 Author: Rachel Hauck Genre: Contemporary Romance Pages: 384 Release Date: July 15, 2025 Publisher: Bethany House Publishers Can anything rekindle the summer love between former sweethearts facing old wounds and a divided town? Emery Quinn finds herself at a crossroads between her career and complex family dynamics. Struggling to connect with her blended family and ready for a fresh start, Emery accepts the position of editor-in-chief at the Sea Blue Beach Gazette. Upon her return to the Sands Motor Motel, she is flooded with bittersweet memories of her late mother and past regrets from a long-ago summer. Architect Caleb Ransom has returned home to Sea Blue Beach, a place filled with cherished memories and potential opportunities. He means to make a difference for his family and his hometown by caring for his troubled sister's son and preserving the history of the town as the leader of the new Main Street initiative. He certainly never expected to run into Emery Quinn, the girl who captured his heart sixteen summers ago. As Emery and Caleb revive their friendship, they find themselves facing a bitterly divided town. Together, they navigate family challenges, professional setbacks, and a high-stakes royal visit to discover how forgiveness and love can reshape their hearts and their destiny.
 Reviewer: Heather L. Jones The Sands of Sea Blue Beach, by Rachel Hauck, is the story of Emery Quinn, who comes from a blended family. Her mom passed away from cancer while Emily was a teenager, not long after they spent a last Summer together at Sea Blue Beach. Emery’s dad remarried a woman with two daughters, and not long after, and another daughter was born. Emery worked for a newspaper in her hometown but now works as an editor for a local paper at Sea Blue Beach, giving her a new start in a town very dear to her heart. It also gives her distance from the family she has trouble fitting in with. During her Summer at Sea Blue Beach, she met Caleb Ransom. A teenage friendship was born, and now not only is Emery back but so is Caleb, who is now an architect, and their old friendship is rekindled. Caleb also has a mom who has been through cancer, but survived it. He also has a dad and a younger sister who, although she was a good student, became a little wild. Eventually she became a mom to a young son, who she leaves with Caleb to run off with a man who isn’t crazy about children. Caleb takes the boy under his wing like a substitute father. He works as an architect. Caleb and Emily meet again when she moves into the neighborhood, and they resume their friendship. The West side of Sea Blue Beach is a fine neighborhood, whereas the East side needs renovation. The citizens would like to see the East Side restored to its former glory, with Caleb at the helm of one of the restorations. Unfortunately, there are those with big pockets and those who wait for their palms to be greased who do not want the restoration. They want to tear the East Side down and make it into something to suit themselves, with no semblance of the old town. Will Emery, Caleb, and the citizens of Sea Blue Beach be able to fight to save the East side from greedy developers and equally greedy businessmen, whose only interest is their own profit at the cost of others’ wellbeing? Will the citizens of both sides put aside their opposing ways and get together, fighting to bring back a time that was good and decent through the restoration of the East Side? One will have to read this story to find out. This book was very good, and I give it five stars. I received a complimentary copy courtesy of Bethany House Publishers through Interviews & Reviews for my honest opinion. Reviewer: Monica Huyser The Sands of Sea Blue Beach by Rachel Hauck is a mix of the old and the new at Sea Blue Beach in this dual-timeline story. The Sands of Sea Blue Beach goes back and forth between Emery Quinn’s teenage year that she visited Florida with her parents and stayed at the Sand Motor Motel. She met Caleb Ransom that summer and romance blossomed. She found out at the end of the trip that her mom had the cancer—and nothing was ever the same. In the current timeline, Emery is back at Sea Blue Beach as editor-in-chief of the Sea Blue Beach Gazette. Coincidentally, Caleb is also back in town because his mom had a cancer diagnosis and after starting his architectural career in Seattle, he wanted to move home to be closer to his family. I have to start off by saying I am a huge fan of this author. I have enjoyed several of her books in the past. However, The Sands of Sea Blue Beach is not my favorite. The writing is good. I especially like that the former sweethearts reconnect. At the same time, after having my own cancer diagnosis 4 years ago, I am not a fan of reading about characters with cancer—especially when they don’t live through the diagnosis. It was a struggle for me to get through this book for that reason. Not everyone has that story though, so this may be just the book you want to read. I love the happy ending. There are themes of healing and redemption through both Caleb and Emery’s story-lines. There is also healing between other family members, and that is one of the best parts of the story. I think the cover of The Sands of Sea Blue Beach is definitely beach read gorgeous, and the publisher did a great job with that. The Sands of Sea Blue Beach is a great book for a summer read if you like stories of sweethearts reconnecting and stories of redemption—and don’t mind that characters faced a cancer diagnosis. I received a complimentary copy from Bethany House Publishers through Interviews & Reviews for my honest opinion. Reviewer: Jeanette Durkin This is a fantastic book! I love the setting of Sea Blue Beach! It gave me nostalgic feelings as I remembered all the small beach towns I visited as a child. The second-chance romance is super sweet! The second chance at family is heartwarming. Wow! The characters are wonderful! They are relatable and easy to like. I love and adore Emery. She is a woman with a sad past and emotional wounds that never healed. She built up walls around her heart. Her life isn’t going the way she planned, and she takes a leap of faith, moving to SBB to make a fresh start. Little does she know that life has a few surprises in store for her! Caleb is hunkalicious! He’s a hometown boy, intelligent and committed to his family and job. Life throws him a couple of curveballs, too. It’s amazing how the town comes together and decides to revitalize the East End. Small town America! I have read a few books by this author and I look forward