I have just been on a trip of a lifetime!! From London to Cornwall to 'Route 66' and what a fabulous trip Sarah Morgan took me on!! & In this time where we can't do any 'trips' of any kind, this certainly helped take me to places I've never dreamt I could go to!! With an 'octagenarian lady' determined to travel on 'Route 66' to her daughter running around for her family with no time for herself, and then to a young lady who can't do anything right in her family's eyes!! This book shows grit, determination, love, secrets that cannot be secrets anymore, on a course/courses/trips that play their part in this beautiful story!! Loved every minute of it!!

Personally, I enjoyed the latter end of the book more so than the beginning. I loved how towards the end each character shone and you wanted things to happen for each of them. It left me wanting more, I really could have read about each of the characters and what happened next for several more chapters.

I enjoyed how the book let me wonder. Wonder away from the pandemic. Instead I was on route 66 with Kathleen and Martha living life to the full!

The latter end of the book gave me hope, joy and sunshine and I think if you like Sarah Morgan's work you'll love this. To be honest i'm rather gutted I read this during a major slump as had I read it at an alternative moment in my life I'm sure it would be a higher star read I couldn't stop gushing about.

Having mainly read Sarah's Christmas books so this was a pleasant and enjoyable read and I will still be looking to read and enjoy more of her work.

Thanks again!

The story of Kathleen and daughter Liza, who have never had the closest relationship, and Martha, a stranger who is accompanying Kathleen on the Route 66 drive she has always wanted to undertake. Told from each of their points of view you find out what in their past has shaped how they are today.

Along the way, Kathleen and Martha meet Josh, who has his own reasons for undertaking the historic journey, and they all help and support each other along the way. what will happen when they get to their destination?

I would have liked to have seen more of an epilogue to see how everything turned out for Martha and Josh.

Another excellent book from Sarah Morgan the sign of which is that once you start reading, you don’t want to put it down! There were some very enjoyable characters in this book, ones you could identify with. Having done Route 66 myself, it was good to see familiar place names in the book and I could visualise the places they were travelling through on their journey. Definitely a book to recommend!

I adore Sarah Morgan’s books but especially enjoyed this one. It was such an original plot and all of the characters had so much depth I couldn’t put the book down as I wanted to know how things would end for them. Once again Sarah covered more than just your typical love story with this one focusing heavily on friendships and family dynamics. Can’t wait for the next book from this author!!

On the surface this is a simple story of an 80 year olds last adventure before she's sent to life with her daughter, but what makes this book special is the character description and development, Sarah Morgan is amazing at this and creates people you care about. Another fantastic read

Oh this was the perfect novel for a grey February lockdown evening transporting me to the Cornish coast and on a roadtrip along Route 66. What could be better? Add in a woman on the edge, a woman in search of adventure, a woman looking for her path and a sexy hitchiker and some beautifully deep emotional conflict to make this the perfect escapist read. Safe to say I loved every word of it.

Trailblazing former travel presenter Kathleen is eighty and despite her daughter, Liza's best efforts is not ready to go into a home or live more quietly. She loves her coastal cornish cottage - and her unlikely friendship with pop star neighbour Finn. But when an unexpected intruder forces her to confront her mortality she realises that she still has one unresoved dream - and an unresolved secret. She's always kept clear of California but now it's time to travel Route 66 and see what lies at the end. The only thing is she needs a driver. Enter Martha, 25, still living with her parents and unable to find a job. Driving a cocktail drinking octagenarian across the States is exactly the kind of adventure she needs. If only she wasn't terrified of actually driving.

Meanwhile Liza is buckling. She has brought her daughters up the way she wishes she had been brought up, moulding her life and career around them, making sure they know every day that they are loved. Only right now she doesn't like them very much, nor is she happy in her marriage to a man who sees her as a facilitator and forgets their anniversary. If only she could find a way to articulate what she wants and to connect to her mother. But her mother doesn't even want her along on her trip.

This was a gorgeous sun drenched novel. I read it in one sitting and now I wish I hadn't been quite so greedy! Highly recommended.

What a lovely story this is. Kathleen who is 80 has had a life of adventure and travel as she presented a travel show for television. Her daughter Liza is worried about her living alone far away from her. It all comes to a head when Kathleen battles with an intruder and wins. Liza wants her to live in a care home and Kathleen decides she needs one more adventure, to drive Route 66 in America.

Martha is out of a job and her marriage and living with parents who think she's amounted to nothing . When she sees an advert for a driver to accompany Kathleen on her journey on Route 66 she throws caution to the wind and applies for the job.

