Audiobook: The Weekenders

I borrowed this eAudiobook from my public library because I wanted a lighter read - something to listen to as I drove to work or cleaned my house. This was my first book by Mary Kay Andrews and from its blurb, I expected a beach read with an easy to follow story line that promised a murder mystery. Sounded perfect!

This ended up being a predictable, sort-of-love-story with only a hint of a murder mystery. The murder was ignored for the bulk of the book and the story instead focuses on Riley and her obnoxious 12-year-old daughter Maggie who was a snarky, rude and over-the-top brat of a preteen whose attitude was equally off-putting and unbelievable. 

I thought the book would centre around the murder but instead, readers are given an overly-melodramatic plot that requires readers to suspend disbelief as cliched characters are thrown into a story that is wrapped up abruptly and oh-so-neatly by the end (and some nasty weather thrown in for good measure). It was a frustrating read, but I thought narrator Kathleen McInerney did a good job considering she didn't have a good plot or characters to work with. 

This clearly was not a good fit for me but if you're looking for an easy, guilty pleasure kind of read that follows the trials and tribulations of a few well-to-do small-town characters, then this may be for you. For me, this book oozed cliched Southern charm and had a tease of a mystery, but not enough substance or 'whodunnit' in the end.

My Rating: 2 stars

Author: Mary Kay Andrews

Genre: Romance, Light Read, Contemporary Fiction

Type and Source: eAudiobook from public library

Narrator: Kathleen McInerney

Run Time: 15 hours, 26 minutes

Publisher: MacMillan Audio

First Published in Print: 2016

Opening Lines: Wendell Griggs was big on promises. Always had been.

Book Description from GoodReads: Some people stay all summer long on the idyllic island of Belle Isle, North Carolina. Others come only for the weekends—and the mix between the regulars and "the weekenders" can sometimes make the sparks fly. Riley Griggs has a season of good times with friends and family ahead of her on Belle Isle when things take an unexpected turn. While waiting for her husband to arrive on the ferry one Friday afternoon, Riley is confronted by a process server who thrusts papers into her hand. And her husband is nowhere to be found.

So she turns to her island friends for help and support, but it turns out that each of them has their own secrets, and the clock is ticking as the mystery deepens...in a murderous way. Cocktail parties 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.

Told with Mary Kay Andrews' trademark blend of humor and warmth, and with characters and a setting that you can't help but fall for, The Weekenders is the perfect summer escape.