A good summer read about Flora who goes to Cornwall to paint her ex father in laws portrait. She is joined by a friend who has her own relationship problems.

A satisfyingly cosy saga set against the glorious backdrop of Cornwall.

It's 15 years since Flora's ex-husband left her. He's now remarried. Surely she doesn't still want him?

This started out a warm, cosy read-but soon I felt I had been misled a bit by the book's blurb. It said it was hilarious. It was not. But, as I got into the story, I later felt it didn't really matter and just read it for what it was. A steady, pleasant read.

It was a good read-just not so special. The last book I read by this author, 'About Last Night', I gave 5 stars to, that was really excellent and had everything. This just didn't really measure up. Not a bad book by any means, but it was a little bit disappointing that the promised perhaps tangled web of relationships never really happened. There was an unexpected twist at 82%-but boy we'd waited so long for something significant to happen, I could hardly be bothered by then. Not hilarious-indeed this final section has quite a serious episode in. What were they thinking with the blurb?

Not my usual reading fare as very much a story told from an ex-family member’s viewpoint of Cornish aristocracy. But I ended up liking it and wanted to find out just what happened and why.
There were some very insightful elements about the married-snob who never quite got the ‘old money/aristocracy’ habits and behaviours. The reverse snobbishness that goes to the nouveau riche from the old rich.
And then the riding and discussions about horses and their behaviour seemed to me to be written by someone who knew them well. And thus impressed me. Who knew that horses approached obstacles such as walls and ditches and assumed that there were dragons - hiding behind the wall or down the rabbit hole? And that you needed to persuade them otherwise.
As the storyline developed there were some interesting dilemmas for the main characters - at what point could they be ignored? Sexual preferences and the environment become important factors to the story’s characters and the storyline.

Such a lovely story, and so well-written that the world around you vanishes, you are in Cornwall watching the story evolve. Flora is Cornish, she had been married to Hugo, but he hadn’t been in love with her, the marriage took place because she was pregnant, and when Peter was still an infant Hugo left her, and they were divorced. Flora cannot get over it, she has been unable to move on with her life, even though fifteen years have passed and Hugo married again, and he and Christina have two children. Hugo remains a large part of her life, he pays for Peter’s education and attends all the school appointments - parents evenings, sports days and such like. Flora refused maintenance, and just about makes a living as a portrait painter. She has been offered a commission to paint a portrait of Hugo’s father Roger. She cannot afford to turn it down, so she reluctantly returns to Cornwall to complete her task.. Celia, a landscape painter who shares Flora’s London studio decides to go with her for the wonderful landscapes she has been told about, so Flora has some support against the Bellingdon family.

The story goes back in time to when Hugo and Flora first get together as teenagers. They are both excellent riders and start talking to each other at the first local hunt of the season. Hugo has a couple of friends with him, and one of them, Tommy Rochester, a brash American who behaves appallingly and is very rude to Flora and her friend Shona. From then Tommy has often been around, and has always appeared to hate Flora, despite being godfather to Peter. Flora is dismayed to find him there when she arrives in Cornwall.

Flora makes good progress with the painting but there is mischief afoot in the town. A university professor, Ted, and a group of his students, are investigating the beaches, and building a case against Bellingdon Water, the company owned by Hugo’s family. After a difficult start Ted and Flora become friends, but is he using their friendship to find out more about the family? There are some shocking revelations to come, some heralded but others totally unexpected. Through it all Flora comes to realise that she can rely on Tommy, he has been a good influence on her son without her realising they had been in contact, and he has remained a close friend to Shona for the twenty years or so since they first met. More special is the fact that he has loved Flora since that first fateful day, what she saw as hatred was just the opposite. It is a revelation to her that she can be happy at last.

A lovely story indeed, a page-turner, and a good helping of the aah! factor at the end. A joy to read.

