Wednesday 17 June 2015

Review: Summer at Shell Cottage by Lucy Diamond

A seaside holiday at Shell Cottage in Devon has always been the perfect escape for the Tarrant family. Beach fun, barbecues and warm summer evenings with a cocktail or two - who could ask for more?

But this year, everything has changed. Following her husband's recent death, Olivia is struggling to pick up the pieces. Then she makes a shocking discovery that turns her world upside down.

As a busy mum and GP, Freya's used to having her hands full, but a bad day at work has put her career in jeopardy and now she's really feeling the pressure.

Harriet's looking forward to a break with her lovely husband Robert and teenage daughter Molly. But unknown to Harriet, Robert is hiding a secret - and so, for that matter, is Molly . . .




Review: this book is actually quite different from what i expected it to be. Now that isn't always a bad thing and as soon as i got a decent way through this fab novel, I forgot all about what I expected it to be and just enjoyed it for what it was. I really enjoyed this book, as I have every other Lucy Diamond book, and its a wonderful summer release because it just makes you feel like getting away from it all, somewhere for a few days in the UK, perhaps with family, perhaps not. If you can't however, this book will do the trick for you!

The characters in this book were a lot older than I expected them to be. Olivia, the main character and the matriarch of this novel, is a grandmother for instance and the other two main storylines in the book revolve around other mothers. This surprised me initially but overall., it brought the book together nicely and made sure that everything in the book came back to itself. I thought the various storylines running throughout the book were all equally entertaining. I was shocked by a few of the revelations and I particularly enjoyed the drama surrounding young Molly's storyline, that one made me gasp over my breakfast I can tell you!

I can't say i related particularly to Olivia's character, I enjoyed her storyline but I felt she was a little to successful for me to relate to. The two younger women in the novel, and the teenager in question, I got on with a lot more. I really liked the stories they had to tell and the way they were told through the events in the book. Both Freya and Harriet had a lot to cope with., I thought initially that I wouldn't like Freya, because of what she was dealing with but I found myself really championing her in the end!

One of the nicest things about this novel was the relationship between the women in the book, young and old, family and not and even those forged between people who really shouldn't be friends (there is more than one of these in this book!) and that's what really made it for me. Overall it was just a lovely read. A summer setting, strong family values and most definitely girl-power. If this is your first Lucy Diamond novel, you're in for a treat and if it isn't, then the magic is definitely still there is Lucy's latest book. Get your summer reading started with this book!

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