Book Review - Summer by the Sea by Jenny Hale

 

Summer by the Sea by Jenny Hale

Published: 12th June 2015

Publisher: Bookouture

Available in Paperback and Kindle

Order a copy from Amazon now

 

 

Blurb

They say there’s always one summer that changes you.

For Faith the one summer she can’t forget is when she fell in love as a teenager – only for her sister, Casey, to steal her man. Now, at the request of her beloved ninety-year-old Grandmother, Faith has agreed to a family holiday – at their childhood beach house, where it all began.

Faith hasn’t seen her sister in years but is finally ready to forgive and forget, enjoy the sunshine and relive happy memories. What she’s not ready for is meeting Jake Buchanan – the owner of the beach house – or the long-forgotten feelings he ignites in her.

Can Faith overcome the hurt of the past, rekindle the close bond she had with Casey and make this summer THE ONE to remember?  

 

Review

My first encounter with a Jenny Hale novel was last year when I read A Christmas to Remember, which I adored and is probably one of my favourite Christmas books ever. So I was super excited when given the chance to review her new book Summer by the Sea.

Summer by the Sea is told from the point of view of the main character Faith. She’s agreed to spend two weeks in the Outer Banks in North Carolina with her family, including estranged sister Casey, to celebrate her Nan’s 90^th birthday. Faith is somewhat reluctant about the trip as she has not spent much time with her sister since Casey stole her man away and married him. As the trip wears on and nostalgic memories of previous summers spent having fun with her sister enter Faiths mind she realises it’s time to let go of the past and begin to move on with her life. Something which handsome stranger Jack Buchanan might just be able to help her with.

Like Jenny’s previous novel this is full of emotions, romance and families coming together and mending their rifts. I found this book very heart-felt as Faith has to do a lot of soul-searching in order to forgive her sister. After seeing her sister’s troubles with her husband Scott, Faith begins to realise he was never really hers to lose. The bond between sisters and their mother and Nan was very deep and was obviously far too strong to let any man come between them, which I found just lovely.

The way Jenny has described the Outer Banks makes me long to go there, its sounds like the perfect American hideaway and I can understand why it made Faith so emotional and sentimental.  The descriptive language really made me feel that at times I was with Faith leaning over the balcony looking out at the ocean too, you just can’t beat a sea view can you.

Can we just mention Jake, what a hottie, the perfect guy to help you forget all your problems with, handsome, caring, good with his hands and also just a little bit loaded, it’s no wonder Faith developed a pretty huge crush on him!

This is a lovely summer read and I really enjoyed the escapism and romance which it brought me, it would make the perfect holiday read. I’d like to thank Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to review this book and can’t wait to read Jenny’s next book. I’d rate this book 4/5.

 

Book Review - A Christmas to Remember by Jenny Hale

 

A Christmas to Remember by Jenny Hale

Published: 10th October 2014

Publisher: Bookoture

Pages: 249

Available on Kindle

Order from Amazon here

 

Blurb

A beautiful story about the magic of childhood Christmas memories, the strength of family and falling in love when you least expect it.

Everyone loves Christmas – don’t they?

Carrie Blake loves her job as a nanny but, while her friends are settling down, all of Carrie’s spare time is spent with other people’s families. Though it breaks her heart, her New Year’s resolution is to embark on a new career and fix her love life.

As Carrie starts her last job, she’s sure she’ll be going out on a high – the house is amazing , the kids are adorable, and she’s in charge of decorating the tree!

The only problem could be her boss… single-dad Adam Fletcher might be both handsome and successful, but he’s always working. Doesn’t he realise he’s missing out on precious moments with his son and daughter?

As Adam’s family arrive for Christmas including his sensitive sister, Sharon, and his fun-loving elderly Grandpa, Walter, Carrie realises that she might just have found the perfect allies in her quest to persuade Adam to loosen up. There’s still time for Carrie to make this the best Christmas ever… after all, Christmas is the time for miracles, isn’t it? Let the festivities begin! 

 

Review

 

Carrie Blake is a full-time live in nanny who spends all her time helping other  people’s families, she has finally decided that the job she is about to start at the Fletcher household will be her last and then she will take control and live her own life.  As soon as Carrie sets eyes on Adam Fletcher she is struck with butterflies in her stomach, something she’s never felt before. She’s also struck with how reserved and formal Adam and his children are with each other. She vows before she leaves to inject some fun and love into the household. With the help of Adam’s family she begins to help Adam see that work isn’t the most important thing in the world.

I instantly fell in love with this book and its characters, especially Carrie. She reminded me a bit of Mary Poppins with her bag and tricks, like the food colouring for snow volcanoes. I loved the way that she injected fun and Christmas spirit into the children and eventually Adam. The way she was with Adam was just lovely to read about, I loved the way he made her nervous whenever he was around and she really wanted him to work less and see what wonderful children her had. The romance was perfect for the story as it was so innocent and gradual that you were just hoping that Adam would have feelings for Carrie too. She was also so caring with other members of the family I really loved the way she played cards with Walter and how she wanted to help Sharon but she was unsure about whether that would be interfering as she wasn’t part of the family.

Adam is also a great character too; obviously he’s extremely good-looking and very successful as he lives in a huge house. I think the most adorable thing about him is that he’s kind of shy of his children, it’s like he doesn’t want to get too close in case he hurts them.  The scene where he takes Olivia up to bed and reads her a story and she falls asleep on his shoulder is probably my favourite in the book, Adam was just so cute!

This is the first Jenny Hale book which I have read but I will definitely be picking up her other Christmas story Coming home for Christmas as I believe that it will be just as good and features two characters mentioned in this book Robert and Allie Marley, so reading more about them would be good. Her writing is easy flowing and very comforting and makes you feel like you’re living the story yourself.

This is a book that made me feel warm  and cosy inside and I know I will want to read it every Christmas, it has the perfect mix of elements for a Christmas story including family visiting, Christmas decorating, old wounds being healed, love and friendship blossoming and of course plenty of snow.  So get on your big Christmas jumper, make yourself some hot cocoa, curl up by the fire and read it too!

Rating 5/5