September Mainstream Overview

With kids returning to school and cold weather on its way, it is a good thing that there are so many great mainstream fiction novels releasing this month. One of September’s mainstream romances takes readers to the beach as a debut author earns a coveted Top Pick! review. To celebrate, newcomer Grace Greene shares to favorite seaside memories. Then we learn that sometimes good things come in threes, as a number of new releases focus on the their storylines on groups of women. Next we turn our attention to a pair of authors whose collaboration had us on the edge of our seats. And finally we round-up novels that send their heroines on a journey to smaller towns for some much needed soul-searching. Needing a great read? Look no further than these mainstream picks.

FOOTSTEPS IN THE SAND

Grace Greene’s tear-jerking debut, Beach Rental, introduces an overworked single mom and her one chance at obtaining financial freedom — marrying a man with terminal cancer in a modern-day marriage of convenience. For Juli Cooke, joining her life with Ben Bradshaw would solve most of her problems. But it would create a few more, especially since Ben’s cousin, Luke, doesn’t support their union. Life in this beach town gets a whole lot rockier than they bargained for when Juli comes to care for Ben and eventually loses him … and the only one to turn to for comfort is the once-cold Luke. RT’s Jaime praised Greene’s ability to capture “the awe-inspiring essence of the North Carolina coast.” As a Virginia native, Greene is familiar with the seaside, so we asked her to share one of her most memorable beach moments:

When I was a child my family vacationed at the beach and the jellyfish always zeroed in on me. I huddled on the beach in pain while well-intentioned strangers shared their remedies for easing the sting and the swelling. A year or two later, I wandered into a large area of sand dunes and became lost. I saw only sand and ocean for several scary hours until my father found me. Had I not been crying so hard, I would’ve seen the path back to civilization! When I was thirteen and at summer camp, I broke the rules by going into the ocean without my assigned ‘buddy’ and almost drowned.

Given those beach experiences, you might think I’d stay well away from sand and sea. Not so.

There’s something deep inside me that responds instantly to the rhythm of the breaking waves and the mystery of the ever-changing landscape, battered and shaped by force of nature. The eternal rhythm of the ocean mixes with the processes of life, faith, hope and death in an inevitable and forever recurring cycle. It inspires awe and instills peace. I tried to share some part of that overwhelming experience and inspiration in Beach Rental. I hope I succeeded.

- Grace Greene