The Summer Seaside Kitchen

Mure #1

by Jenny Colgan

A deliciously warm and funny slice of life from Jenny Colgan, Sunday Times top ten bestselling author of Summer at the Little Beach Street Bakery and The Little Shop of Happy-Ever-After.

Flora is definitely, absolutely sure that escaping from the quiet Scottish island where she grew up to the noise and hustle of the big city was the right choice. What was there for her on Mure? It's a place where everyone has known her all her life, and no one will let her forget the past. In the city, she can be anonymous, ambitious and indulge herself in her hopeless crush on her gorgeous boss, Joel.

When a new client demands Flora's presence back on Mure, she's suddenly swept back into life with her brothers (all strapping, loud and seemingly incapable of basic housework) and her father. As Flora indulges her new-found love of cooking and breathes life into the dusty little pink-fronted shop on the harbour, she's also going to have to come to terms with past mistakes - and work out exactly where her future lies...

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Genres: Romance, Fiction, Chick Lit, Audiobook, Contemporary, Scotland, Contemporary Romance

431 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 9, 2017

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

[Nina (ninjasbooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was listening to the audiobook version of this book, and that might have dampened my enthusiasm some for the story, since the back and forth between the POVs happened so fast that I sometimes didn’t realize that someone else was speaking. Despite that; the story was engaging enough. There were some really emotional moments, and I smiled every now and then. But it wasn’t amazing like I hoped for!

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. Definitely not as good as Bookshop on the Corner. Loved the descriptions of Scotland and the quirkiness of the town and its people, and Colton, despite his less than stellar first impression, but the ending was annoyingly predictable, at least the romance part, and I wasn't thrilled with that at all! Fintan's storyline was cute and I was rooting for him, but Flora, not so much.

Updated to add: now that I'm on a computer and can hide spoilers, I will tell you why I was so disgusted with the ending. Women do not need to read any more stories that feed their "I can fix him if I just love him enough" codependent fantasies! The fact that Joel was as broken as he was, (albeit for very valid reasons), and yet somehow managed to do an entire about-face, break down all his carefully constructed walls and fall in love with Flora, someone he'd never noticed before who was absolutely not his type, and, it was implied, give up the lifestyle he'd been leading forever, all because she was just so damn wonderful and "exactly what he didn't know he needed" made me want to hurl. I get it, this is a major romance novel trope, but it is infuriating, maybe more so because I know people in real life who continue to ruin their lives by making poor choices based on this stupid fantasy. I'm probably more touchy than most about the subject, having been a counselor for years, but there you have it. Shame on you, Jenny Colgan, for encouraging such unhealthy attitudes!

So disappointed because I was really looking forward to reading this after enjoying BotC and some of her previous books so much. Sad sigh.

[Justkeepreading · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always love a book by Jenny Colgan. She always knows how to make me smile and I always loose track of time reading her books. So when I found out she had a new book coming out. I immediately preordered it and it feels like I've been waiting for it for AGES!!

So in this book we meet Flora who is born and breed in Muir. A beautiful, rustic, Scottish Isle. However she has moved to London to live out her dream to be a lawyer. Although at the moment she is a paralegal as she hasn't taken her final exams to become a lawyer yet. She works for a company who doesn't really know she exists and is head over heals in love with her boss. Who again doesn't know of her existence. But Flora knows she will one day be able to charm this bad boy and he will fall head over heals in love with her too.

One day a American man comes into their office wanting their help to oppose a wind farm that is going to be set up across the water from Muir where he has gone to restor a old monument and turn it into a posh hotel. He has been trying to oppose the windfarm but is having no luck. Knowing they have Flora in their office who comes from Muir. He demands she helps him get the people of Muir to stand behind him and oppose the wind farm too.

The only problem is. The people in Muir dislike Flora, and Flora hadn't been home since her mother passed away.

Finding herself back in Muir is the last thing she wants. But to keep her job. She will have to swallow her pride and return home. Their she finds out that they hate the new American guy in the town as he hasn't even tried to integrate himself and he doesn't buy from local suppliers but instead gets everything shipped in from miles away so why should they help him. When he doesn't want to help them.

To have any chance in turning the people around Flora must turn things around, own up to her past, reconnect with her family and the people of the town and find out who she is. Will Flora also find love along the way?

I have to say this is a good book. I wasn't overly keen on who Flora gets with in the end. I mean I saw it coming but I would have preferred it to be someone else. You'll understand what I mean when you read the book. I just thought he wasn't the right match for her and I never really warmed to him. He seemed to change his spots right at the end of the book and something just felt a bit off about their relationship. That said I knew they would get together.

Jenny has left herself open to another book in Muir which is wonderful as id love to go back and visit the town and people again soon. I would love to catch up with Flora, her family and her best friend and see how the town are doing now.

When A book mixes together two of my loves. Cooking and reading. It is always a winner for me. So I'll forgive the person and the bit of the plot that I found predictable and still give it four stars.

I hope you all enjoy your trip to Muir.

Happy reading everyone

[Malia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a lovely book about family, expectations, relationships and yummy baked goods:-) Just what
I was looking for after finishing a particularly grim mystery!

