The moving new novel from bestselling author Karen White.
From the time she was twelve, Julie Holt knew what a random tragedy can ... read full description
From the time she was twelve, Julie Holt knew what a random tragedy can ... read full description
reviews
Aug 02, 2011
Marilyn
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Julie Holt and Monica Guidry become best friends with the young artist Monica, who because of artistry and zest for life had reminded Julie of her long lost sister who had disappeared some 17 years ago and whom Julie was still looking for. After Monica, who had congestive heart failure died, Julie received a legacy of a beach house as well as guardianship of Monica’s five year old son Beau. Julie decided to head to Biloxi and discover the beach house Monica had so loved and to discover why Mon
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Jul 29, 2011
Jen
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I enjoyed this book. It started out a little slow for me in the beginning and I found it difficult to keep track of the different characters due to the two different life stories being told but after the first few chapters I was fine.
"The Beach Trees" is a story that takes place along the Katrina ravaged gulf coast of Biloxi, MS and New Orleans, LA, focusing on the lives of two women Julie Holt and the aging Aimee Guidry. Neither have met before but they are brought toget More...
"The Beach Trees" is a story that takes place along the Katrina ravaged gulf coast of Biloxi, MS and New Orleans, LA, focusing on the lives of two women Julie Holt and the aging Aimee Guidry. Neither have met before but they are brought toget More...
Jun 20, 2011
Debbie
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Julie Holt knows better than most that “death and loss plague you”, she’s had a lot in her life and now as she starts on this new and frightening adventure she feels it all again. Being named as guardian to her friend’s small son after her death leaves more questions than answers for Julie so she loads herself and her small ward and goes to the other thing left to her by her friend, a home in Biloxi Mississippi named River Song. When she arrives it’s to see only empty landscape where once a hous
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Jul 29, 2011
Laurel-Rain
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A breathtaking and lyrical tale unfolds as we meet, in turn, two female characters: Julie Holt, a New Yorker and native of Massachusetts and Aimee Guidry, maternal "great-grandmother" of Julie's best friend Monica Guidry.
After Monica's death, Julie takes Monica's son Beau back to Biloxi, to the beachfront property left to them in Monica's will. What Julie finds, however, is a storm-ravaged home (Katrina) and dead beach trees. Her journey next leads her to the home of Ray Vo More...
After Monica's death, Julie takes Monica's son Beau back to Biloxi, to the beachfront property left to them in Monica's will. What Julie finds, however, is a storm-ravaged home (Katrina) and dead beach trees. Her journey next leads her to the home of Ray Vo More...
Mar 31, 2011
Hayley
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The Beach Trees by Karen White
About The Book:
The moving new novel from bestselling author Karen White. From the time she was twelve, Julie Holt knew what a random tragedy can do to a family. At that tender age, her little sister disappeared - never to be found. It was a loss that slowly eroded the family bonds she once relied on. As an adult with a prestigious job in the arts, Julie meets a struggling artist who reminds her so much of her sister, she can't help feeling protective. More...
About The Book:
The moving new novel from bestselling author Karen White. From the time she was twelve, Julie Holt knew what a random tragedy can do to a family. At that tender age, her little sister disappeared - never to be found. It was a loss that slowly eroded the family bonds she once relied on. As an adult with a prestigious job in the arts, Julie meets a struggling artist who reminds her so much of her sister, she can't help feeling protective. More...
Sep 12, 2011
Lyndi
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Jul 27, 2011
Judy
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Karen White has done it again with The Beach Trees!
Julie Holt has experienced grief and tragedy in her life. As an adult, she is a works for an art auction house in New York. She meets Monica Guidry who becomes her best friend, but who dies of congestive heart failure and makes Julie the guardian of her son as well as ownership of a beach house in Biloxi, LA. Julie quits her job and takes Beau with her to New Orleans to claim the house and hopefully meet Monica's grandmother and bro More...
Julie Holt has experienced grief and tragedy in her life. As an adult, she is a works for an art auction house in New York. She meets Monica Guidry who becomes her best friend, but who dies of congestive heart failure and makes Julie the guardian of her son as well as ownership of a beach house in Biloxi, LA. Julie quits her job and takes Beau with her to New Orleans to claim the house and hopefully meet Monica's grandmother and bro More...