On the outside it looks as if Liza has it made . Teenage daughters ,a husband and a house but underneath she feels taken advantage of and unappreciated . She loves her mother and is worried about her and her dream of Route 66 . Liza also feels her mother has never really loved her and wonders if that's why she kept going away for work leaving her dad to look after a young Liza.
This was a joyous book. I loved Kathleen and admired her need to have one last adventure. I liked that Martha was finally finding her feet and what she was capable of doing. Liza too found her spirit to tell her family exactly how she felt.
Another good read from Sarah Morgan.

A wonderful story of how Kathleen at the grand old age of 80:decides she fancies reliving a dream of driving Route 66. However she needs a driver and Martha needs not only a job but an escape from her family. I really loved how they became friends not just employer and employee. How Kathleen begins to open up her heart to her daughter Lisa and Martha. A wonderful inside into life, love, death, relationships and old friends.
Please can we have a follow up book as I would love to read more about Kathleen, Liza, Martha, Josh and Finn

I loved The Summer Seekers by Sarah Morgan. I was drawn in from the very start by her characters with their history, foibles and dreams. Kathleen, Liza, Martha - three very different women all looking for self-fulfilment and striving to make sure that it does not come at anyone else's expense.

Yes, the plot was minimal. Yes, the resolutions were too sleekly simple to be real-life. But the characters were engaging and real, with faults, regrets and hang-ups as well as strength of character and personality. And part of the joy of reading is to escape real life for a while.

And the descriptions of place were wonderful. I want to throw up my city life and move back to the sea. I want to travel and explore new places. I want to to chances and experience new things. This might all change tomorrow but while I was reading I was carried along.

A solution driven story to be enjoyed by three different generations of women, even a slightly inspirational storyline. This is the antidote to winter/covid/life in general blues and should be read in one go by women everywhere....don’t cook another meal just put your feet up and ignore everyone else who is taking over your life for a few hours. All three women are seeking to change their lives for the better, but don’t really know how until the wisest ( oldest, my contemporary) chooses to change her immediate future and the other two ages of women have subsequently had theirs changed as a result. Great story, great deceptively easy reading. Thank you Netgalley, publisher and author for a few hours of escapism in exchange for an honest review.

What a delightful and fun read! I loved all of the characters, not just how they connected with one another but their individual lives as well. They each had such depth to their character, and I thoroughly enjoyed learning more and more as the story went on. The dialogue was sometimes difficult to connect with, as a 25 year old woman myself it was hard to imagine myself or my friends using words like “fret” or “churlish”, but that doesn’t take away from the magic of the story.

Liza and her mother Elizabeth have never been close, though Liza loves her dearly, worrying about her safety living in an outlying cottage in the countryside.
Events come to a head when an intruder appears in Elizabeth’s home, causing Liza and her laid-back husband to appear on the scene, complete with brochures for a care home for Elizabeth. This doesn’t go down well with Elizabeth - she craves one last adventure, deciding on a road trip along route 66 in America travelling in a souped-up flashy sports car.
As a reader, I enjoyed the conflict between mother and daughter – an adventurous eighty year old battling against her responsible, worrying daughter. The dialogue is crisp and humorous in places, and I could see both viewpoints clearly.
When Liza’s relationship with her husband and two daughters becomes rocky, I admired her courage and determination in her way of dealing with the situation. The book is packed with engaging, quirky characters, even the minor ones are skilfully drawn by Sarah Morgan’s expert hand. I particularly liked Martha, a nervous driver, who is employed to drive Elizabeth on her adventurous holiday, but all characters are engaging and relatable.
This is an engaging story about the relationships between families, and the conflicts between them, and their journey towards finding each other.

This book was always going to engage me as it involved my favourite road trip of all time - Route 66. However, I didn’t just like it, I absolutely loved it! It was the perfect mix of romance, finding yourself and building relationships across the generations. I was totally routing for Martha and Kathleen from the start and Liza massively grew on me as the book continued. Emotional in places, life affirming in others this is the perfect way to while away an afternoon - perfect for a summer’s day but just as perfect on a cold February afternoon. Read it : you won’t regret it.

If you’re in need of a feel good pick me up then this is your book. A great bunch of characters that will dig their way into your heart and make it swell. Beautiful book and just what we all need.

