Beach Town by Mary Kay Andrews

Greer Hennessey has been given a task.  That task seems a bit impossible as she drives through the coastal towns near Panama City, Florida.  She is looking for the perfect location for a movie; however, her director/boss wants a certain charm, a certain beach town,  She doesn't want fast food restaurants, Walmart, or anything that resembles a modern town.  She needs a town with Southern charm - with that charm (hopefully) still stuck in the 80s.

As Greer is driving along the coast, she finds the perfect town.  As the drives into Cypress Key, she KNOWS this is the place to make the movie.  Greer's director boss agrees, and now she has been ordered to prepare this town for a movie location and look for a place that can be blown up for the movie's final scene.

There are a few issues with this part of Greer's job, she has to convince the mayor, chief engineer, hotel owner, and grocery store owner to be on board with the movie and all that shooting in that location brings.  Eben Thibadeaux, the mayor, engineer, etc isn't too keen on the idea of changing his town around.  He sees the movie people as an intrusion in the town, and he believes Greer is bringing more than money to his town.  He sees other potential issues - and problems.  He also finds himself attracted to the new gal in town.  

I enjoyed Beach Town.  I connected with the entire idea of the small Florida town as I was in Florida at the time I was reading this book.  I could almost smell the salt of the sea, and I loved reading about the small town of Cypress Key.  I also didn't realize what the job of a movie location manager entails.  One thinks about the actors and of course, the director, but we often don't think about the location manager's job which involves managing everything from catering to nosy and obnoxious neighbors.  

I enjoyed Beach Town for my beach read.  I am missing the sandy toes right now though!