A very good story. A little slow in the first two chapters but it really picks up in the third. It brings you in and really gets you wanting to know what is next.

Kay Bratt is one of my favorite writers, and True to Me is definitely in my top 3 books of hers.  The storyline captivated me from the very first page, and the characters are so well written that it seemed like I was right there, experiencing everything with them.  The ending is great as well - it’s always satisfying when all of the different plots have closure in the end.  I can’t wait to see what this author writes next!

Before she dies Quinn’s mother leaves her with a piece of information that kicks off the journey of a lifetime, both literally and figuratively. I enjoyed Quinn’s quest to discover her truth. Many thanks to Lake Union Publishing and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I truly couldn't get into this book. I think the plot was going to be super interesting but I couldn't enjoy it after feeling like it took too long to really begin. I just don't think this is the kind of slow-paced book I wanted to read. I anticipated something must stronger. I think this will be a hit with a book club though.

Quinn Maguire had everything to be happy: a good job, a nice house and the perfect man. Everything in her life was or gave the impression of being ideal until shortly before her death, her mother confesses that her father is not who she believed.

From one day to the next, Quinn’s world falls apart. With her mother’s death not only has the most important person in her life gone so far but also his only family. Both had a close relationship with much complicity and based on mutual trust. All they had was each other.

In order to fulfill his mother’s last will Quinn decides to go to Maui. She also wants to know who her father is, what her roots are and her past. She wants to know more about the land where her mother grew up and for which she longed so much.

Her life so far had been rigid and organized to the millimeter. With rules and habits to follow in every moment and every day, without space or time to improvisation. A life marked by the demands of her partner, a despot and control-obsessed man for which Quinn always had some fault, something to correct or improve.

Always used to following other people’s decisions and others to decide for her once Quinn comes to Maui she takes control of her life and proves herself to be a capable and intelligent woman who knows how to do things and this time she will do it alone and in her own way, without haste, setting the pace that she wants to follow in every moment.

This trip takes a radical turn in her life and puts everything in perspective. Maui has awakened her senses has lifted her from the slumber in which she lived and opened her eyes to another lifestyle to another reality and she is no longer satisfied with less.

Although she had a happy and loving childhood, she would have liked to grow up in a large family. And this was something she hadn’t noticed so far, she’s been missing a family all her life.

True to Me is a novel to immerse yourself in to read and forget the world. With Maui as the setting, its landscapes, the people, their customs, their way of living and feeling life. It’s a very well written story from characters covering a wide variety even the prose so careful and thorough in details without being excessive.

Kay Bratt knows how to keep the suspense alive all the way. She makes everything flow, but keeps the reading rate constant with unexpected twists that make you live the story with intensity just like its protagonist.

True to Me is a beautiful novel about the family love, secrets and their way of conditioning our life. But it’s also a story about forgiveness and second chances. Highly recommended.

I loved this book! I started it and could not put it down — mainly because the main character, Quinn was so layered and complex and Liam was the perfect, simple but wise balance to her layers. The story was beautiful and I found myself tearing up a few times as it wrapped up Quinn’s loose ends! I sure hope there’s more from Quinn and Liam to come.

I received True To Me by Kay Bratt, free, from Net Gallery in exchange for an honest review.
Quinn has a very stable life, a boyfriend, and her clear vision of what she perceives her future will be.
When her mother dies, she discovers a lot of secrets of her families life.
Quinn goes back into her past and tries to discover  of what really happened in the past.
But, the truth is very hard to discover.
A very powerful book.

Kay Bratt, author of "True to Me" has written an intriguing, captivating, emotional and magical novel. The story takes place mostly on Maui, and the timeline for the story is set in the present and goes to the past when it pertains to the characters or the events. The Genres for this novel are Fiction, Women's Fiction, Romance, and a touch of Magic. The author describes the characters as mostly likable, complex and complicated.

The main themes in this novel are family secrets, forgiveness, and second chances. I also appreciate that the author discusses the importance of family, friends, neighbors, love, and hope.

