Good, but something not quite doing it for me this time round. I think it seemed a bit rushed and so some things weren't developed properly. That said, Janey and Essie's relationship was explored and that was the main theme I think, so perhaps it doesn't matter about the other storylines. Loved the dogs. With thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Oh I absolutely loved this book. It had me hooked, the characters are so relatable and I enjoyed their stories.

I received this book in advance,I haven’t read Jenny’s book before. I do love a book set in Scotland so was looking forward to this. Essie stays in Edinburgh but doesn’t stay with her boyfriend Connor. Janey stays in the Highlands works as an audiologist. Essie gets made redundant so moves back home. Her and her Mum have a difficult relationship as Essie blames her on her parents divorcing but it’s wasnt actually her fault. Essie meets Dwight who buys 3 houses beside her Mums and Essie helps him. Lovell meets Janey when his dog has puppies. There is a bit of a spark there. There are lots of coming and goings with Essie,her boyfriend and Dwight and with Janey and Lovell. It’s worth a read but it didn’t grab me from the start and I felt some of the characters didn’t suit each other but I did persevere.

A real family story of Janey and Essie, of the differences of city and country life and growing up, away and together. Beautifully done with wonderful characters, scenery and dogs! And a bit of romance for good luck!

What a wonderful book! I don't want to give too much away but I thoroughly enjoyed reading Meet Me at the Seaside Cottages. The characters, the story, the setting, ah I loved it all!
I'm Scottish and I live on the coast, so to know all the places they are talking about, relate to changes that are happening, it made me feel like part of it! The dynamics between the characters, and the banter was all amazing! There were many laugh out loud moments, such a good book, I am so glad I had the opportunity to read this. Thank you!

Meet Me at Seaside Cottage by Jenny Colgan is a heartwarming story about second chances, family, and finding your way back to yourself.

Janey Carter has carved out a quiet, happy life in the seaside village of Carso. She loves her job as an audiologist, has two wonderful children, and lives in a beautiful home she renovated herself. But since her husband left, her confidence has wavered.

Just as she's starting to consider the idea of dating again, her grumpy thirty-year-old daughter, Essie, turns up at the door needing a place to stay.

Essie, recently unemployed, priced out of her flat in Edinburgh, and unsure about her relationship, is reluctantly forced to move back in with her mum. Their reunion is full of friction, echoing their difficult past, but it also brings opportunities for reconnection.

As the two women work together on a project to restore the derelict Seagate Cottages next door, their bond begins to rebuild. With help from rescue dogs, pub quizzes, and a stream of new neighbours and tradespeople, Janey and Essie start to heal in different ways. For Janey, there may even be a second chance at love.

The book is full of Jenny Colgan’s trademark warmth, wit, and coastal charm. I've had the opportunity to meet Jenny previously at a book influencer event, and she is as lovely in person as you’d hope — a true ray of sunshine, just like her books.

Meet Me at Seaside Cottage is a feel-good read about resilience, community, and the complicated love between mothers and daughters. A perfect comfort read with plenty of heart.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

This is yet another wonderful tale by Jenny Colgan, starting in Edinburgh and ending up in Essie's home town (or is it a village) of Carso, in the back of beyond.

It opens as she loses her big cheese job in finance, and has to find out her next steps, which seems to be crawling back to her mother (Janey) and history she doesn't want to remember, leaving behind her city boyfriend and his rich mates. Due to her love of buildings, the twists and turns that result, starting with working on the seaside cottages, to the relationship with Dwight, and the puppies.... you are not entirely sure where this story goes. And let's be honest, you can't predict the ending!

My favourite bit of this book is the dogs unifying everyone (especially the end chapter) and bringing Essie and her mother back together, along with much more.

I love that Jenny Colgan always brings a twist in the tale of something you wouldn't think about. In this book, Janey is an audiologist and as the story develops includes her signing to Lowell's daughter. The fact that Verity is deaf and the differing responses from her parents is an interesting one to think about.