The story opens with Flora driving her friend Celia down to Cornwall to spend the summer painting. Flora has been commissioned to paint a portrait of Roger, her ex father-in-law in his family home and they have kindly provided accommodation in a charming cottage close to the beach. She has been divorced from his son, Hugo for 15 years and this is the first time that she will spend an extended period with Hugo’s family, including their son Peter.

Flora and Hugo are from opposite sides of the tracks but were somewhat thrown together when they were growing up. Hugo had always been the one for Flora and she still harbours feelings for him – despite his marriage to the beautiful Christina and their twins. She has never moved on.

Enter a huge cast of people, including an old friend of Hugo’s, Tommy – an American, and a professor (Ted) who is an environmentalist investigating the company that owns the local water and sewers – the CEO is Hugo, her ex.

To be frank, I was horrified at the beginning of this book. In the first chapter, 18 characters were named; swiftly followed by at least half a dozen in the first couple of pages of the second chapter. I was swamped, drowning in people and their relationships to one another and their back stories. To add to my horror, we are then invited to a fox hunt and this went on and on. I skipped pages, I didn’t need a blow by blow of the chase and who did what. I don’t think it added much to the plot, except, perhaps, to point out the status of the characters. It all felt so clichéd.

However, I persevered with the book. Cornwall sounds lovely but when Flora details the crush of the tourists, the traffic, the packed restaurants and pubs – it put me off. What did work for me though, were the characters. Roger was a delight, his self-indulgent life – work hard, play hard. His generosity to his community, his affair with the delightful Babs. Equally well-drawn was his terrible wife, Belinda. Over-bearing, arrogant, snobbish and manipulative. Didn’t particularly like Celia but did like Tommy.

So, I started out not liking this book – classified it as rubbish in my mind. The funny thing though, by the end, I was smiling. This book will not change the world or make you dwell on life’s mysteries, but it will entertain you – particularly if you like a sort of Jilly Cooper plot. Just the thing to read on holiday, perhaps in Cornwall!

Thank you to the author, publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

A great book to pick up for an enjoyable summer read. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me review this book.

Hurrah - chick lit without the mush!

Just occasionally I will choose a novel that i think will provide some soothing balm to an over-busy mind, offering little in the way of challenge, but much in the way of escapism. I'm not a great fan of traditional chick lit, so was thrilled to discover that there's a lot more than yearning glances, misunderstood heroes and feisty heroines to this tale (though don't get me wrong, they're there too!)

Set in sunny Cornwall, a motley crew of characters are gathered under slightly odd circumstances, with some knowing a lot more than others. As the various strands are pulled out, the story takes on a faster pace, holding your attention (even when it shouldn't) right to the happy ending.

Are you looking for a bit of sunshine on a wet, cold winters day? Or looking for a lighthearted holiday read? Then look no further!

A Cornish Summer is a well written, funny and enjoyable story with quirky, yet relatable characters and a storyline that will keep you hooked from the beginning to the end.

Highly recommend!

Flora has been invited back to her ex husbands family home to paint his fathers portrait. This means going back to Cornwall to the dysfunctional family that she once belonged to and is still linked to by her son. She has always carried a flame for her ex although he has remarried and has had two further children but is surprised that he is there when she arrives. She only thought she would have to contend with her Belinda her ex mother in law.
Can she survive a summer with them all and how will a family secret impact on all their relationships?

When I first started this book I thought it was just going to be an easy read summer romance but it turned out to be so much more. Yes, there’s romance but also long-held secrets that could devastate a whole family if they get out. Throw in Cornish beaches and you have yourself a winner. A great read.

A Cornish Summer is a thoroughly enjoyable book set in a beautiful part of the country. The characters are delightful and the story interesting from start to finish. I strongly recommend it.

A lovely holiday read, Beautiful scenery and a wonderful story of family secrets and showing that things are not always as they seem!

