THE BEACH QUILT is a summer novel about teen girls who've been best friends forever. Cordelia and Sarah are starting to like boys, dating, etc. Sarah finds out she has been very foolish and it changes all their lives in the small Maine ocean town. The heartbreaking novel not only follows their story but one of their mothers as well. Cordelia's mother, Adelaide owns the local quilt store. Sarah's mother, Cindy works at the quilt store and they are all family friends, outside of work.

Dutiful, obedient and loving almost to a fault, Sarah Bauer is adored by almost everyone. When she gets involved with nineteen year old Justin, who is quite the opposite of Sarah, the unlikely relationship surprises many. When she reveals that she is pregnant, a situation no one dreamed possible, it is felt by everyone close to her -- her thirteen year old sister Stevie, her mother Cindy, her father Joe, her best friend Cordelia, Cordelia's mother Adelaide and Adelaide's husband Jack. They all react in their own different ways, each according to their relationship with Sarah.

THE BEACH QUILT follows the effects of Sarah's decision to give her virginity up for Justin and the after effects of that decision. This is the heart wrenching story of two families, intertwined but separate. Holly Chamberlin definitely thrusts the reader into the minds and hearts of both families and all their members as they maneuver through the girls' school year and summer. I was a bit surprised by the ending, as I really never saw it coming and I love when an author can do that. However, it does seem fitting, after really thinking about it. THE BEACH QUILT is a story filled with love and humor and lots of surprising twists and turns. It is not a mystery but rather a story that sheds light on how a pregnancy can affect a whole family and the people closest to them- in good ways and in bad. I finished THE BEACH QUILT with tears in my eyes and a huge lump in my throat.

Book Summary

Set in a picturesque Maine beach town, bestselling author Holly Chamberlin's heartwarming and insightful novel delves into the choices and changes faced by two families over the course of one eventful summer. . .

Everyone in Yorktide, Maine, knows sixteen-year-old Sarah Bauer. She's a good student and a dutiful daughter, as well as a beloved best friend to Cordelia Kane. So it's a surprise to all when sensible Sarah reveals that she is pregnant.

Though shocked, Sarah's family is supportive. But while Sarah reconciles herself to a new and different future, the consequences ripple in all directions. Her father--a proud, old-time Mainer--tries to find more work to defray expenses. Her younger sister grapples with a secret she can't share. Cordelia feels abandoned, and Cordelia's mother faces the repercussions of a long-ago decision. As Sarah's mother, Cindy, frets about how she'll juggle childcare with her job at the local quilting store, she seizes on an idea: to band together and make a baby quilt. Piece by piece, a beautiful design emerges. And as it progresses, reflecting the hopes and cares of the women who create it, each will find strength in the friendship and love that sustains them, in hardship and in joy. . .