Find more reviews and bookish fun at http://www.princessandpen.com

[Alayne Emmett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely, lovely book. I love Jenny Colgan books and I have never read one I didn’t love. This one is the first in a four book series which I also enjoy immensely. It’s set in Scotland and has all the usual ingredients that her books give, funny lines, warm feelings and a happy ending.
I felt very warm and fuzzy once I’d finished it. I shall be hunting down the next one as soon as I can.
Highly recommend this one.

[Deanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a major disappointment after the bestseller, Bookshop on the Corner, that I discovered by this author earlier this year. After Bookshop I thought I had a new author. Now I'm thinking Bookshop was an outlier.

Bookshop was quite bookish, as you might expect, which was a big draw for that book. But even more, that story was about a young woman who had a driving life passion (not a life-driving passion for a man, which was pretty much the yawny case with for Cafe), and when confronted by a sudden requirement to figure out what to do with her life, made a number of risky-courageous decisions to go on the direction of what she wanted to do with her life, who she wanted to be, what difference she wanted to make in the world.

Over the course of the book (Bookshop, not Cafe), she grew into her natural independence and adopted confidence and boldness to achieve the crazy thing she wanted. And yes, there was a romance element to the Bookshop story, but it wasn't the driver, and it evolved in the direction of the protagonist becoming an increasingly strong character. The romance itself was suspense-filled and interesting, with the protagonist being more a driver and less a passive vessel for external forces of romantic fortune and misfortune. It was also without most of the typical cheesiness--it felt like part of her story and not the reason for her to have a story. It was a really satisfying light read. Again, that's Bookshop, not Cafe.

This book, Cafe, also has a wilds-of-Scotland backdrop, and features another 20-something who is finding her way, and is a romance. But beyond Scotland, it lacks all the appeal of Bookshop.

This flailing young woman is not redeemed by a strong personal vision and brave movements in that direction. Instead she is at the mercy of her life--her personal loss, her job, the needs of her family, the needs of the client, the needs of the community, the needs of man who makes her heart go pitty-pat, the amenability of this man or that to whatever tentative desire or direction she might edge toward. She sort of falls into a direction, all of it about helping everyone out and being everyone's support structure, and falls into a romance.

None of it felt true, hard won, a result of an interesting character living courageously on an edge, as Bookshop did. It felt passive, a traditional female following social pressures toward domestic choices that would allow her to help everyone around her to be ok, to get what they needed. There was nothing special about this character, her supporting characters, or the story.

Because this wasn't a full-on smarmy romance, and was better written than maybe average in the genre (not my genre obviously), I rounded to a 3. As a reading experience, it started at maybe a 2.75 and went steadily downhill. I don't expect to try any more by this author, though Bookshop remains a happy reading memory.

[Magdalena aka A Bookaholic Swede · Rating 4 out of 5]

Flora swore she would never go back home to Mure, the little Scottish island where she grew up. Instead, she settled in London, working and enjoys the life there. Well, enjoy is a bit far-fetched, but she has a great friend, Kai, at work and a crush on her boss, Joel. However, he is definitely out of her league. Then, she has to go back, thanks to a millionaire with big plans for the island. So, now she has to face her past, her father, and the brothers she left behind. And, who knows, going back home may turn her life around.

4.5 stars

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!

[Kendra · Rating 1 out of 5]

I told myself I wasn't going to finish if I disliked this one as much as I did The Bookshop On The Corner. Unfortunately, I kept giving it the benefit of the doubt. And I didn't realize how much I disliked it until far enough in that I just couldn't have all that reading time go to waste. Overall, Colgan's writing is just not for me. I don't find any of her characters likable or believable. The character development is lacking, the plot is predictable and unoriginal. And much of the dialogue prompts serious eye rolls from me. This is my last title by this author. I mean it this time.

[Brittain *Needs a Nap and a Drink* · Rating 5 out of 5]

Apparently, I am easy to please when it comes to books. There seems to be a checklist that I was previously unaware of that will almost guarantee that, if followed, I will enjoy the book.

1) If there is a dog, especially one with a big personality.

Pets in general shape our lives to an enormous extent. I cannot leave my house without giving scritchies to two dogs that aren't even mine. My own dog is spoiled to such an extent by my father that she literally has a football season wardrobe. This big burly farm grown man who had almost exclusively had collies and labs in his life has been taken over by my 16 pound terrier who owns the house. Dogs can make scenes in books so light and fun while also providing comfort and something warm for a brokenhearted person to cling to.

This book had a wonderful dog.



His name is Bramble and he is a bit of a Velcro dog which causes some problems but also provides these enormous and needed moments of levity. Bramble gives the heroine in this book, a lonely paralegal named Flora, another being to center herself with. This dog helps chip away at her loneliness which is so important for this book.

2) A beautiful location that is taken advantage of.

In the same way that pets shape our lives, the environment shapes our lives as well. What is the point of having a fantastic setting if you don't use it for anything? I can't tell you how many books that I have read that are set in distinctive places but there is no flavor of that place in the book.

This book is definitely defined by its setting, a wild island off the coast of Scotland named Mure.



