gripping, and fast-paced with first-person dual narrative from Kat and Blake’s perspective that gives very clear view of each sister’s different life, upbringing, feelings, life problems, and intentions.

I enjoyed every single page of this book. There is more to the story than just sisterhood and romance. It packs so much emotions, feelings and layers. It not only focuses on the reconciliation between sisters but also on their individual journeys and we also get to know side characters and heroes better.

Characters is the best part of the book. They are realistic and relatable. I absolutely loved Kat and Blake and their relationships. There is so much to both characters that I’m afraid I can’t talk about them without going into detail.

Kat is social media influencer and had a privileged life. She tried to make her life look perfect on her feed but in reality, it has been a mess. She could never be the daughter her father wanted or get his love. While Blake had struggling life who is raised by her grandparents after her mother’s death but she awas loved by her father before the abandonment. They both need money as Kat’s father lost his money to bad investment before he died and she wants to buy Blake out of inheritance while Blake’s only remaining family, her grandfather has Alzheimer and she needs to upgrade his care facility. Blake wants to sell the Beach House while Kat doesn’t want to and their only option is to renovate the dilapidated beach house so they can get better price or Kat use the project to get biggest deal of her life to buy Blake out. Kat is better at aesthetics, creating content and getting sponsors while Blake is great at renovation work. Blake has abandonment and trust issue while Kat couldn’t figure out why she is an influencer or what is her calling.

While working on the house they both has to deal with anger, jealousy, resentment, their father’s mistakes, their feelings for their father and for each other. Blake is more developed of the two. She doesn’t like confrontations and deals with Kat’s anger and tantrums calmly and practically. I liked Kat’s development and her self-discovery. I was surprised to see she was the one who took first huge step toward Blake and their reconnection. She sure makes mistakes but it was great to see how she realized them and tried to rectify them.

Romance is another best part and it’s as different as their personality. Blake and Noah‘s romance is fast, fiery, and sexy filled with banter while Kat and Henry‘s is slow and simmering with friends to lovers arc. Both heroes are hot and swoonworthy. I enjoyed their own story and how they too have their life issues and past along with heroines.

The climax is predictable. I was expecting Kat’s reaction but Blake surprised me by making stupid decision because of her abandonment issue. I like how things took turns in this part and how they both accepted their relationship and connection and made it even stronger. End is heartwarming, lovely, and uplifting.

Overall, The Brach Trap is heartfelt, entertaining, lovely, and a wonderful summerry beach read with so many emotions, layers, and Parent Trap vibe.

I highly recommend this if you like,
Parent Trap vibe
Summer beach read
BFF turned enemies arc
Swoonworthy sexy heroes
House renovation project
One of the characters is influencer
family drama
Dog and its many nicknames
friends to lovers arc
hot and sexy romance

Book Links

Goodreads | Storygraph | Amazon.in | Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

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heartfelt, entertaining, lovely, and a wonderful summerry beach read with so many emotions, layers, and Parent Trap vibe. #TheBeachTrap by #AliBrady #Romance #ChickLit #20booksofsummer22 #BookTwitter
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