libertyreads789 's review for:

Mansion Beach: A Novel by Meg Mitchell Moore

2.5

sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Before I get into the review, a quick thank you to both NetGalley and the publishers over at William Morrow for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Mansion Beach follows outsider Nicola Carr as she spends the summer on Block Island as the oldest intern ever at the local conservatory. Her neighbor, Juliana George, disrupts Nicola's sleeping pattern nearly every night with outrageous parties. Juliana George was only ever hoping to catch the attention of her neighbor across the water (and Nicola's cousin) David Carr who is married to the heiress of a real-estate empire, Taylor Buchanan. Over the summer, the rich become careless with their wealth, with their bodies, with others' feelings. When the end of the summer comes barreling at them, they'll make some grave mistakes they can never hope to undo. Mansion Beach comes out on May 27th and is available for preorder now.

Because I just finished this book and read the acknowledgement pages I want to address something. The author writes in those pages that this is "not a retelling of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby." GIRL. I need you to be so real right now. This is a joke, right? Having read the entirety of this book I have to tell you that you're wrong. This is a straight The Great Gatsby retelling. You hit every single beat. Come on now. For some reason, I went into this expecting more of a murder mystery element, but that's not what happens here. I think the author tried to create that feeling by adding a podcast element to the story, but the podcast doesn't add anything at all and is just some locals bitching about rich people doing rich people thing. I get it. But it didn't add any tension or mystery to the story.  I also spent a ton of time waiting for the plot to kick off. I was constantly thinking that it's all about to start. On the next page. Or the next page. But it was the same drudgery throughout. Even at the end of the novel, we don't SEE the life changing action of the story. Everything gets told second or third hand. The writing style also drove me up the wall a few times. For some reason, the author inserts emojis in the story at random moments to describe a character's facial expressions. She doesn't even just describe the emoji it's just a straight insert into the novel. It felt pretty jarring at times. There was also a moment when the author felt the need to explain to the reader what the word "diluted" means. Could someone please send this girl an editor?

The characters were all as awful as you expect them to be in a retelling of The Great Gatsby. So, they are pretty true to the originals. I also found the setting to be really well described and set up for the reader. Block Island is a place where the author has obviously been quite a few times so it was always fun to see the characters running around all over the island and getting up to rich people non-sense. For the most part, I liked Nicola, but as the outsider she was always expected to be the reader's favorite. She's more realistic and down to earth as she watches the summer of drama unfold.

Overall, I realize that this was never going to be for me. It's more General Fiction than Mystery/Thriller. That genre never does well with me. I think this is a good read for those who like the genre or just someone who enjoys a good The Great Gatsby retelling.