[Review] The Weekenders - Mary Kay Andrews

Summary: Some people stay all summer long on the idyllic island of Belle Isle, North Carolina. Some people come only for the weekends-and it's something they look forward to all week long. When Riley Griggs is waiting for her husband to arrive at the ferry one Friday afternoon, she is instead served with papers informing her that her island home is being foreclosed. To make matters worse, her husband is nowhere to be found. She turns to her island friends for help and support, but each of them has their own secrets and the clock is ticking as the mystery deepens. Cocktail parties and crab boil aside, Riley must find a way to investigate the secrets of Belle Island, the husband she might not really know, and the summer that could change everything. (Pub Date: May 17, 2016)

Review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley.

Retired journalist Riley is already furious at her husband for not fulfilling his promise with their daughter to meet them at the ferry for start of summer, when they were supposed to go to Belle Isle, where the family always spent the season, and tell tween Maggy of her parents' intentions to get divorced. Receiving a foreclosure notification on their house and learning the mistake wasn't on the notice but on her choice for a spouse didn't improve her holidays in the least. Penniless, Riley has to investigate by herself what her husband has done to get even the FBI after him while dealing with Maggy's tantrums and the rencounter with her old flame Nate.

The narration is in third person but mostly from Riley's point of view. I found that a good main character. Even though she probably had everything while growing up and was surely spoiled by her crappy husband to make up (and cover up) for all else, she's down to earth and never got on my nerves. In truth, all characters felt the same. I mean, not always down to earth but real enough given their backgrounds and not hard to like. Maggy did get to me sometimes, then again that was her purpose in life being 12.

At the same time, this was one book hard to classify. It is undoubtedly women's fiction but I couldn't tag it as a romance because it is pretty much in the background, and drama sounded too heavy for such a lighthearted story. I should say I always almost put it as a mystery because that was what really made me turn the pages at the speed of light.

Despite also being the wrong genre for the general mood, and the "big revelation" being far from big point the author wanted to make, as a mystery novel would require, the mystery had me puzzled in a good way. Think of Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies. Well, The Weekenders is much more of a romance than Moriarty's works are, but it still vaguely resembles. We have a family drama going on and behind it one big puzzle for you to solve and find the culprit. And in this book, anyone had a good motive to do the deed. Unfortunately, Andrews doesn't have the thrill Moriarty brings, her style would be more to a sweeter side, I'd say.

Why not grade it higher? First, this was long. Too long. Had I noticed the length, I wouldn't have "wished" for it on Netgalley. Also, even though entertaining, it's probably close to forgettable. Andrews got very close to earning the one-of-a-kind points but I feel the story still lacked. It's a nice read for the beach, not much else.

Nonetheless, compared to those in the same category as this authors, she does stick out. I appreciate her main characters and how, even on the verge of losing all, they take matter in their own hands instead of being saved by Mr. Right, in a subtle, not "men suck and I'm the best" way. If you find yourself with some extra time for a nice story, this is the one.

Rating: 3 out of 5.