Thanks to netgalley & the publishers for an early read.
I have read all but one of this authors other books but have found the last few very predictable.
This book, however, was a very enjoyable read with a couple if twists before the inevitable happy ending. The setting of the Isle of Wight made a good backdrop to the story.
I would recommend this book to people who enjoy romances

It’s always nice to be able to support a local author and when her books are as readable as this one it really isn’t a hardship at all. Carole has such an easy and relaxed writing style that her characters always feel like old friends.

When Jodie Jackson finds herself on a ferry to the Isle of Wight she barely recognises herself. She has a hectic job in London working in interior design and a husband of ten years that she can’t bring herself to even talk to. Her brother Bill suggests that that she goes and spends a little time on his newly renovated house boat and it seems like the perfect solution. Except Jodie wants to hide away and wallow in her misery but Bill’s cleaner Marilyn, a radiant vision in Day-Glo lycra has other ideas.

As Jodie starts to relax a little and meets new friends she finds herself wondering if the new version of her is the real Jodie. The freedom and friendship that she finds on the island make her start to wonder if she could have a new less complicated life. Inevitably the London life doesn’t let her go that easily and there are decisions to be made.

Its a fun romantic comedy with a great deal of pathos, dealing with all kinds of issues like grief, IVF, loss of a child, betrayal and mental health but all in a very sensitive and thoughtful fashion. In this year of staycations it makes the Isle of Wight feel like a very attractive prospect!

Supplied by Net Galley and Little Brown Book Group UK in exchange for an honest review.

UK Publication date: May 27 2020. 400 pages.

#SunnyDaysandSeaBreezes #NetGalley

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it as a good summer read. Jodie escapes from her life and hidden problems London to her brother's houseboat on the Isle of Wight. Living near to the island did increase my interest. It has good characterisation and I loved Gloria the cleaner/carer/wisdom dispenser. Wish I saw her every day! It is a story about duplicity, love, grief and new beginnings and I couldn't put it down as I was dying to see what happened next. I don't want to give too much away as it would spoil it for other readers. Thank you NetGalley for letting me read and review this book.

I always look forward to a new book from Carole Matthews having been a fan for many years. As always, this one did not disappoint. Set within the beautiful Isle of Wight it was a great place to escape to whilst in lockdown. A fun, well written feel good book. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

After reading a few different genres recently it was lovely to get back to my favourite genre and one of my favourite authors.

This one is set partially in London but mainly in the Isle of Wight. It tells the story of Jodie who leaves London to get away from problems in her marriage, she suspects he is having or has had an affair and hopes to spend some time on her own in her brother’s recently refurbished houseboat. Unfortunately the locals, her neighbour, a living statue, her cleaner come adoptive mother and local cafe owner have other ides and help her get through her difficult time. She does things that she wouldn’t normally do, she visits a festival, does yoga on the beach, puts some colour into her wardrobe. She is also getting over if you ever can a death and learns to live her again, it is just a case of who with and where!

I absolutely loved reading this book and the description of the Isle of Wight, makes me want to visit now!

The story is of a emotionally drained Jodie, who has escaped the bustle of London. Staying in her brothers newly refurbished houseboat, she tries to begin healing of a personal tragedy.

She's looking to hide away, but the loud super friendly Marilyn, who comes into clean and take care of her, won't hear of it.

Together with discovering her male neighbour, she begins to make friends and a whole new outlook on life begins

It's quite a predictable storyline, but I enjoyed it immensely.

Thank you to Netgalley for my ARC

Oh my! I loved this book so much. I always enjoy Carole's books and meeting her characters is like making new friends and leaving them behind at the end is so hard to do. This gorgeous story is set on the Isle of Wight and the wonderful descriptions make me want to go there for a holiday. The central character, Jodie, is such a likable person and I really felt for her and the problems that she was experiencing in her life that forced her to retreat to her brother's boat to try to find peace and recuperation. I loved the character of Ned who owns and lives in the houseboat next door and I was hoping for a certain outcome but was kept glued to the pages as there was another possible scenario that I really hoped would not happen.. A standout character for me was Marilyn, a lovely, kind but unconventional lady who cleaned the houseboat, kept the fridge stocked and generally brought humour, love and wise advice to the struggling Jodie. I laughed out loud many times at the funny phrases that were all part and parcel of Marilyn's ebullient character! The descriptions of the area, the lovely people (with a few exceptions) and a story line that kept me gripped throughout made for some very late night reading sessions as I just had to 'read one more chapter'! I could envisage a follow up to this smashing book and would love to find out more about George and of course Marilyn. I loved every minute spent with these people. My thanks to Negalley and the publisher for a pre-release copy of this book in return for my honest and unbiased opinion.