I recently was asked the question of why Americans were so obsessed with Scotland, Ireland, or wherever their family originally hailed from. We seek out our pasts in big ways. I think this is because it is so difficult to identify a true "American Culture" except for those that existed before European settlement, which most Americans do not celebrate. So we seek out our own histories. We want roots. This book has deep roots, in both its history and its setting. There were local legends. There were old farms and traditions. The people that were there were not just side characters but had stories of their own. This is what makes a book come to life. It isn't the story itself most of the time, it is the depth to which you explore your surroundings and the lives of other characters.

3) Food.



I'm a sucker for a book with some good homestyle cooking in it. There's soul in cooking and it can give a piece of normalcy to a book. You don't hear about characters showering or vacuuming the floors or any other type of household task but the act of cooking and bringing people together over food can make a book seem so comforting.

It makes it feel cozy. It makes me hungry too which is why it is good that there are recipes included at the end of the book.

4) A character to cheer for.

As a reader, you have to ask yourself what a character wants and how are they going to get it. In this book, Flora is lost. She lives a rather unfulfilling life crushing on her boss, not making any progress in her career, and avoiding her family and sorrow. She is stagnated. It makes you pity her because you just want her to put one foot in front of the other but she seems to have lead soles.

Without a character to cheer for, there is no purpose to a book. You have to start at a point from which a character can grow but they also have to make mistakes along the way. It can't all be smooth sailing and they have to mess up occasionally in realistic ways. Flaws are things like clumsiness or forgetfulness which are often substitutes for real flaws in lead characters. Flaws have to be deep and they have to reach a character's soul. They must be something to be accepted or overcome instead of avoided. Flora takes steps to acknowledge her past mistakes and her family which means that she is making progress. It shows that fences can be mended and there is a place that you belong somewhere which is so important.

5) So we have a character that wins but also a character that fails.

Like I said, not everything is smooth sailing. Nobody ever finds their cajones or their purpose in life at the same time as everybody else. I think that in order to have a good book, you also have to have characters that accept failure or disappointment in some way. That shows real life. There is no guarantee that you are going to ace all of your tests or succeed the first time you try something but the important thing is that you try.

Characters in this book royally screw up. They do it multiple times in heart rending ways. You want to shake them and scream at them to get their acts together but nothing but their own determination will make them successful or put them at peace.


So a pretty simple list, right?

In the end, I just want a book with depth and this one really delivered. It had history and soul and all of the things that you want in a good story. It made me laugh and cry. It broke my heart a few times. But it showed a tiny slice of life somewhere else in the world. There is nothing in this book that was altogether unbelievable. There were no fairies or perfect people wandering around. Everybody was just so perfectly flawed and it made it feel so comforting.

This book felt like a hug. It made me long to travel and explore but really just go home to my family where I know they are always there with welcoming arms and a sarcastic remark. When a book can make you want to go home, you know it did a good job.

[Rebecca Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jenny Colgan books have become a go to fave of mine when I want to read something warm and cozy, something that makes you feel fuzzy and safe. Like wrapping yourself up in a blanket on the sofa in front of the fire, with a warm cup of tea or coffee on a winters night. She's always been a dependable go to author for me, when I don't want to read anything too heavy, but still want a fab read.

Initially I didn't find this with the The Summer Seaside Kitchen. It just didn't feel like a Jenny Colgan book and didn't captivate me as much as say The Little Beach Street Bakery series. As the book progressed, I found some of Jenny's usual style creeping back in, such as when she finds the old recipe book in the farmhouse kitchen. But there were still lots of little irritating nuances, like how many times the word blinked was used?! It was as if all the characters had eye problems. I've never come across this in one of her books before, and sadly, if this was the first Jenny Colgan book I had read, I wouldn't be rushing to read any of her others. That's not to say it wasn't totally unenjoyable, it was still a pleasant read, just not as well written as others I've read by the author.

Onto the positives: the fictitious island of Mure; oh if only it wasn't fictitious, I would visit in a heartbeat. The descriptions of the island are lovely. The characters and the complexity of their friendships and relationships. Oh, and the recipes at the back! If it was missing these, it wouldn't be a Jenny Colgan book.

Would I recommend? Yes. But only if you've read something by Jenny Colgan before, if not, I'd recommend starting with another of her series, as I just don't feel this is her at her best. I'm sure others feel differently, but this didn't enchant me quite as much as some of her other books, although I am still interested enough to read the other books in the Mure Island series.

[Obsidian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sorry, the main reason I cannot give this above three stars is that I can never cheer for a woman (fictional or not) being the reason that a man who is an asshole changes his ways. It never feels realistic and it just ends up making me annoyed the author writes a guy that you end up not liking and wish would just disappear from the book. I liked the character of Flora and her family (her three brothers and father are great) but thought she was self absorbed and sharp to people too much. I did love the book getting into the recipes her mother passed down and the author including some of them in the back of the book was much appreciated. That said, I found that there was a bit too much going on in this first book. We have a couple of plot-lines and though the selkie myth was intriguing, I wish that Colgan had leaned a bit more into that and had an air of magical realism in this book.