What a super book! I first read Sarah Morgan way back in about 2013, when she wrote about ski lodges and family holidays. Every single one of her books is brilliantly descriptive, whatever country it is set in.
This book gave us a slightly different feel, a more mature style of writing and empathy. The three ladies around whom the story circulates are fascinating. Kathleen, the brave 80 year old who fells an intruder with a cast iron pan, is determined not to be pushed into a Retirement home, and wants one more adventure.
Her daughter Lisa, tightly buttoned up when we first see her, is adamant that her mother needs to be cared for. And then Martha, what a joy she is! Taking on the job of driving 'Miss Daisy' across America and onto Route 66, she is stubborn, brave and has develops a lovely relationship with Kathleen.
The adventures, the introduction of others into the story, the gradual opening up of Lisa, are all so well written.
I wanted the story to go on and on.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a copy of the book to review. I loved it.

Told through the perspectives of three women, this story is one of adventure and shows that no matter your age, or your experience in life so far, it's never too late to make a change. Kathleen, Liza and Martha are the hilarious and courageous women in question, and despite their differences, they all show that the destination isn't the important part, it's the journey.

80-year-old Kathleen has recently fought off an intruder in her home with a skillet she used to cook bacon. Despite her daughters nagging, she refuses to go into a residential home and instead wants to set off on a once in a lifetime trip - driving along Route 66 without a care in the world. Her daughter Liza is a working mum, battling two teenage daughters and an unappreciative husband. As her mum sets on off this wild holiday, she too dreams of escaping the stresses of her family life to have a break of her own. Whilst Martha, a 20-something, is unemployed and recently divorced. Living with her parents has its shortcomings and she just can't find a career that she wants to pursue, or that would please her parents enough to get them off her back. After seeing Kathleen's advert for a driver and companion for her Route 66 trip, she jumps at the opportunity -despite not being a confident driver.

The Summer Seekers had me yearning to be in the back of a fancy car speeding down Route 66 with the wind in my hair, or sunning myself on a gorgeous patio in Cornwall and swimming in a lake alongside a famous musician. I would've liked there to be a larger sense of the trip itself with more descriptions of what the women get up to on their respective holidays, as despite the journey itself being a huge plot point, this is more an emotional journey of self-discovery. It does offer a unique perspective of re-evaluating your life and putting your own happiness first and is told in a charming and effective way. I loved the dynamic between Kathleen and Martha and their radiating energy, and the exploration of the relationship between Kathleen and Liza as the book continues is heartwarming - with just the right amount of tension, compassion and warmth to make it believable.

This is my first book from Sarah Morgan, but I will be looking at her others now after this fun and engaging read.

*Huge thanks to HQ and Netgalley for the ARC

I really enjoyed this delightful story. While there was some romance, the story focuses more on relationships. The story is about an emotional journey, as well as an actual one down Route 66. The story flowed really well and took me along.

The story revolves around three women, all of different ages and with different lives. The characters are very well-developed and I really liked them. Katherine is in her eighties and a really feisty lady who knows her own mind. I thought she was great, loved her spirit and determination. Liza, her daughter, is the opposite, controlling and organised and she doesn't understand her mother at all; she grew on me as the book went along. Then there is Martha, the youngest of the women, and I so wanted her to get a break too, she needed a boost.

This is a really lovely story and the perfect summer read and one which I highly recommend.

This latest story by Sarah Morgan felt different to previous ones I have read, but in a good way.

Yes, it was about relationships, and so much more. "The Summer Seekers" explores three stages of a woman's life through the eyes of Kathleen, an 80-something grandmother with a zest for life; her daughter, Liza, a mother of teenage twins; and Martha, a young woman who signs up to be Kathleen's driver and travelling companion on her journey of a lifetime, driving along Route 66.

Set in Cornwall and along Route 66, the scenery is a backdrop to what's happened and is happening around Kathleen, Liza and Martha - past and present.

"The Summer Seekers" is a story of self-discovery, and readers may identify with some of the situations that Kathleen, Liza and Martha encounter, the excuses we make for ourselves, thereby preventing us from reaching our full potential, or realising that it's okay to stop and enjoy the sunshine. Most important of all, realising that it is never too late to make changes.

There are quite a few funny moments along the way, and these are a good reminder to laugh at yourself occasionally.

I thoroughly enjoyed curling up to read and travelling along with Kathleen, Liza and Martha on their journey of re-discovery, as well as reminding myself that it's okay to take time out to just enjoy life, now more than ever (as I write this, we are in another lockdown here in the UK).

Thank you to Sarah Morgan for putting pen to pen to paper, and HQ and Netgalley for an advance copy.

Off to seek the summer!

This delightful book follows octogenarian Kathleen on an adventure down Route 66. Her companion Martha is down trodden by her family and lacking in self-esteem. As the story progresses Martha helps Kathleen to express her emotions and Kathleen boosts Martha’s self confidence. The characters are beautifully developed and lead to a heartwarming end. A lovely story with a little gentle romance tucked in as well.