Quinn Maguire finds out on her mother's death bed, that the man she thought was her father that abandoned her wasn't. Quinn also has her mother's ashes and is bringing them to Maui, where her mother's childhood home was. Quinn is hoping that she can uncover secrets and discover the truth about her life.  On the island, Quinn starts to feel the magic and meets interesting people. Is it possible that Quinn will learn who she really is?

I would highly recommend this entertaining and thought-provoking and emotional novel.

True to Me by Kay Bratt was fantastic. It drew me in and kept my interest. I decided to read it while in Maui so I could compare the setting and it didn’t disappoint. Quinn was a character I really didn’t like much at first, but throughout the book she changes her perspective and finds her true self along with many other truths and became someone I would befriend. Her decision to travel to Maui at her mother’s request, her relationship with her fiancé, her predicament in Maui and all the characters I met along the way really gave the book good depth and kept me intrigued. I am looking forward to a sequel to maybe expand on new relationships and develop one of the other characters to a greater degree.

What a great book! I loved this, and read in it a few days. It was a great holiday read - a light, yet entertaining read. I was really impressed that it had me hooked so early on in the book. I really enjoyed the main character Quinn, and reading about her trials and tribulations about finding herself. 

This book gave me all the feels - i wanted Quinn to realise what an a*hole her fiance was, but you also want her to live her life and do what SHE wants to do - it seems she has spent her life keeping others happy. 
I laughed, i cried, and i thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's a must read!

“Time to Me” by Kay Bratt (A By The Sea Novel) 

A truly wonderful novel that is hard to put down. It is packed full of emotion, human kindness, the meaning of friendship and family, emotional  and mental healing, and the importance taking to time to find yourself. 

Quinn has always wanted a father in her life. She had also always wanted to know more about her background. So she was astounded when her mother’s last words were she had a different father than the long gone loser of a man she had as a father figure for several years of her youth. 

When she heads to Maui to spread her mother’s ashes, Quinn is in a relationship where she feels unsupported, she has bought a house sight unseen for the most part in Maui, has recently lost her mother and has more questions than answers about her background and past. 

Quinn’s arrival in Maui doesn’t start quite as she planned. There are tenants still living in her house (clearly the recent walk through by the selling agent didn’t happen and the sale was through the bank not via a family), but Quinn doesn’t have the heart to just throw them to the curb, yet feels she is on a deadline to upgrade parts of the house. Her fiancé wants to come down and deal with the issue and she tells him to stay put. 

While she makes some friends as the house is being upgraded and is doing what she can to help move the family, Quinn is still struggling internally with wanting to find more about her past and a possible family or whether all should be left as is. (She also finds out her fiancé has been cheating on her.)

While ignoring work and Ethan, Quinn starts to learn more about the Hawaiian culture and beliefs, more about the country and area and soon finds she is more settled and at home there than she has ever been before. She also feels a closer connection to her mother in Hawaiian. 

When she decides to reconnect with her long time best friend, Quinn finds the support she most needed to think through everything. When Maggie comes to Maui, Quinn is able to find the strength to make several life changing decisions. With the support of her best friend and an individual she has become very good friends with, she is able to come to many conclusions about herself, her life, her purpose and how she wants things to be. Her decisions also help more than herself, but affects several others along the way. She is living pono. 

As Quinn learns more about her family than she is able to process, Ethan’s surprise arrival makes many things clear: it is time to be who she has become since her arrival and who she is becoming. But most of all it is time be true to herself.  

Rating: 4.9
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟


** I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this novel. All thoughts and opinions in this review are strictly mine.

I have been a long-time fan of Kay Bratt and was excited to find out that she had a new book. And...in my opinion, it was her best book yet. The characters are well written, the plot has some mystery and some romance and the Hawaiian setting made me want to buy an airline ticket and visit Hawaii.

