Studies

Maggie Adair #4

by Jenny Colgan

Jenny Colgan returns with all her signature charm in this fourth installment of her Maggie Adair series. The Little School by the Sea is a magical place of friendship, striving, excitement and plenty of mischief.


These are the perfect novels for anyone who ever dreamed of gong to boarding school.

Genres: Fiction, Romance, Chick Lit, Audiobook, Contemporary, Boarding School, School

272 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 15, 2024

About the author

Jenny Colgan is the author of numerous bestselling novels, including 'The Little Shop of Happy Ever After' and 'Summer at the Little Beach Street Bakery', which are also published by Sphere.' Meet Me at the Cupcake Café' won the 2012 Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance and was a Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller, as was 'Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweetshop of Dreams', which won the RNA Romantic Novel of the Year Award 2013.

For more about Jenny, visit her website and her Facebook page, or follow her on Twitter.

Jenny Colgan has also been published under the name Jenny T. Colgan.

Reviews

[MrsSock · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first 3 books in this series, but (maybe as it's been so long since the last one) this fell a bit flat for me. Felt a bit rushed and frustrating to read.

[Jenna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love Jenny Colgan’s books and never thought I could find a one-star book. I read the first three books in the series, but this one was just such a letdown. To second what Elaine said in her review, as an American reader, I didn’t understand certain terms and references, specifically concerning the testing and grading, so that lessened the import of what was happening to the students. As for the main characters, the story completely fell apart for me in this last book. It was inexplicable the way that Maggie and David seemed totally incapable of even the most basic communication. As for their decision making, it was unrealistic and laughable. Halfway through, I was truly hoping they wouldn’t end up together because they seemed so unable to have an adult relationship. All in all, an extremely poor ending to an otherwise enjoyable series. New comment: I understood that this was the last book in a 4-book series, and did not appreciate the ending at all (see above). BUT Jenny Colgan just wrote on Instagram that there WILL BE A FIFTH BOOK IN THE SERIES. So this may be the series redemption???? It definitely makes me feel better about the ending of the 4th book (Studies…).

[Barbara Powell · Rating 3 out of 5]

“You’re like a fish trying to figure out what the birds are doing.”
“But it’s so hard.”
“Yes” said Calvin “Niw you’re getting it. Other people have it tough.
“I know.” Said Fliss “But I didn’t make it that way.”
“You didn’t,” replied Calvin “But we all have to start changing it.”
I adore this series so much. The characters, the setting, the story, it all just hits me right in the feels. The gentle and tender yet uncertain relationship between teachers David and Maggie, whose relationship is tested by David’s choice to teach at the local school and give the underprivileged children a much needed boost while Maggie has her loyalty to Downey House, whose girls are navigating the typical teenage issues of social media, exams, peer pressure despite their affluent backgrounds. When David and Maggie bring the two schools together, they find that they’re not so different after all and Maggie and David both want nothing but the best for their students but also want a relationship. Can they figure out how to have the best of both worlds?
A sweet and thoughtful story with loads of characters to bring a bit of everything to the story and a setting in Cornwall to escape to. Perfect escape read.
Thanks to Avon Books UK and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

[Relyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Geez. Jenny Colgan is such a hit-or-miss author for me. Some of her books I love, others I really don't like. Bummer.

[Trish at Between My Lines · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I really enjoy this boarding school series that has been billed as Malory Towers for grown ups. The characters and the setting steal the show.

[Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tedious in the extreme. I kept trying with each of these books, because while Colgan’s later series are not Great Literature and do indeed seem to follow a Formula, they are fun little cupcakes to enjoy. But this series…and I do know that they are her earlier books reissued…gives me really very little to invest in. Each book has felt like the one before. The characters show very little (no) growth. For Maggie to STILL be conflicted between her Duty To Glasgow Folks And Obligation To Stan and Moving On In Life … I had to check which number of the series I was reading. David is a cipher, the teens are still teen-ing in their little Representative Pigeonholes…

I am banging on like this because I’m quite cranky about it. I’m home in bed recovering from mastectomy and having cancer pill side effects and I really wanted something like the Mure books to take my mind off. I’d forgotten how annoyed I was by Lessons last year or I’d never have checked this one out. I’m glad Colgan’s editor and agent and publisher had faith and enjoyed and that she moved on from this to Rosie and the rest. I think I will just do the same.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

So disappointed!! I love, LOVE everything I’ve read by Jenny Colgan to date, which is quite a good few books, and especially adored the School by the Sea series. But this one was an utter letdown. It felt hurried, messy, and just overall poorly done. It actually reads like she didn’t even write it herself. There were inconsistencies and unexplained plot points, and I think she even used the wrong name for a character a couple times (mentions someone named Isha, who we hadn’t heard about before and didn’t after those 2 mentions—really think it was a mistake and she meant “Ismé.”) Assuming the series will continue after that cliffhanger ending, but I sincerely hopes it gets better as this one was a real stinker.

[Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like Jenny Colgan sort of dialed it in on this one. The pacing was weird and felt shallow -- somehow there seemed to be nothing happening while things were happening? The characters storylines weren't anywhere near as flushed out as previously, and even the editing felt hurried and perfunctory. Ismé was called Isha for 3 or 4 chapters.

[Lisa Wolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've loved this series, but this 4th and final book somehow doesn't quite live up to the previous three. It's nice to get a wrap-up, but I found it oddly flat.

[Mary Jackson _TheMaryReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has been such a fun series. It's about time someone wrote about a boarding school.

[Rebecca Holliman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sequel to The School by the Sea has the same charm and gentle storytelling as the previous novel. The world of Downey House School returns with new triumphs and heartaches for students and teachers alike. I love the tender but uncertain relationship between teachers David and Maggie, whose bond is tested by the circumstances of David's decision to stay at the troubled nearby Philip Dean school and Maggie's loyalty to her Scottish family and former fiancé Stan, who suffers a serious accident. The girls at Downey House, navigating adolescence, exams, the trials of social media, and first love, offer some serious challenges to Maggie, while David is consumed by the need to give the less privileged students at his school a chance at success, often neglecting Maggie in the process. This boarding-school tale is reminiscent of many older stories, from The Little Princess to Harry Potter, and this novel has notes of those stories with an adult tale of troubled romance and divided loyalties thrown in. I enjoyed the novel a lot and would recommend it to readers looking for a tender, absorbing light read.

[Dede Erickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoy Jenny Colgan books. This series is fun because it reminds me how happy I am not to be a teenager.
Set in Cornwall, two teachers from private schools, one all girls and one all boys fall in love. This is a continuation of their love story.

[Linda Kemmerer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the rest in the series, and it’s obviously not the last. It was ok, but Colgan’s rambling, overlong sentences can be irritating.

[Judith · Rating 3 out of 5]

It ends in a cliffhanger again. As I'd read number one long ago, I went back to numbers 2 and 3 to get closer to the events of this one after reading the first page of the fourth. That page should have registered as a red flag. That's because no event will run smoothly in the series. David should have tallied them up quickly and cut his losses. The main character, Maggie and her family (a unit), aren't that gorgeous, genial, intelligent, realistic, practical or benign to make the travail of dating her worth it. If you stay for the conclusion, you'll surely agree. Expect the students to be up to the usual shenanigans. FlisS will ruin everything with jealousy. Expect the insoisance of mature, snob Alice. Expect the sister, Anne, to be snide and insensitive. Expect Scottish men to be brutish. Characters fit their stereotypes and won't change and become self-aware, in general.

One theme of this book is forgiveness. Stan forgives Maggie after she sacrificed her summer for a hospital vigil. The school has forgiven Maggie and David for the train stoppage. The students forgive Fliss.

Another is unfair class differences that result in lifelong disparity between rich and poor. The poor students receive an opportunity to mingle with private school kids as faculty. This is a fantasy romanticized in the book. My educational expert tells me that no smooth sailing and swift overcoming would occur.

I rate this as a slog. Maggie is in her thirties and tied to a family. Her father's behavior towards her uppercrust beau is not to be excused and tolerated and would bode poorly for a future together. Yet, she can't cut the cord. She expects David to visit or live near people who are disrespect and prejudiced. So, each time, he'd be politely defending his choice to be a teacher. Somehow, they miss the big picture that Maggie could marry a classy, rich guy. He's just supposed to forgive such consistent ignorance and be denigrated and humiliated for the entirety of the marriage. This wouldn't do and wouldn't work. Maggie didn't stand up for him by walking out. So forgive the father, forgive David's students' low school performance and behavior, forgive Fliss and Alice, forgive the older, staid English department head and everyone else who behaves badly. Soppy, soppy, soppy. Kudos to anyone who can make it to the end page by page. I failed.

[Vikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Billed as Mallory Towers for adults.

I enjoyed the first few chapters, then felt completely disconnected from the story for a few chapters. It did improve as the characters became more familiar, and there was more about social interactions and divides, but overall, I just wasn’t interested in the central love story.