Everyone should read this book, it will make you think. But is also a funny and cosy read.

Meet Me at the Seaside Cottages is a heartwarming journey of love, self-discovery, and second chances, beautifully set in the rugged coastal town of Carso. Colgan masterfully brings this fictional seaside village to life, with its crashing waves, charming cottages and tight-knit community.

The story follows a Janey, who has clawed her life & self esteem back to where they should be after a horrible divorce, and her daughter, Essie, who has to return to the town after things don’t quite work out the way she hoped they would. Jenny Colgan expertly weaves humour, a bit of romance and emotional depth throughout their journeys. The town itself becomes a character, offering healing, hope, and unexpected connections to those who arrive seeking change.

With her trademark warmth and wit, Colgan creates a delightful cast of characters — from friendly locals to potential love interests — that make this book feel like a comforting escape. I loved it!

After a slow start, this story set on the Isle of Lewis took off. Essie, having lost her job, has to leave Edinburgh and her perfect life with her perfect boyfriend to go to live with her Mum in her tiny cottage. She is not happy and makes that clear to everyone. However, over time, the charm of the island and her neighbours, she begins to see how nice it is living in a small place, where everyone knows your business and pulls together. This isn't an easy transition, though.

I loved the characters in this story. It is a multi-generational story, which always makes a story more interesting and rounded, I think, more pleasurable to read. I loved Essie's Mum Janey, with all her doubts and worries, but she was such a nice woman. All the characters were well-written and well-rounded, and a pleasure to get to know.

This is a little raunchier than the usual Jenny Colgan book, with a sex scene that some may be surprised by, but it didn't detract from the story. I loved this story, and it makes for a really good summer read.

What a beautiful book. Jenny Colgan can literally do no wrong, she is an excellent story teller, and I don’t think she’s ever written a bad book!
I love reading about Scotland, learning more about it. Her characters are so real and relatable.
I was rooting for all the characters, apart from the ‘city boys’ of course. The happy endings are just wonderful. Get yourself out there and buy buy buy, you won’t regret it!

Jenny Colgan is one of my favourite authors. I was delighted to receive a copy of "Meet me at the Seaside Cottages' by Jenny Ccolgan. Set in the same town last 'The Summer Skies' and 'Close Knit', some of the characters in the previous books feature briefly here, but it works well as a standalone, too. The main characters are audiologist, Janey, and her grown-up daughter, Essie. Janey is happy in the small seaside town, she is loved by the community, enjoys her job in the local hospital and has created a cosy home. Her marriage was a disaster and she is unwilling to try dating. Essie has returned following redundancy - she hates the town and couldn't wait to get away to university. She blames Janey for her parent's split and subsequent divorce, and resents having to return. Hoping the return is a stop-gap, Essie helps former school mate Dwight renovate the cottages next door to her mum. Janey, meanwhile, meet the father of a former patient... a lovely holiday read, with plot developments and well-written characters raising this novel above many others in the genre.

