NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • “The perfect summer beach read for anyone who craves a smart story with a happy ending.”—Oprah Daily
Old friends discover how much has changed (and how much has stayed the same) when they reunite in their seaside hometown for one unforgettable summer—from the New York Times bestselling author of From the Corner of the Oval
When Kate Campbell’s life in Manhattan suddenly implodes, she is forced to return to Sea Point, the small town full of quirky locals, quaint bungalows, and beautiful beaches where she grew up. She knows she won’t be home for long; she’s got every intention (and a three-point plan) to win back everything she thinks she’s lost.
Meanwhile, Miles Hoffman—aka “The Prince of Sea Point”—has also returned home to prove to his mother that he’s capable of taking over the family business, and he’s promised to help his childhood best friend, Ziggy Miller, with his own financial struggles at the same time. Kate, Miles, and Ziggy converge in Sea Point as the town faces an identity crisis when a local developer tries to cash in on its potential. The summer swells, and white lies and long-buried secrets prove as corrosive as the salt air, threatening to forever erode not only the bonds between the three friends but also the landscape of the beachside community they call home.
Full of heart and humor—and laced with biting wit—Rock the Boat proves that even when you know all the back roads, there aren’t any shortcuts to growing up.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Old friends discover how much has changed (and how much has stayed the same) when they reunite in their seaside hometown for one unforgettable summer—from the New York Times bestselling author of From the Corner of the Oval
When Kate Campbell’s life in Manhattan suddenly implodes, she is forced to return to Sea Point, the small town full of quirky locals, quaint bungalows, and beautiful beaches where she grew up. She knows she won’t be home for long; she’s got every intention (and a three-point plan) to win back everything she thinks she’s lost.
Meanwhile, Miles Hoffman—aka “The Prince of Sea Point”—has also returned home to prove to his mother that he’s capable of taking over the family business, and he’s promised to help his childhood best friend, Ziggy Miller, with his own financial struggles at the same time. Kate, Miles, and Ziggy converge in Sea Point as the town faces an identity crisis when a local developer tries to cash in on its potential. The summer swells, and white lies and long-buried secrets prove as corrosive as the salt air, threatening to forever erode not only the bonds between the three friends but also the landscape of the beachside community they call home.
Full of heart and humor—and laced with biting wit—Rock the Boat proves that even when you know all the back roads, there aren’t any shortcuts to growing up.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"What a cocktail of a book, topped with frothy, delicious wit. Beck Dorey-Stein nails the pathos and comedy of that slippery, sideways path to (sigh) adulthood. We can be awful to the people we feel safest with—those who love us and who have known us the longest—and Dorey-Stein captures that truth beautifully. I’m wildly grateful to have discovered a novelist who delivers this amount of sheer pleasure on a page." - Judy Blundell
"Rock the Boat is a funny and bighearted novel about friendship, love, and going home again. Dorey-Stein’s unique characters are hilarious and heartbroken—which is to say they are fantastic company and I enjoyed every single page." - Jennifer Close
"Brimming with wit and warmth, and peopled with a terrifically vibrant cast of characters, Rock the Boat is a delightful, whip-smart page-turner with an expansive heart." - Claire Lombardo
"Beck Dorey-Stein’s buoyant first novel is about finding out who you are and what matters most when everything tips sideways. It’s about rediscovering what love costs and finding your way back to the people who truly mean home. Funny and effervescent, hope and heart-filled, Rock the Boat is a breath of delicious and utterly fresh air." - Paula McLain
"Rock the Boat is the warm, wonderful escape I've been wishing for. A novel with gorgeous sentences and complex, kind characters set in a Garden State beach town—what more could you want? Mix yourself a Paloma and sink in. . . . Dorey-Stein’s debut novel is sheer delight." - Amanda Eyre Ward
"In Rock the Boat, Beck Dorey-Stein has given us the perfect summer read—sharp, irreverent, and compulsively readable—about how the best stuff in life is always what you didn’t plan." - Lauren Weisberger
"Rock the Boat is a funny and bighearted novel about friendship, love, and going home again. Dorey-Stein’s unique characters are hilarious and heartbroken—which is to say they are fantastic company and I enjoyed every single page." - Jennifer Close
"Brimming with wit and warmth, and peopled with a terrifically vibrant cast of characters, Rock the Boat is a delightful, whip-smart page-turner with an expansive heart." - Claire Lombardo
"Beck Dorey-Stein’s buoyant first novel is about finding out who you are and what matters most when everything tips sideways. It’s about rediscovering what love costs and finding your way back to the people who truly mean home. Funny and effervescent, hope and heart-filled, Rock the Boat is a breath of delicious and utterly fresh air." - Paula McLain
"Rock the Boat is the warm, wonderful escape I've been wishing for. A novel with gorgeous sentences and complex, kind characters set in a Garden State beach town—what more could you want? Mix yourself a Paloma and sink in. . . . Dorey-Stein’s debut novel is sheer delight." - Amanda Eyre Ward
"In Rock the Boat, Beck Dorey-Stein has given us the perfect summer read—sharp, irreverent, and compulsively readable—about how the best stuff in life is always what you didn’t plan." - Lauren Weisberger
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