After having a fight with her family, Flora resolves to never return home to the island of Mure (off the coast of Scotland). Flora is determined to have a life in London and though she has crushes here and there, is mostly fixated on her boss, Joel. When a client demands that Joel's firm handle a potential issue on Mure that will impact his hotel and livelihood, Flora is sent to Mure to deal with things. Being back home among her family and friends, Flora finally comes to grips with her past and present.

Flora was an okay character, but I think another character her supposed childhood best friend Lorna who I think at one point pretty much tells Flora she needs to get over things. Lorna apparently has gone through similar things as Flora, but you don't see her being a jerk about it. Flora has two love interests in this book (I was only rooting for one) and is doing her best to have her firm look its best with her on hand on Mure to help.

We have secondary characters in this, but the book mostly revolves around Flora. I did love Flora's brother Fintan a secret that he has been harboring for a long time. His resentment of Flora for getting away from Mure was a bit much to take after a while though. I was glad when that all got resolved. I did wish we got more conversations/dialogue with Lorna.

The writing was okay, but after a while the whole book started to feel a bit same-y to me. We have Flora realizing her family's farm isn't doing so well, we have her not really working, and then she cleans and cooks. Lather, rinse, repeat. It's not until Joel shows up in Mure does the story start moving forward a bit.

The island of Mure sounds magical. I liked reading about selkies and we finally get Flora re-counting a story her mother told her about the mythical creatures at the end of the book. As I said above, I wish that Colgan had leaned in a bit more into the magical realism genre.

The ending was not the least bit realistic. However, this is a romance, so everyone gets their happily ever after.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

As she was growing up, Flora dreamed of escaping her life as a farmer's daughter in a small village on Mure Island. Then when her mother died she railed against her well meaning neighbors and well and truly burnt all her bridges.

Three years later she is working as a paralegal for a prestigious law firm in London.

But life in the city is anything but perfect. Her job is a grind, her coworkers are hard and don't get her and she is secretly in love with a senior partner who treats women like disposable commodities.

Then Joel, the senior partner, takes on a new client who is building a resort on Mure Island and wants to stop a wind farm spoiling his views. Flora is sent home to try and bring the locals on board but in returning she is crashing into her past. Her grief for her mother. Her father who is barely holding onto the farm and her brothers who are bitter that she left.

After discovering her mother's journal, a hand written recipe book, she starts cooking and in doing so begins to heal the wounds of the past.



The Summer Seaside Kitchen is one of those rare books that heals the heart. It's a gentle love story about broken people who somehow manage to patch things up and move forward. Everything about this book is 5 Stars.

[Mandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book. What an absolutely lovely, lovely book. The heroine - her brothers, her father, her best friend, Agot! :) :) The entire family/town makes this book.

And yes there is a romance, and a HEA (although def a little more fictiony)

It made me smile sooooo much. I laughed out loud at times. I want to eat fresh-made cheese and butter, and steak pies. Damn it.

I will fondly regard this book and I can't wait to reread it.

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally reviewed here @ Angieville

I was not expecting this. I was simply not expecting just what was to come when I picked up this deceptively pleasant-looking novel. My mom gifted me a copy of Jenny Colgan's The Café by the Sea awhile ago, but it took until the other night while I was browsing my shelves after starting and stopping no fewer than four different books for me to snatch it up off my TBR shelf and give it a go. And I'm not remotely ashamed to say that I didn't even make it past the epigraph before falling hopelessly and irretrievably in love. The epigraph read:

hiraeth (n): a homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home that maybe never was; the nostalgia, the yearning, the grief for lost places in your past

Tears filled my eyes. I cannot tell you how frequently I experience that emotion as an adult, how complicated and full (and yes, very often painful) it has been trying to accommodate it, and just how very much it meant to me, knowing that there is a word out there that means exactly what I feel, that holds in it the precise shape and weight of my longing.

Flora MacKenzie fled to London as soon as she possibly could. Leaving the northern Scottish isles and her home island of Mure, her brothers, her parents, and their farm, she went in search of the life she (and her mother) felt certain should be hers. And life as a paralegal at the top law firm in London does have its perks. A couple of truly good work friends, not bad pay, access to everything that kind of bustling, never-sleeping city can provide. And, of course, it has Joel Binder. Never mind that he is her boss, technically American, and can never remember her name unless his secretary provides it. Joel has just kind of been it for Flora ever since she walked into the office on her first day at the job. And yes, she realizes it's hopeless and ill-advised and simply never going to amount to anything. But, try as she may, she just can't seem to shake the crush. And then one day she is summoned to Joel's office. It seems an extremely high profile American client requires Flora's expertise as a native of Mure. He plans to set up a luxury resort on the island and wants her to ease the way, so to speak, with the locals. Which is how she finds herself sent back home against her will and her better judgement. And everything is exactly as it was (and as she feared). Her mother is still dead. Her father and brothers are still failing to deal with it. The townsfolk are still judging her for up and leaving in the first place. And the whole thing seems utterly impossible, to say nothing of the fact that Joel will be flying up shortly to check on her work and she has absolutely nothing to show for it.

