Breakaway Books

Authored by Beatriz Williams; Published July 2025; Historical Fiction

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 🏖️🏖️🏖️

There’s a special blend of family drama, romance, and picture-perfect setting that makes for a lovely beach read. Under the Stars, like many of Beatriz Williams’s books, nails that blend.

Under the Stars jumps back and forth between a present day romance and a more dated story. In the 1800s, Providence Dare is fleeing from a detective who seeks to arrest her for the murder of her former boss, a famous artist. In the present day, movie star Meredith Fisher is spending the summer on remote Winthrop Island with estranged daughter Audrey to sober up before starting a new film. Audrey is recovering from being abandoned by her husband, who recently disappeared with all their savings. Enter Sedge Peabody, a handsome (and rich) man who sweeps her off her feet and funds her new restaurant venture. When Audrey discovers a trunk full of valuable paintings in the restaurant’s basement, Providence’s life suddenly seems much closer than before.

For just about any woman, Sedge Peabody is a dream. Immediately enamored, fabulously rich, relatively emotionally intelligent—this man literally takes a bullet for Audrey. If you have fantasies of exceedingly kind preppy men with pink shorts, Sedge is your guy. It’s one of the reasons I find it so fascinating that he is paired with Audrey, who could be described as prickly at best. A deep fear of abandonment permeates her every interaction with Sedge, and yet somehow, he remains almost unrealistically patient. This devotion, and his love-at-first-sight meet cute, are two of my few points of contention with the novel. Sedge’s description of falling for Audrey is just a little too much, almost cloyingly sweet. 

I enjoy the little dashes of mystery that are sprinkled into Meredith’s and Providence’s lives—both are accused of murder, and neither is inclined to reveal the true circumstances of the crime. Similarly, neither wants to look too closely at the parentage of their children, and their ambivalence has dire long-term effects. Altogether, with the romance of Sedge and Audrey, and Providence and Meredith’s mysteries, I was easily propelled through the novel. It’s too simplistic to declare it historical fiction, and the accents of mystery make it a delight to read.

Under the Stars delivers a dreamy love story with touches of mystery. Pick it up before your next scenic vacation!