can someone please invent the portal that allows us to move or be adopted by the community and books that our favourite authors create? please? now-ish? because once again Jenny Colgan has given me beauty in a book. there arent enough words for how every single novel of hers brings me light and life to my days. i sit until my bum is numb to be immersed in them. she is top tier,cannot believe how lucky we are to have her talent in our lives, brilliance wrapped up in an author. and this book is only getting better and better as i read on. her books stay with me. but even if i cant remember exact plots they stick with me in a sense they have changed or made better something in my life, if only for a short while but usually forever. because books truly do bring light.
this book brings us Essie and Janey. Janey is feeling a little adrift and lost. but more lost in herself. she has left her confidence somewhere in the village it seems alongside her ex husband. the hurt is still there and the feelings it brought linger still. her daughter Essie had her life and love planned. this is quickly upended when she loses her perfect job and perfect lifestyle and in doing so needs to move home to live with her mum. they both love each other but boy do they not rub along well. this isnt helped when Essie seems to revert to moody child the instant she is home.
whilst both trying to rub along not rub each other up the wrong way they find themselves getting intrigued by the refurbishing of some cottages on Janeys street. and it brings out a whole new side to her. she comes to realise this life,or the things she could cherish in it means so much more to her than she once appreciated. she becomes less the lover of shiny shiny and more wanting hard work and to love things dearly for what they are and mean to her rather than what they mean to Instagram.
the journey mother and daughter take together is also one to be marvelled. the communication and past hurts is clear for the reader to see. but watching them unpick and unpack these is just gorgeous. and what great authors like Jenny does time and time again with the perfect pitch.
the book stored itself nicely on the shelf in my heart. it took me up in some varied emotions and i could definitely relate to some of what both of our main characters were going through. and of course there are the delicious side characters which you wont be disappointed with. a particularly someone you might like more than most.
another five star and above if i could read. thankyou!

A really enjoyable read, just what you’d expect from Jenny Colgan, and she delivers fabulously in this book. Just the right mixture of family, friendship and romance. A joyous read that warms your heart.

Jenny Colgan's books are always a lovely read, though this did take me a little while to get into.

Essie has fled the small Scottish town of Carso for the bright lights of Edinburgh, with a job in finance and a rich boyfriend. When she loses her job and can't afford anywhere to live, though, she's forced back to Scotland and a fractured relationship with mum Janey.

There's romance on the horizon, of course, for both divorced audiologist Janey and directionless Essie, with some surprising love interests. And there's puppies - lots of puppies - and financial shenanigans, and a deaf little girl, and to-be-renovated cottages, and a former high school nemesis.

Excellent as always.

A great novel from one of the great storytellers. Set in. Remote Scottish village (or is it a town? )and features the lovely mature Janey, getting back on her feet after a difficult divorce, and Essie, returning home after her glittering career comes to an end following a banking collapse. The novel deals with the difficult relationship between mother and daughter and their attempts to reconcile themselves to their insecurities and what they want out of life. In addition, there’s great romance, issues related to deafness and dogs- lots of dogs. A great summer read.

I've been a fan of Jenny Colgan's book since Meet me at the cupcake café, and absolutely love all of her books that are set in Scotland. Meet me at the Seaside Cottage doesn't disappoint at all,

Whenever you read Jenny's books it is like being with a old friend on a trip around Scotland, where you met new friends along the way. Her books are a comfort after a hard day at work. You just have to read a few pages and you are transported across lochs and beinns and sgurrs,

A really amazing book from Jenny.

Reading a Jenny Colgan book is like meeting an old and delightful friend.
There will be laughter, there will be drama but its always a great experience.
This book is set in Carso near to the airport of other stories and, as usual characters from other stories dip in and out of this one.
Janey is in her 50s and she is content and settled after some rocky times in the past, Essie her daughter is absolutely not. Forced to return to the middle of nowhere after her exciting life in Edinburgh is ripped from her she is not very happily settled back with her mother. All is becoming very gloomy but a dog(s), a small child and a line dancer from an oil rig help them both to get to a better place. Just the right amount of peril and danger to make this a real page turner.
Makes great points about the impact of tourism on remote beautiful places and the perils of the internet.
A really lovely read

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder books for the arc to review!

I'm a big Jenny Colgan fan already, so was very excited to return to Carso again! This was a really lovely story.
As always, the sense of place was strong and the characters very lovable. Jenny does small town setting so well.
I did struggle a little to understand the financial plot line, and felt the Dwight storyline felt a little underdeveloped. That being said, the main relationship plot line was that of mother and daughter so that was the main focus!
All in all, I enjoyed it and would recommend - a great holiday read too!

Absolutely brilliant! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy, I will definitely be recommending it.

I love Jenny Colgan books and this did not disappoint. Cosy and comforting with a beautiful location and adorable puppies!