As they stood together gazing out to sea, Lorna leaned over toward her.
"It's going to be okay," she said quietly, because she was the very best type of friend to have.

The friendships between the people on this island are very quiet and very real. Flora and her childhood best friend Lorna are quite different from each other, and Lorna (who stayed on the island and teaches at the local primary school) spends much of the novel trying to open Flora's eyes to how she really feels about their home. But they are always there for the other and very much in each other's pockets when it comes to Flora's hapless brothers' antics and Lorna's hopelessly unrequited love for the local doctor. As for the setting, there's very little to say beyond the fact that the moment I landed on Mure with Flora, I was a goner. There is magic embedded in the shores of Mure. The way Ms. Colgan describes this fey land is filled with a love that is bone-deep and a spirit that is wild and endless. My question wasn't whether Flora would stay. It was how in the world everyone that should stay would ever be able to. Fortunately, the pop-up café that Flora finds herself setting up (with the help of her mother's old recipe book) goes a long way toward bringing the island inhabitants (and transplants) together and healing many of the old wounds that have plagued them.

It is not a hardship loving these characters. Particularly Flora. And particularly Joel.

Joel was taken aback, suddenly, by the startling nature of seeing them there. It was the oddest thing. He'd never known anything quite like this; he had never thought about families, not in this way. But if he had . . . It was so strange. The laughing girl with the pale hair; the tiny child who looked like a miniature witch, who even now was running up to him, that strange white hair cascading out behind her, shouting, "YOEL!" with a huge grin on her face; the music; the turning, laughing women; the soft scent in the air; the warmth of the lights.

It was like walking into something he was already nostalgic for, without it ever being his, without it even having passed him by. It was a very strange feeling. From when he was very young, Joel had learned that if ever he wanted something, he should just take it, because so few people seemed to care what he did or how he did it. But this; this didn't belong to him. He couldn't even see how it ever could. You couldn't buy what they had.

Joel. My chest feels rather tight whenever I think about Joel and his solitary soulness, his crushing drive, and the helpless and inevitable way he falls under the thrall of both Flora and her home. This land where the sun rarely sets in the summer, where the people lean always into the wind, where some women are just acknowledged to be selkies and that's the way of it. It isn't a wonder this pair of Americans wanted to stay. I did, too. The Café by the Sea is summer reading of the finest kind.

[Lisa Wolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Café by the Sea is a sweet, fluffy treat of a book -- not especially deep or filling, but enjoyable the whole way through. I enjoyed the setting -- a beautiful, isolated Scottish island where everyone knows everyone else, and where, sadly, the younger generation doesn't see much of a future. When Flora arrives back on the island for a work assignment, she instigates changes that will ultimately lead to the rejuvenation of the island, by convincing a billionaire about to open an exclusive resort to hire and source locally.

The work assignment is also the means for Flora to finally get noticed by her boss, an icy playboy lawyer with a tragic past who never allows emotions to seep to the surface. Honestly, the love story didn't click for me. Flora, a paralegal in a prestigious law firm, has had a hopeless crush on Joel for years, and although it's not giving away too much to say that the island has a profound effect on him as well, I couldn't figure out what Flora saw in him in the first place, other than his amazing good looks. Meanwhile, there's a potential love interest on the island, but that part of the story doesn't get a whole lot of attention, so it's pretty clear early on which way things are going.

I loved the parts of the story about Flora reconnecting with her father and brothers, coming to terms with a loss in the family several years earlier, and reconnecting with the people and natural beauty of Mure. However, I was a little unsure about some of Flora's decision-making regarding her career and her future. When we meet her, she's working as a paralegal with an eye toward becoming a fully qualified lawyer, but her actual work in law seems to fall by the wayside as she becomes more and more involved in using her family's history to open up and run an amazing café in the center of town. Was she never really all that interested in becoming a lawyer? It seems that she's just fallen into this new life, and I would have liked to have her at least think about what it might mean to walk away from her professional plans and change course like this.

Still, this is really a charming book, with a gorgeous setting, interesting, quirky characters and a plot that hits some emotional notes without ever losing its sense of romance and light. When you're looking for something to lift your spirits, check out The Café by the Sea!

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. So on the one hand you have hot, muggy, dirty London - squashed into a tiny flat, eating food from a microwave and doing a small paralegal job. Or... you could be back home on a small Scottish island in the far north. That is the dilemma for Flora in The Cafe by the Sea. She has escaped island life, her mother was always so keen for her to be educated and to go forth and experience the world, not the small world of the island.

However Flora finds herself back on the island when her work calls for someone who knows the local area well and some law as well. There we find her back with her family, in a tough hardworking family farming environment. They are a family who deeply mourn the loss of a wife and mother gone before her time. They've let things slide, and Flora isn't too sure of her welcome back - even for such a short time - because she may have gone too far in what she said at her mother's funeral.

I can only say I adored the setting of the island, the scenery described, the wildlife, the animals. If I were a travelling person its a place I'd love to visit. Joel, Flora's boss sees the beauty of the place and the way Flora handles herself in this environment. Unbeknown to him Flora has been carrying a torch for him for a long time. But Joel has issues of his own and is a little overpowered by the strong family environment he witnesses when he visits to check up on the case in hand.