Flora is a single mother, divorced for 17 years but still madly in love with her ex-husband, even though he has been happily married to his second wife for 15 years. Persuaded against her better judgment to paint a portrait of her former father-in-law she returns to her ex-husband's family home in Cornwall for the Summer. Soon it seems as though everyone else has also come to Cornwall, Flora's son Peter, Flora's best friend and fellow artist Celia, Flora's ex-husband Hugo, his wife Christina and their two children, Hugo's best friend the American ladies man Tommy Rochester with his 'friend' Janey, Hugo's parents Roger and Belinda, Roger's mistress Babs and his sister Iris.

Forced into close proximity with Hugo and his family for the first time in decades Flora is finally forced to confront her own feelings and reconcile her teenage feelings for the young boy she fell in love with, with her adult emotions now. But Flora's feelings aren't the only things drawing to a head as the summer continues and more family secrets may be forced into the open.

I enjoyed this but I would take issue with the blurb that describes this as a hilarious romantic comedy, I wouldn't even say it was funny per se. That's not to say this was all angst, angst, angst, Roger in particular was a fun character with his booze and his boats and his trysts with Babs, but as tensions between townies and the locals, the big house and the village, the Brits and the Yanks come bubbling to the surface Flora starts to realise that she has been wrong about a lot of things.

If a novel about spending the summer in a big Cornish mansion with a gaggle of weird and wacky family members, horse-riding, sailing, walking the cliffs, painting and finding romance is your idea of heaven then this is your perfect holiday reading.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

A Cornish Summer is the story of Flora, an artist who has been commissioned to paint a portrait of her ex father in law in his Cornish family home. Not realising that her ex husband ,his wife and twins will also be there for the summer she knows it will be a difficult time for her. Although being divorced for 15 years Flora has never been able to get over the breakup and not moved on in all the years that have passed.
Add to this drama we have a scheming, manipulative ex mother in law and another host of characters with some amusing and not so amusing moments.
I found the book an enjoyable and satisfying read, my only small criticism would be that some parts of the story were overly long and at times difficult to unravel with the amount of history, relationships and back stories, a slightly different style to this authors previous work.
My thanks to net galley and publisher for the opportunity to review this book honestly.

A great read and one that takes such an unexpected turn, serving to remind me that Catherine Alliott is one of my favourite authors. If you're looking for a fabulous sunlounger read this summer, A Cornish Summer could well be it.

Love Catherine Alliott books. Flora is still in love with her ex-husband. She's asked to go down to the family home in Cornwall to paint her ex father in laws portrait which she was reluctant to do. Belinda her ex mother in law is a control freak and bully. Only thing I didn't like about the book was at the beginning there's a fox hunt which as far as I'm concerned went on for far too long.

This was a delightful story, running the whole gamut of human emotions and set in one of the loveliest parts of my country. Great characters and a non stop storyline which kept me involved to the end. Beautiful conclusion leaving one feeling uplifted. Loved it!!

Loved this book. A tale of a disfunctional family with lots of twists and turns, romance and friendship involved. Some quirky characters feature throughout. Catherine Alliott never fails to please and once again has written an ‘unputdownable’ story. Warning: don’t start reading unless you have plenty of time to spare.

I really enjoyed this book - it has a great plot, excellent main characters and is a real page turner. I would highly recommend this book.

It's been ages since I read a book by Catherine Alliott although I used to love them - I kind of switched genres and stopped reading them, but I was keen for a cheerful, escapist book so I thought I'd give 'A Cornish Summer' a try.

I got exactly what I was expecting - a light, humorous, mostly happy read about a dysfunctional extended family with a romance thrown in for good measure. The story flew by as I enjoyed the beautiful Cornish setting and the quirky characters, safe in the knowledge that nothing too awful was going to happen.

My only comment was that the romantic plot was slightly lost in the other narrative threads, which was a shame.

Overall, a comforting and cheerful novel that doesn't resort to being sickly sweet and unrealistic like some others in the genre. It's uplifting, but also quite real - as usual, you are in safe hands with Alliott in control.