Emma, a wealthy young woman, returns home to care for her father, who has dementia. Emma’s life has been put on hold, but she refuses to leave her father even though he has a great support system. Emma seeks advice and finds comfort in her confidante and neighbor, Georgia. Things seem to be going well, all things considered, until Georgia's seventeen-year-old cousin visits for the summer and points out feelings Emma doesn’t want to acknowledge. And anyway, her relationship with Georgia is strictly platonic. Right? 


It was obvious early on how much Emma loved her father and I found that heartwarming. I enjoyed the banter and the way Emma hilariously teased Georgia. The history of their relationship left me uncertain about them as a couple, but I kept an open mind until the end. Overall, it was an interesting read that others might also enjoy.


I’d like to thank NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

That's a beautiful and very emotional story. Emma is a young woman who has put her life on hold to take care of her father who, even though he's still young, has early-onset dementia. She's fortunate to be financially well-off, allowing her to have household help and caregivers for her father, in addition to having supportive friends and neighbors. Moreover, she lost her mother when she was a teenager, and her father is her only close family, so seeing him lose his memory and not recognize her at times is taking a significant psychological toll on her.

Her closest neighbor, Georgia, who runs a neurology practice and is also a lifelong friend, keeps telling her that Emma is too young at twenty-five to be doing nothing but taking care of her father. Georgia is thirty-eight and has babysat Emma and watched her grow up. But now Emma isn't a child anymore. And if a teenager, Cora, Georgia's rebellious niece who her mother wants to straighten out, enters this whole situation, then what Emma and Georgia didn't want or didn't dare to face between them will eventually come out.

The story is beautifully developed, with a good pace. I loved how the relationship between the two of them changed and how they faced the problems that came up. Both protagonists are truly admirable. I appreciated that it was a romantic story without any complications.

Full disclosure, I haven’t read the Jane Austen novel. I know this is an adaptation and the whole “ I held you as a baby” happened in the Jane Austen novel but I can’t get over the fact that this woman held her and then watched her grow up, babysat her. I also didn’t appreciate the author using the word “slut” to describe a 17 year old. And it wasn’t in an ironic way, it was literally to describe her actions and to slut shame. It was early on in the book and left a bad taste in my mouth but I decided to keep reading.

I HATED the “sex scene” after Emma’s dad went missing and she had a panic attack. Instead of stopping Emma when she kissed her, she proceeded to have sex with her. No one should have sex with someone after going through what Emma went through..

I know that the premise do the story is also to have Georgia start to see her differently. Which is fine. I don’t have an issue with the age gap.But I do have an issue with someone literally babysitting someone when they were a child. In the book, Emma says Georgia was never a mother figure to her, but I don’t know if I believe that. Emma lost her mom before she was teen. Do we really think Georgia didn’t have a motherly role after that, even as a babysitter? Or maybe a big sister role. But the situation gave me the ick. If Georgia wasn’t so intertwined into Emma’s family and moved away, it’d be a little different.

I feel like the things Georgia did throughout the novel didn’t align with how she was described or what she was supposed to represent. She all but used a 17 year old to manipulate Emma into seeing she had friends/support. She also disregards Emma’s autonomy and does things that affect Emma without asking. Not to mention, you’re 38 and you’re going to lie and act like you’re dating someone to make Emma jealous? Weird.

I felt it had so much potential to be a lovely story. The dementia storyline could’ve been amazing. I just couldn’t get past a lot of the problematic(imo) things. If none of those things bother you, I do think you’ll like the book, but I couldn’t get past those things.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read the ARC

adding a modern twist to an old classic only made this book better. and it held its own perfectly well anyway. this book was fantastic and i cant wait for toher to love it just as much as at the end of it feel just as smiley and gooey as i did. a brilliant one from Sarah who hit every mushy point i have in me.
in this book we have Emma who has put her life on hold to look after her dad who has dementia. hes got a great community and support around him but this is her dad, she adores him so isnt going to leave him.
what Emma does have is their neighbor Georgia. and the two have a lovely witty and banter filled relationship which is clear from the reader as love love love! but who telling these two that? enter Georgia cousin. of course its going to be the teen filled angst of a human to tell them some honest truths and stir the pot. but maybe mixing it up a little is just what this pair need.
but Emma cant see it. she knows its just friendship between the two. right? can she be brave? should she be?
these characters had my whole heart from start to finish. can i come and stay for the summer with the cousin next time please?
this book was just gorgeous. from start to finish. and then when it did finish felt a little sad that it had to do so.
read this. you wont regret it and you will be smiling when you do.

Unfortunately this just wasn’t for me. We follow our main character twenty-five year old Emma whose father has dementia which makes leaving him and her home on Highbury Lane difficult and with her future on hold she turns to her neighbor and confident thirty-eight year old Dr. Georgia for advice and comfort but when Georgia’s cousin seventeen year old Cora comes to stay with her they’ll have to confront what they feel for each other.

I wasn’t really invested in their relationship or on their characters separately. Firstly they’ve known each other all Emma’s life since Georgia even held Emma when she was born which I found a little uncomfortable although Georgia didn’t fall in love with Emma until she was an adult but my main problem with their relationship was that when they had a misunderstanding instead of talking to Georgia to solve things Emma decides that it’s better to go out with Bridget even though she doesn’t feel anything for her, creating unnecessary drama.