I loved all the characters, Flora's Dad, her three brothers, her three year old niece and of course the dogs. And all the crusty people that make up the island, along with the wealthy new hotel owner - Colton, who wants to prevent a wind farm being built right in front of the hotel, but must woo these taciturn people to his way of thinking.

I was transported out of my own life into these islanders lives and I loved every moment of it. A very entertaining and delicious read!

[Jacob Proffitt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly, I stalled out on this. It wasn't an auspicious beginning when the panoramic dial-in with anonymized references almost made me roll my eyes it was so lit-fic. Then the chick-lit kicked in with Flora being kind of a dopey doormat with the American Lawyer dude and immaturely dismissive of her hometown in a way you just know (and not just because of the title and cover copy) that she's going to grow out of during the course of the novel. So it's a lit-fic/chick-lit hybrid and the romance, if there is one, hadn't sparked even a little bit and I put the book down and can't face picking it back up, again.

Enough of my friends love this that I'm reluctant to pull the plug in a definitive way. I mean, maybe I was in a bad mood? But it has been nearly a month since I put it down and I still cringe when I consider picking it back up, so I'm going to go ahead and call this a one-star dnf. Bear in mind that I'm very much in the minority here, though, so you're mileage will very likely vary.

A note about Audiobook: Sarah Barron is an outstanding narrator and manages to give the accents in a very clear, nuanced, and consistent way that I really appreciated. I have a hard time decoding accents in general and this was exactly the kind of regional variation that I would struggle with. Barron managed to make the accents present and important but I had no trouble understanding and coming along. That's an incredible achievement I enjoyed. I dunno, maybe that means she wasn't very good, but for me, it was perfect.

[QNPoohBear · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colorless, mousy Flora Mackenzie from the island of Mure in Scotland has failed to make much of an impression at the prestigious law firm in London where she works as a paralegal. She spends her days hoping her boss will notice her and fall in love with her and her nights lonely and alone. When her boss suddenly asks her to do a big job for an important client, Flora is elated, until she realizes this job will take her back to Mure, a place she fled three years ago after her mother's death. Back on Mure, Flora is an outcast. Her father is silent, her brothers crude, rude and mean as always. They work hard on the farm to be sure, but would it kill them to cook and clean a little? A mishap in the kitchen forces Flora to rediscover her mother's recipes and confront her conflicted past. She also meets a handsome nature guide, Charlie, from another island and he seems to fancy her. Will she at last break her dry spell of dating? Then her boss shows up to deal with the American billionaire client and they need Flora's help. Can she come to terms with her past and get the locals to forgive her for leaving? Joel, Flora's boss, is a hot shot lawyer who has lived all over the world. He can't stand the godforsaken wilderness that is Mure. He never notices his paralegal in London but on Mure she is like a different creature. It's almost like the island weaves a spell around everyone and everything. He must be careful not to notice too much or he'll lose his armor he has carefully built up.

This book is so full of feels! Jenny Colgan has a way of building a story up to a heartwarming and tearjerking climax. She still needs to work on her endings. This one is a bit abrupt and the story could use a sequel. The character development here is top notch. None of the characters are appealing at first but as the point-of-view shifts, the reader becomes more involved in that character's life story and starts to feel a fondness for them. I did not like the love triangle and was surprised by how it played out. Even so, I liked this heaps more than her mobile bookshop story.

The local color here is amazing! Mure is a place where the sun never sets in summer, the old tongue is sometimes spoken, myths and legends are fully believed and cream and butter come from actual cows on a local farm. The sea, the sky, the beach, the farms- Mure sounds like another world. I could easily picture it.

At first I didn't like Flora. I didn't like how mousy she was and how lame her London life was. This story sounded similar to Sophie Kinsella's My Not So Perfect Life with Flora being a whiny, bored wannabe Londoner with the heart of a farm girl, but I think the character development here is better and more realistic. Flora has to confront past demons and come to terms with her grief over her mother's death. She also has to interact with several big, noisy brothers and a taciturn father, all of whom are grieving in their own way. I teared up a bit when Flora found her mother's recipe book. I loved the concept of finding it and how much it meant to Flora's Mum and how the recipes are being passed down. The food didn't really appeal to me all that much but having my own similar recipe book from my grandmother, I was very interested in Flora's cooking experiments and how that helped her on her journey. I came to know Flora as a sweet, caring, feeling young woman trying to find her place in the world independent of her family.

Joel comes across as a nasty, cold smart hot shot lawyer and womanizer. He dates young, stick thin blonds who never eat. He spends one night with them- no more - leaving a trail of broken hearts or whining women anyway, in his wake. His backstory doesn't come out until late in the book and it explains some of the reason why he is the way he is. I felt his character development was a bit unrealistic. His relationship with Mure is too predictable but abrupt.

Charlie is complicated. I agree with Flora's final assessment of him. I really really liked how he helps inner city kids enjoy nature and how he provides them with a strong male role model. I loved how he was from another island and was still a foreigner! I loved how he prefers his Gaelic name.

