Family dynamics, coming-of-age stories, heartbreaking drama, all set in the city of Seaside Heights on the Jersey Shore? Sign. Me. Up.

As a life-long Jersey shore vacationer (lower shore cities), I knew I wanted to read The Shore by Katie Runde, and I am so grateful to NetGalley for an eARC. If you're looking for a summer-themed, family drama that will leave you in your feels, look no further!

We alternate our POV between Margot (mother), Liz and Evy (daughters) as they work through the last summer of their patriarchy's life. Brian (dad) has a degenerative disease caused by a tumor that is slowly taking his life and turning him into a person none of them know. Through this summer, our three leads are trying to maintain some level of normalcy while still processing their grief and deciding how to move forward when the time comes. Our sisters are in high school, and despite their father slowly slipping away, they are still dealing with the regular ins and outs of being teens (first times, boyfriends, girlfriends, friends, partying, summer jobs). But those traditional milestones definitely look different in the light of the heaviness their young lives are also dealing with. Mom on the other hand is grappling with the desire to flea the home that will remind her at every turn of her previous life with Brian, or stay and live in peace with those memories.

What I loved about this story is the complexity and flawed nature of our three main characters. Their decisions may not seem logical to an outsider, but grief plays such a crucial part in these decisions and Runde does a wonderful job at humanizing our characters through their flaws. I also absolutely adored that Seaside became a secondary character. In a lot of ways it was living and breathing through these women and we see how a hometown really does become a part of your identity.

This was a beautiful story and very enjoyable. I can see The Shore being a hit this summer and making quite a home for itself on shores everywhere as a go-to beach read.