[Mads Matthews-Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

For starters, I had no idea this was the fourth in a series until I was halfway through. I think that's testament to how well Colgan introduced the characters at the start; I didn't feel like I'd missed any context (although clearly, I have!).

Another shock when I finished the book and jumped on Goodreads to see that this is apparently the final book in the series!? The ending did not give me "last book" vibes at all, why would it be left with such a "shocking" (not really, I think we all saw it coming) revelation?

That said, I enjoyed the book. I read it in a couple of hours, and it was enjoyable and fluffy and frustrating in places (I'll be honest, every time Maggie and David were moping about their relationship, I just rolled my eyes - the stories involving the students were much more interesting).

Lots of editing problems, though - is she Ismé or Isha? Hattie was called Hetty, and Fliss was referred to with "his" at one point. It feels rushed.

Anyway, time to read 1, 2 & 3 to see if that makes any difference!

[Cheree · Rating 1 out of 5]

I loved the first and second books in this series, but the third and now fourth subsequent books are less and less interesting. I struggled to finish this one. I felt that it wasn't well-written and repeated itself too much. The characters no longer seem realistic, and I've lost any desire to find out what happens next for any of them. It felt like it was just hurriedly written to fulfill a contract. I just read that there's a number 5 being written for the series, but honestly, I'm not looking forward to it and won't be reading it.

[Georgia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had really enjoyed the previous books in this series but this just didn’t work for me.

The romance/chemistry wasn’t really there, the sections about characters from poorer backgrounds felt quite patronising and it had a general feeling of a left-wing politician justifying the decision to send their children to private school. There were also quite a few inconsistencies- I spent a while trying to figure out who Isha was before concluding she was actually Ismé.

[Star Gater · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stars: 2.5

Why am I embarrassed? I picked up a book and received exactly what was promised. Okay it wasn't a pinkie promise, but it was a story about boarding school from someone who always wanted to attend. I wasn't surprised by the economic privileges -- scholarship student versus family tradition. I wanted funny and was bored.

This just wasn't for me.

[Jennifer Riedeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved revisiting Downey House and catching up with Miss Adair and the girls. I’m a middle aged woman who went to public schools, so I don’t know what an English boarding school is like. But, I do know what teenage girls are like, and Jenny Colgan nails it. The drama, the emotion, the wanting to fit in - everything seems like the most important thing in the moment. This book ties up some loose ends, but I hope for more in this series. If you’re new to the Maggie Adair series, start with Class (Welcome to the School by the Sea). Enjoy!

[Sage · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. I don’t think this was the book for me at the time, you know? I read all four books today, and they were FINE but I thought about DNFing them multiple times. The characters annoyed the shit out of me. The only people I actually liked in book 4 were Simone and Calvin.

Although I DID love the Downey-Phillip Dean camping/team bonding expedition. I’m just incredibly annoyed by these teenagers (and the teachers aren’t any better).

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another enjoyable story set in Cornwall, with small forays to Glasgow. Both a love story and a boarding school story, with many interesting characters, especially since in this episode, the boarding schools are working with a somprehensive high school filled with underprivileged children. If you ever wished you could go to boarding school, you will like this book.

[Francesca Folinazzo · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️
The only reason I finished this book is I knew it was the last of the series and I wanted to know how it all ended. That didn’t really happen, though. I enjoyed the other three books in the series but this one was a disappointment. No real character connections or development. It’s almost as if Colgan hurried to write something - anything - to just be done with it.

[Morag · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did enjoy this but not as much as the earlier books in the series. The ongoing ‘will they, won’t they’ became a bit repetitive and aggravating. I did enjoy the Outward Bound trip!!
Angst was not solely the preserve of the teenagers.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a chapter to get hooked on this book. I enjoyed the characters and the story line. It went in a direction I was not expecting which I enjoy! I recommend it highly. Will read the three previous books for sure!

[Linda McKeller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love so many books by this Scottish author and this series of School By the Sea stories about a boarding school in Cornwall are wonderful.

[Mary Tonks · Rating 5 out of 5]

David would be so proud of me. In spite of all the teen angst, I can say, "All's well that ends well!"

[Lizzy's Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somehow did not know what was going on for most of the book🥲

[Teresa Perez · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series started off good but then just got…not good. I love most everything Colgan writes but this felt like a series she wrote in a weekend and didn’t put any thought into. Disappointing.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet ending to the School by the Sea series. I enjoyed getting to know some of David's students, and keeping up with the Downey House girls.

Thank you Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager | Avon for the ARC!