Flora's family is messy and complicated like real families. Her brothers have their own individual identities. Iness is a bit of a hard hearted jerk at times. His daughter Agot is a very immature, bratty 3 year old. My nieces never acted like that at 3 and they know Peppa is a GIRL pig LOL! We don't really know what happened with Iness and his ex-wife but she isn't a very good mother. I liked Hamish, the slow witted one. He's a gentle giant, I think. The one thing he wanted was a surprise and so funny. Fintan was a bit of a surprise. At first I thought he was a jerk to his family but there is a reason behind his moods.

Finally, there's Colton Rogers. I expected someone totally different. He provides the comic relief. I couldn't help but like him.

Fans of Jenny Colgan's other books will not be disappointed in this one. Fans of Kristan Higgins and Sophie Kinsella will like this one too.

Content: Some language, dialogue, innuendo and off page love scenes.

[Dale Harcombe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ever since Flora Mc Kenzie moved to London she has been adamant she would never return to Mure the small Scottish Island where she grew up. In Mure everyone knows too much about each other and Flora’s mistakes of the past are not forgotten. But in London she has anonymity and a boss for whom she has a huge crush. Only problem is her boss, Joel, doesn’t seem to notice her. When a wealthy client with big plans for the island and who wants to stop a wind farm from interfering with his plans, paralegal Flora, despite her misgivings ends up with the job. Back in Mure she finds little has changed. Her father and brothers are struggling to keep the farm going. Flora who still misses her mother who died, is appalled at how the men have let the house and farm deteriorate. After she finds her other’s cook book Flora also finds some of her attitudes starting to change. But how long can she stay on Mure before she feels the need to flee back to London?
I had mixed thoughts about this book. I wasn’t particularly drawn to any of the main chracters. Flora initially is very whiny, and the men in the family are all used to having a woman cook and pick up after them. Lorna, Flora’s friend was the most interesting character. As for Joel I never liked him. He was a pig who used women. The two or three romances in this novel I found unbelievable. They just never rang true. However I did like the setting and the interactions with some of the local people. For those who feel so inclined some of the recipes Flora uses are included at the back of the book.
Although I was happy enough to read it I never felt that involved with the characters. It was like standing one the sidelines watching it happen. The emotions of the characters never touched me. I have read two other books by this author and was looking forward to this one. But it just didn’t live up to expectations. However I am sure there will be plenty of people who will love it.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars. This was pretty predictable at times but it was exactly what I was looking for: a light, romance-y escape read that takes place on a (fictional) Scottish island. I've requested the next one in the series. When you're in the mood for a smile in a beautiful location, I've found this author fits the bill.

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jenny Colgan is a wonderful writer and The Bookshop Around the Corner is one of my favorite books of 2016. The Cafe By the Sea didn't do it for me. It lacked charm and likable characters. I just couldn't warm to Flora and Joel was a very one-dimensional "hero". The setting was lovely, but the attempt to bring the magical element into the story failed. It seemed forced. I also found myself scoffing at the premise which seemed a bit unrealistic. The stuff with the Outward Bound couple was clumsy and wasn't really necessary to the story other than a plot device. All in all it was badly constructed which was very sad for me because I was really looking forward to it being grand.

[Consuelo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quizá tenga algo que ver que hace 2 años estuve en Escocia, en la isla de Skye, en Portree y me he situado totalmente en esas casitas de colores. Una historia maravillosa , de familia, del sitio de cada uno pertenece ....
Tiene un toque de romance que quizá me ha sabido a poco, pero no hace perder a la historia
He visto que hay más libros de esta serie, no se si serán de los mismos protagonistas o de secundarios, pero solo puedo desear que los publiquen en castellano

[Sol (unlibroparamii) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hermoso libro, me encantó!!
Un libro que con mucho humor y amor, amor romántico, mucho amor de familia y sobre todo amor a la tierra, a las raíces y todo lo que ello implica en la vida de alguien que decide huir de ese lugar.
Un libro muy fácil de leer, con unos personajes que me encantaron, que no son perfectos, pero que tienen personalidad, que saben lo que quieren a pesar de todo, y además como escenario de todo esto tenemos a Escocia, las tierra altas, las islas, es decir, para mi irresistible, con sus costumbres, sus leyendas, sus misterios, cómo no enamorarse de Escocia!!!
Primera vez que leo a la autora y me gustó mucho su estilo, el ritmo del libro, y la pluma que yo definiría como suave, divertida y totalmente actual. Si no la leyeron nunca, definitivamente la recomiendo y si lo hicieron invito a que le den una oportunidad a esta hermosa historia.

[Yodamom · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a happy surprise this book was. I won a copy in a giveaway and was not sure how I would like it. I loved the title and cover, but had never read this author before. Happily, It was a fantastic summer read, beautiful locations, amazing characters, food and events. I loved them all, would want any of them over for tea. This book was not really about the romance it was about finding you in your world. Set in a mythical N. Scottish Island, small town, hard working honest people, and it's weather. The MC is a young woman who left to pursue her career as a lawyer in London after her mother died. She thought she'd never be back on the island till her job takes her there for a visit. Oh and she cooks delicious sounding dishes which this lovely author included at the end of the book. I'm making at least two of them.
I can't wait to read more from this author

[steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was ADORABLE. Just a great, happy, enjoyable read. I loved the setting (is Mure a real island?) and the characters AND THE FOOD. Ohmygoodness all the food listed in here made me so hungry I actually cooked dinner last night. I am super excited to start book 2 because I feel like I need to see more of this place.