to reading many more! I received a complimentary copy courtesy of Bethany House Publishers via Interviews & Reviews and NetGalley. Reviewer: Tammy Lunsford This is a touching story of loss, second chance love and renewing family relationships. This is the perfect book to read at the beach as it is set in Sea Blue Beach, a small community with an epic story in its past. Emery Quinn is floundering and needs a new place to land. When she is offered the position of editor-in-chief of the local newspaper in Sea Blue Beach, she is hesitant to accept. This place holds a lot of memories of that long ago summer. Some are wonderful and some are sad. She takes the plunge, but she does not count on seeing her blast from the past, Caleb Ransom. Caleb Ransom has come back home to Sea Blue Beach to start his own architecture business. He wants to preserve the historical integrity of buildings in this town that he grew up in. The town’s people are divided, literally, east and west. The west end has brought their portion into the current century and they want to expand by eating up the east end. However, Caleb believes they need to take what they have and restore it. This book was chock full of emotional scenes as it moved back and forth from that summer 16 years ago, and then back to the present, so you can more fully appreciate how Emery and Caleb arrived where they are today. Blended family is front and center in this story, along with the pains of an acute loss, which has caused Emery to shut down emotionally. Emery needs to learn that she is not in this life alone. Caleb was my hero in this story as he struggled with family issues with his wayward sister and her son. He has a heart of gold. A revival of friendship and a chance to heal, as well as a renewal of faith, make this book one of my favorite books that I have read this year. Thank you to Bethany House for this ARC through Interviews and reviews. I am leaving this review voluntarily.  Reviewer: Conny Withay “I’ve come to realize love doesn’t require perfection,” Caleb tells Emery in Rachel Hauck’s novel, The Sands of Sea Blue Beach. This 379-page paperback targets those interested in Christian contemporary romance involving two individuals who stand the test of time sixteen years after falling in love. Using the slang word darn, topics of an unplanned pregnancy, illness, and death may not be appropriate for immature readers. The ending includes an author’s note, acknowledgments, thirteen discussion questions, twenty-five pages of a prior book by the author, her biography, and advertisements. In this tale set in a cozy Floridian beach town, sixteen years have passed since Caleb and Emery fell in love as teenagers and then went their separate ways due to uncontrolled circumstances. Written in the past and present, it involves architect Caleb dealing with his wayward sister and her young son along with Emery, the new editor-in-chief of Sea Blue Beach, who still struggles with the memory of her mother as she adjusts to her new family. Only when the two protagonists are forced to forgive do they understand love. I like stories that tie the past’s decisions to the future as two people work through life’s challenges. Emery’s heartfelt love for her mom and how she wanted to grasp hold of the past but find a way to include others was well written. One person’s path to redemption was tender. I appreciate the undertone of Immanuel, God with us, as being important to the town and its residents. Those who do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ may not like this story, but it is not overdone. With the town at odds with each other, the manipulation by those in charge may be concerning, but the tale does encourage seeing things from others’ perspectives. I do not recall if it was determined who was involved in the royal prank or why. The story is predictable. By using the figure of Immanuel, the story could have included the eternal plan of salvation but fell short, never mentioning Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. Since I only read Christian fiction, I prefer no slang words. If you like a then-and-now love story set in a lifeless seaside town with two people overcoming their fears by the sands of time, this is a nice romantic beach read. Thanks to Bethany House and Interviews & Reviews for this complimentary book. I am under no obligation to give a positive review. Reviewer: Elizabeth Eckmeyer Emery Quinn is a woman with career goals. After working as a success at a newspaper, she gives it her all until the newspaper shuts down and she is forced to go home. She accepts a job as an editor of a small town newspaper of Sea Blue Beach where she vacationed for a summer when she was 16. Caleb Ransom grew up in Sea Blue Beach. The summer of his 17th year, he meets a girl from Ohio that will change his outlook on love. He left to go to college and work as an architect and came back to town to take care of his family. Just as both Emery and Caleb come back to town, they slowly rekindle their friendship and start to spend time together. The town’s East side and west side are at odds. Their new friendship helps them to work together to save a town from being divided. This is a great beach read. You feel like you're on the beach watching friendships unfold, a town scurrying about, and characters you feel like you know in real life. I surely recommend this book! A complimentary copy of this book was provided by Bethany House Publishing through Interviews & Reviews via NetGalley. All opinions are mine alone. Reviewer: Lori Parrish
From the moment I saw this book, I knew I had to have it! It’s amazing! Once again, Hauck knows how to weave a good story and draw me in with it. I loved every minute of it and was sad when it ended. I always look forward to this author’s stories because they are heartfelt and I love her characters. I love Emery so much! She’s such a go getter. I felt like she was the sister I never had. I kind of felt sorry for her in a way, though, and I can also relate to her. It’s no fun missing someone you love. Believe me. I just really enjoyed this story and the setting. It was described so well that I felt like I was there. Emery’s family became mine. I really loved them. I especially loved going down memory lane with Emery. Some of them I had to smile at. Five stars for a job well done! I highly recommend it My thanks for a copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers through Interviews & Reviews via NetGalley for my honest opinion. Leave a Reply. |
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