Quinn and her mom were close and there were no other family members, just the two of them. Quinn's dad left years earlier and she had no memory of him. She lives with and is engaged to a very dominant man who thinks that he can control her life. When Quinn's mom was dying, she told Quinn that her real father was not who she's always been told he was. Those were her dying words and at her death Quinn not only has to deal with her grief but also with the mystery of who her father really was. Her mother had requested that her ashes be scattered in Maui so that is where Quinn decided that she's start her search for her father there.

This is a beautiful book about love and friendship and the discovery of not only the past but the discovery of learning who you really are and what you want in your future.

Thanks to the author for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Quinn's Mom dies and Quinn decides to honor her mom's wishes to take her ashes to Maui where she was from. Upon arriving and doing some digging she learns what she thought she knew about her Mom and her family was far from actual truth. Family secrets rock her world. What she wants in life changes as she discovers things about her Mom, her past and her now... Thank you Kay Bratt and Net Galley for sending me this ARC, opinions expressed are totally mine.

I’d like to thank NetGalley for making E-ARCs of this wonderful book available. I truly enjoyed this book. I rooted for, and cried with the characters as the story unfolded. I highly recommend this story to anyone who enjoys stories about family.

I didn’t think I could love another Kay Bratt book more than the Scavengers Daughters series but like all her books I loved it just as much. Again I could not put the book down and read it in just 2 sittings. Kay’s ability to tell a story keeps you turning pages and choosing to give up sleep. I love the characters and can’t wait to see more of their lives please don’t keep us waiting long. Families are made up in so many different ways I love your ability to write love and forgiveness and thank you for always bringing some Asian character to the story. For some reason that is a very special red thread you bring to your readers.  This book is a must read. Thanks for reminding me that family can survive hard things.

I loved this book. I really enjoyed the inspiration Quinn's journey gave to me! The description of family and the culture of Hawaii was so endearing and made me want to pack up and go!! I cant wait to see/read more about these characters!

What a beautiful story!  It's the story of Quinn, a young woman who has recently lost her mother, the only family she has ever known. But on her deathbed, her mother reveals that the person Quinn thought was her father was not really really her father. So Quinn sets out on a journey to find her true father, carrying her to her mother's home in Maui.  Quinn's search for her family unfolds in surprising ways, and in the process, she discovers who she really is as well.  The story is beautifully written, and although I've never physically been to Hawaii, now it seems as though I have. The book transports the reader to the island of Maui with vivid descriptions of the land and the people. As a bonus, I found out the author intends to write more books in this series! Yay!

Let me start by saying that I have yet to read a book by Kay Bratt that I have not loved.  
The setting of this book, in Maui, makes one feel as though you are right there with Quinn.  
This book follows Quinn’s story.  She has recently lost her mom and while on her deathbed, her mother reveals that the man whom Quinn thought was her father is not!  To better understand and process this information, Quinn is on a quest to find the truth, to find her father.  It all starts with a DNA test that leads her back to Hawaii, where her mother was born.  
It is during this trip to Hawaii that Quinn has time to reflect and find her true self.  It is during this time that she allows herself time to reflect on the relationship she has with Ethan, her fiancé, she allows herself time to mourn the loss of her mother, it allows herself time to reflect on who she is.  Is Ethan the right man for her, does he make her happy?  This time of reflection opens doors, starts new friendships, helps to renew an old friendship and helps Quinn to heal and truly find herself and where she came from.
Thank you to NetGalley for my advanced review copy.  All opinions and though

This book came with very high praises so I was thrilled to receive an advanced copy from Netgalley. Thank you, it did not disappoint!
Being True to ourselves is so important. This story tells of the heartaches and joys of a young lady who is learning who she was/is/wants to be. I’m looking forward to finding out more about Quinn and her new friends. 
I’ve read several books by this author and am looking forward to more.

I just finished Kay Bratt's newest book "True to Me". I believe it is her best book yet. She did such a great job of weaving all the characters together. She let the main character work through all the emotions one would expect when she finds out she isn't who she thought she was. Great job Kay!! I can't wait for the next one. I did receive an ARC for an honest review.