I enjoyed this book, it is well written and mostly easy to read. I didn’t notice any spelling or grammar errors.

Jodie has obviously been through a really tough time and doesn’t know what she wants. It’s lovely to see her come out of her shell and start to reconnect with life again. However, I do dislike the fact that she didn’t break up with one person before starting with another. To me, it’s just common decency to do so. She put Ned in a really intolerable position.

The sense of place is really well done, particularly on the Isle of Wight, I felt like I was there. I loved the descriptions of Ned’s wood carving too.

Overall, this was a great and not too emotional story of someone beginning to move on, that was well written and sympathetic. It just unfortunately had aspects that are just not my cup of tea.

I was given a free copy of this book. My opinions are my own.

4.5 stars

After reading and enjoying Happiness for Beginners last summer I was thrilled to be given a sneak preview of the latest Carole Matthews book by the Little Brown Book Group via NetGalley. My thoughts are my own and not influenced by the gift.

This is a great book to escape into. The world is currently full of anxiety inducing news and events, and this story was a good distraction. The majority of the story is set in the Isle of Wight, which is where Jodie has escaped to, leaving behind her work and the husband she believes is cheating on her.

Jodie is looking for peace and quiet, time to heal from the events of the past year. However she finds a group of people on the Isle of Wight who encourage her to start to live again. My favourite characters were Marilyn and George, who both made me smile every time they appeared in the story.

My favourite scene is towards the end of the book on one of Jodie's visits to the gym. This is a no spoiler review so I won't divulge why this made me laugh out loud.

I enjoyed my virtual visit to the Isle of Wight, the book is full of great characters and an enjoyable read.

Carole Matthews has been a long time favourite author of mine. She has great use of descriptive language for her scenes and characters. I could imagine the Isle of Wight from my own visits and the author's description, and particularly loved how I envisaged Ned's boat.

What I would give to be able to travel to the Isle of Wight now and have a break on this lovely island.

The perfect escapist read. Jodie finds herself leaving everything behind to run away to her brothers houseboat docked at Cockleshell Bay. All she wants is some peace to try and work out what to do with her life unfortunately she hasn’t counted on cleaning lady and blonde bombshell Marilyn who gets her out and about . She meets George the living statue, Ida who runs the beachfront cafe and Ned her dishy yoga loving neighbour. Maybe she doesn’t need peace she just needs some friends.

A great book that makes you want to kick back relax and go to a few festivals and do yoga on the beach.

I loved this book,it tells the story of a young woman in a very hard place having lost something very precious to her. She needs space so walks out off her London life and heads to her brothers boat on the Isle of Wight
Here she finds solitude and the space she is craving until Marylin enters her life to clean and deliver groceries and very useful tips on how to overcome certain things that happen to us in life
Jodie starts to embrace life on a boat and even starts to make new friends but will she make any decisions or will events have more hurt for her?
When will she get her happy ever after?

I loved this book. I felt I lived and breathed everything. I was fascinated by Jodie right from the start and I suspected her heartache a bit before she told us her story, which was also a great little technique that I loved, Jodie at this point in the book turns to us as a reader and addresses us to tell her story, I felt like I was in private circle of friends sitting in her houseboat over a glass of wine. It was brilliant.
I really liked the idea of Ned and Jodie as a couple, but I wasn’t 100 % sure it was going to happen, was she destined to work things out with her husband after all? Or was Ida going to win Ned over after all? Her conversations with Della left me suspicious too and I did wonder if she wasn’t such a great friend after all, and I was just as shocked as Jodie when the truth came out.
The bond between Bill and Jodie was great too, I would love to see Bill meeting all the residents of Cockleshell Bay. Marilyn was brilliant too, I loved her positivity and her colourfulness I wish I had a Marilyn in my life, we would all benefit bring a bit more like her.

The ending was beautiful too, I loved the little twist of Ned past and discovering he had a daughter and that he took Jodies advice to play a bigger part in her life. Ned and Jodie are meant to to be and I like how she reflects that it may not have be the family she thought she wanted but it was the one she needed, her, Ned and Skye.

I finished this book last night and wanted to shout about it! I was lucky to have an ARC copy which I received in exchange for an honest review.
In all honesty, this book was a breath of fresh air and I was sad to see it end. The story sits squarely in the happy endings section yet, it’s not immediately obvious where that happy ending will come from.
Jodie is clearly very damaged by her life’s recent events and her pain is obvious. Her initial intolerance of Marilyn and annoyance at noisy neighbour Ned, are both symptoms of the pain that she is trying to deal with. As with so many situations of this type, the initial irritations fall away and, Marilyn and Ned begin to feature in Jodie’s recovery.
Sunny Days and Sea Breezes is packed full of interesting characters from the bohemian Ida and the human statue George to Jodie’s amazing, supportive brother Bill and her estranged husband Chris.
My favourite character would have to be Marilyn and her amazing repertoire of misquotes and random emojis. I think every saddened heart needs a Marilyn to help them heal.
The cause of Jodie’s sadness does come to light and, if miscarriage and or cheating are triggers for you, be warned this is not an easy ride emotionally. Notwithstanding the former warning, this book is a treat and well worth diving into. Carole Matthews has created a lovely circle of friends and tackled some difficult subjects with love and understanding.