Georgia is thirty eight but she doesn’t act like it most of the time, sometimes she’ll be arguing or lecturing Emma to then go and kiss her in the middle of it also when they finally agreed that they wanted each other, they came to the conclusion that it was better if they pretended nothing happened so Emma goes back to being with Bridget while Georgia makes Emma think she’s seeing someone else, again more unnecessary drama.

The best character for me was Cora who at beginning seemed to be just a rebellious teenager but ended up actually being more mature than the adults sometimes so I really liked her journey.

I don’t want to sound to harsh since this is a debut novel and the writing wasn’t bad so I’ll probably still check this author’s next work.

Huge thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for this ARC

Emma by the Sea is a sensitive and at times sad story with deep, very real themes and a beautiful and gentle love story between two women who have known each other their whole lives.
Only now, however - and by that I mean at least the last three years - does Georgia, Dr Georgia Kostigirs, see Emma as a woman and no longer as her neighbor's little girl, whom she once babysat.
Emma has had to go through a lot. In the last three years and her life is currently in a kind of stasis. Her dad is ill.
Since her mother died it was difficult for everyone and now her father's diagnosed dementia has been a shadow and a fear in her life to lose him too.
That‘s a lot and she’s finding it very difficult to cope with.
She gets help from the lovely people around her, but especially from Georgia.
Georgia, her older friend since childhood.
Georgia, her dad's doctor.
Gorgeous Georgia with her beautiful face, her wild hair and round, soft curves that she can no longer ignore.
I really likes this book and will gladly read more from this Author!
Thanks to Bold Strokes Books and Sarah G. Levine for this ARC!

This was a sweet story, and.very enjoyable. Bless Emma for taking such great care of her dear dad. I loved how Emma and Georgia finally got together. There were some good secondary characters, and what Rachel said about her ex fiancé was hilarious. The author did a great job for her first novel. Well done.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

I have just finished Emma by the Sea and wanted to write the review straight away, to get what I feel now down on paper.

The story follows Emma, who lives at home with her dad who sadly has early onset dementia. Emma has put her life on hold to be with her dad and to look after him. However she is not alone, there are lots of other people around, either for her dad or her, even if she doesn't realise it yet.

I loved this story, I have to admit, one of my first LGBTQ+ books and a great introduction. There were steamy scenes but not graphic and you really start to understand the characters and their journeys.

I fully enjoyed reading the very sweet love story between Emma and Georgia. I can really recommend this book.

It was so great to see how the people in their close proximity are doing all to make them get together and the introduction of the troubled niece Cora is what really makes things move along and they can finally get their HEA after a very slow burn story.

It did not disturb me that an age gap, 13 years, and that Georgia has known Emma since she was a baby. They were just friends until they were both adults, no romantical thoughts before very recently.

This book is meant for those who love Jane Austen. I’ve never been a big fan if her works but I understand their place in history.

This is still a fun story and there will be readers who love this. It may not have connected with me but I would give Sarah Levine another try on her next bin because it is well written.

Thanks for NetGallery and the publisher for his Arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

I adored this book. I ate this up so fast I was actually disappointed when it ended!!

A retelling of a the classic Jane Austins Emma,
25 year old Emma has been back home in Highbury Lane for three years now looking after her father who has early onset dementia. Emma is a bit lost in her life at the moment, other than exercise, redecorating and looking after her father she has permanently paused her life. With this in mind she turns to her neighbour, friend, confidant Dr. Georgia Kostigris. Drop in a 17 year old Cara who is Georgia’s cousin and Cara starts to see more than just casual friends between the two women, old crushes and wonderful realisations start to flourish with Cara there to help try and push them in the right direction.

Honestly this was a really enjoyable, easy to read romance filled with a will they / won’t they, jealousy and the sexual tension between the two lights up the pages!! The story is well known but adding in some modern twists makes you really see the ongoing personal conflict that Emma has and the frustrations this leaves Georgia in, talk about mixed messages! You have a bit of everything here, sapphic longing, age gap, known disability or illness, jealousy, small town vibes and spice.

For a debut author I would highly recommend this, it’s a great book to relax and loose yourself in for a few hours or days. I was given the opportunity to read this as part of an ARC and I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author to read this modern day gem that comes out on the 13th May.

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.


Emma has put her life on hold to take care of her father even though she has support everyone is telling she can have a life to go out there and live it but to me she hesitate to do it because if she does she’ll have to accept that she will lose her father. Georgia is the next door neighbor that knows Emma and father Emma turns to her for friendship and advice to help keep her sane. Georgia ask Emma to help her with her cousin Cora who is being rebellious when she arrives she point out things that Emma wishes not to be known. I enjoy this read the romance was great I love age gap romance my only problem I don’t really like age gap romance when the one character watch the other character grow up I overlook this because I enjoy both characters and supporting were just as great.

The writing was beautiful. The New England modern sapphic twist on Emma was fun. The only issue I had was the fact our two leads had known each other all Emma’s life and to me that felt a bit incestuous. Other than that I enjoyed the book.