BookView Review

Set against the salt-kissed backdrop of Long Beach Island, New Jersey, Brehony’s latest is a deeply moving, late-in-life love story wrapped in grief, longing, and the quiet strength of enduring friendships. Sixty-five-year-old Shannon O’Connell returns to her family’s beachside inn grieving the loss of her best friend Linda, who’s just died from metastatic breast cancer. Her partner of thirty years has left her. Her mother is disappearing into Alzheimer’s. Enter Elizabeth Matthews, Shannon’s old friend, and, once upon a time, something more. Will Shannon fall in love once again? 

Brehony writes with an open heart and a steady hand, weaving grief and desire with psychological insight. Her dual-perspective chapters give Shannon and Elizabeth equal space to reflect, hesitate, and yearn. The result is a romance that doesn’t rush, but lingers. And it’s not just a love story between two women. The novel is also about the fierce, decades-long bond of female friendship. Shannon’s “Tribe”—her chosen family of women—rally around her with casseroles, Scotch, and inappropriate humor. They are the book’s heartbeat, offering both levity and collective wisdom. “We’re in our sixties and seventies,” Elizabeth muses, “but still call ourselves ‘the girls.’” 

With crisp prose and unflinching honesty, the novel dares to explore what happens after the fairy tale ends. It honors the complexity of aging, the weight of memory, and the surprising freedom that can come with starting over. Heart-aching in some parts, quietly swoonworthy in others, this novel is for anyone who’s ever wondered if it’s too late for a second chance.

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