Jun 17, 2011
Kristy
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I would recommend this novel to anyone going on vacation! Its the perfect beach read. It has drama, tragedy, romance, and mystery all rolled into 400 pages. It didn't take long at all to read once you got into the story. Julie Holt receives guardianship of her best friend's son and ownership of a beach front property in Biloxi when she dies. Throughout the novel, with the help of her best friend Monica's relatives; including her grandmother and brother they uncover the awful truth about the Guid
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May 13, 2011
Natalie
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In the Beach Trees, Julie has been handed a very unexpected inheritance: five year old Beau, the son of her close yet mysterious friend Monica. With no friends or family to provide support, she moves from NYC to the Gulf Coast beach home also willed to her. Her despair and fear overwhelm her when she discovers this beach home in utter ruin after Hurricane Katrina. She is left with no home and only one clue to as to how to find any of Beau’s relations, a portrait painted by Julie’s famous grandfa
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Feb 13, 2012
Ruth
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Julie's best friend, Monica tragically dies from a heart problem at an early age. During the time that they have been friends, Monica has told stories and drawn pictures from her life in New Orleans and Biloxi. It was so detailed that it brought life to the stories of when Monica grew up and yet she never told Julie why she left the family that she loved dearly to live on her own with her son in NYC. When Monica died, however, Julie discovered that she was now the guardian of Monica's son and
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Dec 11, 2011
Angela
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Another "who-done-it" by Karen White. Like her "House on Tradd Street" series, this is story set in the South. Gulf Coast post Katrina and the oil spill- I enjoyed the story , but was not crazy about the style- she uses 2 narrators and they switch about every other chapter. A few surprises, but mostly predictable. Focuses on family ties, family secrets, and most of all family tragedies. The Premise is that a "friend" dies, and leaves her small son with the heroine
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May 25, 2011
Molly
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I absolutely LOVED this novel! It's not your everyday novel...it's BETTER than that! If you are looking for a well written, mostly serious yet at times funny, beach read, look no further than Karen White's THE BEACH TREES. Her style is unique and gripping and will keep you hooked to the very end.
The characters found amongst these pages are both complex and real. Julie and Trey both experience the tragedy and stress of loosing someone they love. But, when both are faced with decision More...
The characters found amongst these pages are both complex and real. Julie and Trey both experience the tragedy and stress of loosing someone they love. But, when both are faced with decision More...
Nov 07, 2011
Karen
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If you think solving one mystery in a novel is kind of a challenge, what about 2, 3, or 4? The Beach Trees is a compilation of many unanswered questions beginning with why some one would give custody of her only son, and half ownership in a beach front home hundreds of miles away in Biloxi, Mississippi. While living in New York, Julia meets and befriends a young lady from the south. Finding they have a love of art, especially the artist Abe Holt, they draw close enough that Monica leaves her
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Feb 09, 2012
Melissa
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3.5 stars. There's quite a bit going on in this book that takes place in present day and flashbacks to the 1950's. Julie Holt's best friend Monica has died and left her 5 year old son in her care. She also left her a painting and keys to a beach house. Julie must piece together why her friend disappeared years earlier from her family and why she has a painting of a missing woman who surprisingly was painted by Julie's grandfather. Reaching out to Monica's grandmother, Aimee, gives her the answer
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May 23, 2011
Janie
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The Beach Trees is an intriguing and engaging read. I couldn't put it down! The family history that Julie investigates is gripping-a very intense whodunit. Miss Aimee's story is compelling and I'm so glad that Karen shared it with us. Her (White's) description of the Gulf Coast is phenomenal! I have lived in the South all my life, but never felt the intensity of hurricane season until reading this book. I have always wondered why people chose to build, and rebuild, in the areas devastated by hur
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May 17, 2011
Serena
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Karen White always crafts novels that are full of engaging characters and intricate story lines, and The Beach Trees is no exception. Shifting from the present to the past and between two first person accounts, the novel tells the tale of rebirth and rebuilding. Set in the South — New Orleans and Biloxi — Julie Holt and Aimee Guidry’s stories are told in tandem and are more entwined than readers first think as a mystery is solved.
From the disappearance of Monica, Aimee’s granddaugh More...
From the disappearance of Monica, Aimee’s granddaugh More...
Apr 21, 2011
Jessica
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I won this book from the "giveaways" here on Goodreads! I have read this author before, and while I liked that book (The Lost Hours) I enjoyed this one even more. This book tells the story of Julie, friend to a recently deceased Monica, who finds herself the guardian of Monica's son Beau. Monica's family is from the Gulf Coast and Julie ends up there looking for a home she inherited from Monica that, thanks to Hurrican Katrina, no longer exists. Instead Julie finds Monica's brother Tre
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Apr 06, 2011
JM
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The Beach Trees is written with emotion, polished with amazing descriptive scenes, and takes the reader into a world of survival. Julie struggles with her guilt over her sister's disappearance, but continues her search while starting a new life as guardian of, Beau, a child belonging to her dead best friend, Monica. Julie packs up her life, straps little Beau into his car seat and moves to Monica's hometown of New Orleans. The descriptive landscape of life after hurricane Katrina is so vivid, I
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Jul 18, 2011
Jennie
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I love my library’s newly acquired listing on their website. It seriously makes me happy to have a quick way to search for new releases and add them to my hold list. My only issue is that they all seem to come in for me at the same time so I have a ton of books to read, all with hold lists after me so I can’t renew them. That’s what happened with this book so I had to bump it up on my pile before I got a late fee. I am so glad I had that threat from the library because this is a great novel!
