by Megumi Jindo
Ali Brady is the pen name of writing BFFs Alison Hammer and Bradeigh Godfrey. The Beach Trap is their first book together. Alison lives in Chicago and works as a VP creative director at an advertising agency. She’s the author of You and Me and Us and Little Pieces of Me. Bradeigh lives with her family in Utah, where she works as a physician. She’s the author of the psychological thriller, Impostor.
Are you the sibling that doesn't get along very well with your other siblings? Or maybe you’ve never had a sibling but always wanted one, or even a half-sibling? Are you a social media influencer or in a growing-up phase trying to find your way and questioning the practicality of things? Then here is your ultimate (a-little-late-summer) book: The Beach Trap by Ali Brady.
The Beach Trap, available at bookstores now, is a book about how twelve-year-olds Kat Steiner and Blake O’Neill meet at camp one day and immediately become best friends. But everything changes, including their friendship, when they realize that they both share the same dad. Fifteen years later, when their dad dies, Kat and Blake are forced to meet their reality and the joint inheritance of an estate: the family beach house that their dad has left them. When Blake, a current dog sitter who has lived all her life knowing how to use money frugally and supporting her only relative left—her grandparent—and Kat, who has lived in luxury all her life and is a popular social media influencer reconvenes at the estate, their life is about to completely alter in a whole new way. Not only do the sisters have to cope with their dad’s death, but also the past of their friendship, learning to grasp their future of a new sisterhood.
During the summer, I read a lot of books, yet this book was a quintessential encapsulation ending for my summer. The characters in this book were very well made and very realistic—I especially loved the culmination of Kat and Blake’s trying-to-move-forward relationship. It’s hard to pick my favorite character in this book, and you might feel tempted to. But if I had to pick, I would say Blake for her honesty and sacrificing much for what’s important to her: putting others first. Also because she sees the beauty in all things—even through the filters. All the more, I also love Kat, who symbolized one of the many people who are living through the Gen Z era and a person who discovered how to let go and see things through the “non-pulchritude” veil (in life).
Overall, The Beach Trap is an ideal fit for the new adult section and a fantastic match for fan readers of Emily Henry, Ali Hazelwood, Colleen Hoover, Kasie West, and others. I highly recommend this book. It was such a poignant, compelling, and well-paced book, and a perfect beach and fall read. This story was really inspiring and captures the true essence of “family” and growing up. Weaved through the very special friendship of these two authors (Alison Hammer and Bradeigh Godfrey, who write under the pen name "Ali Brady") has shaped this book, showing how exquisite a bond can be. This story is a real précis of learning to come to terms with the unexpected and turning the unexpected into something beautiful.
Learn more about the authors
Website: http://alibradybooks.net/
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