Overall though, I just really love Flora and I how she got a chance to really explore what "home" meant to her. It something that I have personally given a lot of thought too so I was happy to see it happen in a book.

[Katie T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dnf 55% - while this is cute and I was mostly enjoying myself, this has been dragging out for weeks. I feel like I've devoted more hours to it than there is recorded audio and I cannot make any headway. I have no interest in carrying on, at least not currently.

[Marieke | Marieke's Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Een uitgebreidere recensie is te vinden op: Marieke's Books
Wat een heerlijke feelgood! Ik heb er echt enorm van genoten :) De schrijfstijl was enorm prettig. Er was wel 1 dingetje waar ik me aan ergerde. Wat dat is? Dat kun je op mijn blog lezen.

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I've been thinking about this book ever since I finished it and I decided to finally write out my concerns. While reading the book itself I saw a worrisome thread that really began to overshadow my enjoyment of the story.

Colgan's books are sweet, they are predictable, after you've read a few you can see her formulas but you don't mind because the stories are rather charming. She has a real talent for describing scenery, landscapes, and experiences. My growing problem with her is that she writes women who aren't all that bright, don't own their decisions well, and ultimately are a bit of a disappointment.

In real life, if you are interested in a man and everyone who cares about you tells you it's a bad idea, you should listen. If they straight out tell you he is a womanizer, cruel, dangerous, and you are hearing this from more than one source, then you step away. In this novel Flora did not... drawn by some attraction to Joel that she couldn't even explain. In the book it all works out because it is a novel. Every time one of Flora's friends said, "he's handsome but he's mean" and she just sort of brushed it off, I cringed. The whole arc of the story was that she was there to "save" him from himself, to take him on as a project instead of a partner. The very last bit of the novel talks about Flora's mother being a selkie and how selkies help people and that Flora is one too felt like a bit of an easy out to explain Flora's inexplicable attraction to Joel.

IRL I've seen women who have taken this "save him" path and emerge a decade later, trailing children, a broken relationship, and an ex who is still as he was the day they met. These women were advised by parents, friends, and mentors to choose a partner who would lift them up, not be another child to tend... but instead they followed the romantic ideal of "I CAN CHANGE HIM." Girl... you can't. So stories that exalt and exemplify this type of relationship aren't just annoying- they are a dangerous narrative of what it means to be a woman in a relationship. I expect this sort of thing from novels written in the 1980s, but to see if featured in something written today is disappointing.

Especially from a best-selling author who's stories will be read by so many women. And beyond this issue, I like Flora. I loved Fenton. (Even with the trope of the rich boyfriend that Colgan had already used in the Little Beach Street Bakery series.) The descriptions of the island were so well done I could feel the wind on my face. This is pure enjoyable escapist fiction, except for this one twist, which unfortunately the entire plot rests on. Hope to see better in the future.

[Melissa (Semi Hiatus Until After the Holidays) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has everything readers have come to expect from a Colgan novel: humor, heartfelt relationship issues and yummy food descriptions. The romantic storylines are well-developed and it isn't clear until the end who Flora is going to end up with. Flora's family situation is equally meaningful, with realistic issues that are handled in a lighthearted but touching way. Colgan knows the way into a reader's heart — through the stomach! Her delectably described food is made complete with recipes, so readers can try them too.
Flora gave up the quiet island of Mure for a career and life in London. Now her boss at the law firm (whom Flora happens to have a desperate crush on) asks her to return to Mure in order to oversee a very wealthy client's building project. Flora has been slightly estranged from her father and brothers because she rarely returns to the island, but they begin to rebuild their relationships after she arrives and discovers that all of them are hiding things. She also finds out that her work task is not as easy as she would have imagined, because the town's residents are opposed to her client for various reasons. As Flora works to make amends with her family, she helps to open a cafe that just might smooth the way with the island folk as well. Just when everything is going well, Flora's boss arrives and everything is thrown into a tailspin again.

[Kelly | xoxo, Kelly Nina · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book caught my attention because of the setting and cafe angle. I will basically read anything set in Scotland and I love reading about cafes and restaurants or anything of the like. I enjoyed this book and fell in love with the northern island of Scotland because I've wanted to go for years and this book brought to life what I envisioned it to be! I was really invested in the beginning but then things got weird. The pacing and writing felt very clunky. There were plot points that weren't fully developed as well as characters. The characterizations of everyone felt lackluster and didn't really make sense. I think third person POV killed what could have been a great book. A great idea but the motivation of the characters fell flat. It was just weird. And there was maybe a magical realism angle that was touched upon but not really developed so I think what was supposed to be a "shocking" ending fell short. The whole book thinking about was really rather awkward and I'm disappointed this one didn't work out more for me.