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Oct 30, 2011
Marti
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Karen White's book are full of characters who can tell stories from the past and wring our hearts out with compassion for the tellers. This book is another example of her understanding and descriptions of the south after Katrina and after the oil spill. Both are not major parts of the story , do explain the heartiness and strength of the people who continue to live in a place where nature rearranges the land with the weather. Julie and Trey are the main characters as well as Little Beau and
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Feb 15, 2012
Michelle
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Julie's life has been turned upside down by the death of her friend, Monica and by her guardianship of Monica's young son, Beau. Monica has left her keys to a beach home in Mississippi, and Julie is thinking of making a new life there and also taking on the difficult task of meeting with Monica's estranged family in New Orleans. When she arrives, she finds the beach house destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, and her one possession left to her in care of Ray Von, a woman who worked for Monica's famil
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Mar 25, 2011
Edith
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What a masterfully crafted novel! I received this book as part of the First Reads program and was thrilled when it arrived just a few days after the contest ended. I had not read any books by Karen White before, but I plan to pick up as many of her novels now as I can. The author did a wonderful job describing the Gulf Coast area and definitely made me want to visit there. Her stories of the resilience of the residents there was very touching. She also developed amazing believable main char
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May 24, 2011
Amy
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Okay. I am vacillating between a three and a four so we are just going to give it a four and call it a day. Between you and me, it's a 3.5. Unless I change my mind in six months and move it back to a three.
I received an early copy of this book from a friend before it was published. I have never read anything from this author previously, although she seems to have high ratings. The book follows Julie Holt, who is no stranger to tragedy. Her friend Monica has died of heart failure, lea More...
I received an early copy of this book from a friend before it was published. I have never read anything from this author previously, although she seems to have high ratings. The book follows Julie Holt, who is no stranger to tragedy. Her friend Monica has died of heart failure, lea More...
Jun 05, 2011
Martha
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This was a wonderful book! I would highly recommend it. It is set in New Orleans and Biloxi, Mississippi post Hurricane Katrina. The book is about a woman who goes down to New Orleans after her friend dies and she becomes guardian of her friend's 5 year old son. It is a book about looking forward and rebuilding lives. It is also a book about loss. When Julie, the main character was 12 years old, her sister was kidnapped and never found. She has spent most of her life looking for her sister. Juli
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Jun 21, 2011
Lizz
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I have been sitting here since I finished the book trying to come up with a good review. I just keep coming back to.... Wow. I love Karen White's books, but this is my absolute favorite. I found myself torn between wanting to keep reading to find out what happened, and wanting to read more slowly so as to be able to savor the story longer. No need to rehash the plot (not that I ever do anyway) since that has been done numerous times by those more skillful at that than I. Just read it. The
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May 17, 2011
Leesa
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I am a big fan of this author(read all her books and recommend all of them highly!!!) and have been blessed 3x in meeting her in person at her book events. Like all her books I get so absorb in her stories. She knows how to write a soul book. Her characters come alive and this story like many of her previous book had many twists and turns. You cannot stop reading her books and always leave the story statisfied but yearning for more. This book ha a great mystery to it and was told well with
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Oct 07, 2011
dawna
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well....it has the dubious distinction of having some of the most unlikeable characters of any book I've ever read. I had no bonding with or sympathy for the main character, who was about as deep as a small puddle of water...I originally blamed bad writing but the narration told from aimee's POV gives no such issues. most of the rest of the characters were hardly more mature than the 5 year old in the tale. also, the main narrator's sister being missing had little to do with the storyline and wa
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Jun 05, 2011
Katie Blacker
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I am slowly becoming one of Karen White's biggest fans. I've read about three of her other books and am gearing up to start another one, and this book is up there in my favorites. The characters and their special situations were so well written. The mystery that surrounds them and all the clues that Karen gives us left me unable to put it down. I read this book in literally two days.
This book has a little bit of everything. Tragedy, adventure, mystery, and romance, and the little bits of c More...
This book has a little bit of everything. Tragedy, adventure, mystery, and romance, and the little bits of c More...
Jun 03, 2011
Kathy
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The Beach Trees is a captivating and charming read. The family history that Julie investigates is a very intense mystery. Miss Aimee's story is gripping. The depiction of the Gulf Coast is extraordinary. I have always wondered why people chose to build, and rebuild, in the areas overcome by hurricane forces and now I recognize and understand the motivation. Karen White does a magnificent job in detailing the sights, sounds, and emotions of Gulf Coast life. I highly recommend this book for the be
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Oct 09, 2011
Splage
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WOW! So different than what I usually read...and it was soooo good. There was romance in the book, but I wouldn't classify this as a Romance. It was such a heart wrenching story of such wonderful people and how things that happened generations before affected their family. Hidden family secrets, the heroine, Julie trying to uncover those secrets and wonderful story telling from the characters had me turning the pages seeing what would happen next.
This is a story is about finding answers