5 stars out of 5 for this book!!!!! What a lovely lovely book! Thank you Carole Matthews to write such good stories! Carole Matthews is one my favorite author for now many many years and it's always such great pleasure to read a book from her! This time when I read "Sunny days and Sea Breezes" I could picture myself on the Isle of White by the sea, the wind in my hair... I felt so relaxed, I felt like I was away on this island myself... It is so well written! Also I loved the story in itself. The book is about a woman who escape her everyday life in crazy London to have a break in a little english island away from her cheating husband and away from the pain she is feeling after she has gone through an experience I won't tell you about her because I don't want to spoil anyone. On the island, Jodie is meeting new people that will change her life and make her smile again. This book is brilliant in every aspect and i can only recommend it!!! 5 stars out of 5!

Absolutely loved this!! A well-written story that just made me read to the end!! The characters were well-drawn - I LOVED Marilyn - and engaged me immediately. The story was very evocative of holidays I’ve spent on the Isle of Wight, and was beautifully descriptive, taking me back to the lovely island, and filling me with happiness. Ned the handsome hero has stolen my heart, and Jodie’s story is so sad. I have to admit to tears at the end of this lovely story, and I really didn’t want to leave this book!! A lovely escape from reality, I thoroughly recommend this book. Another gem from Carole Matthews.

Jodie Jackson has been through a horrendous time. To get some peace and quiet and much needed thinking time she goes to her brother Bill’s newly renovated houseboat, Sunny Days, on the Isle of Wight.
Jodie soon realises that her wish for a peaceful few weeks may not come true. Marilyn, who Bill employs to clean the houseboat, is determined to feed Jodie up and to get her out and about while she is there. Then there is Ned who is on the next-door houseboat. He is a sculptor and Jodie soon finds herself not only admiring his work.
The beauty of Cockleshell Bay and it’s residents soon works it’s magic on Jodie but when real life intrudes will she be ready to go back or is her heart now somewhere else?
Brilliant, relatable characters, Made me want to go to the Isle Of Wight and stay on a houseboat!

Another great book from Carole Matthews. A mixture of emotions is poured out with love and fun. Great characters getting to know each other on the Isle of Wight. Although the characters are fictional the beautiful IOW is lovingly described even through fictional names. So as Jodie leaves the mainland and heads to the IOW to escape her life she meets new friends in Ned, Ida, George and Marilyn. The title of this book really reflects what’s on the pages.
Thanks Carole and NetGalley.

Another great book by Carole Matthews, I totally loved it, so easy to read and great characters . To be involved in their lives and feel the joy and the pain. One of those books you just can't put down because you want to know where their journeys take them.

Jodie is on the run from her previous life, give the opportunity to escape for a while and makes sense of everything that has happened to her she ends up in the Isle of Wight on a luxury houseboat, Sunny Days thanks to her brother.

Thinking she can hide and lick her wounds is far from the truth as she encounters the whirling dervish cleaning lady that is Marilyn. Bright and abundantly cheerful, Jodie is not going to be able to escape being looked after by Marilyn. She succumbs to Marilyn's food, fashion advice and guidance and finds herself truly escaping.

Next to Sunny Days, is Sea Breezes another houseboat but not quite as luxurious, but most intriguing with its decor as well as it's owner Ned. Intrigued by this man, Jodie finds herself drawn to Ned as he goes through life, with early morning yoga on the beach, wood sculpting and playing in a band. All so far away from the life Jodie had at home.

Jodie starts to feel part of something in this little place on the Isle of Wight, as she passes the time of day with George the statue makes on her way to the beach cafe where she meets Ida. All of these people begin to help, some unknowingly, heal Jodie.

But you cannot always out run the past and despite the relentless messages and phone calls, Jodie's past finds her and she now has to find out what exactly she really wants and can she live with it forever.

What a wonderful story from Carole Matthews, where I instantly felt empathy to the characters, and laughed aloud at the way Marilyn was determined to show colour to Jodie and see the importance it could have in life. This is definitely a book to bring colour to your life, the yellow sand, the blue sea and sky no matter how grey your life may feel, colour can be found in the unexpected places.

A simply joyous read.