Member Reviews
This was my favourite Cathy Bramley yet. I loved the three women's storylines and the different ways they embraced the second chances offered to them. Salcombe is an amazing location and I was left with the warm, glowy feeling of satisfaction when I finished their stories far too quickly!
I have read all of Cathy Bramley's books and really enjoyed this one. I'm really looking forward to the next one.
A really lovely story of three women in different age groups.
Beautiful setting and at times I couldn't put it down.
The story of the women on a journey to learn to love and trust again.
Clare and Sky are half sisters, with the same useless dad who don't get on. When they are thrown together one summer, both staying with their joint godmother Liz, they learn how to trust each other, and help in each others healing of broken hearts.
Liz has her own demons following the death of her best friend, Clare's mum and the love and support of the two girls also helps her to move on and get her happy ending.
An enchanting and emotional read, which I loved.
A brilliant book
Had me hooked from the first page and I didn’t want it to finish
Can’t wait for her next book
Thanks NetGalley
Apologies for the delay in this review, i have been battling ill health.
Great story, lovely setting, enjoyed the charcters and the story very much. I thought it flowed really well and it was a really good read.
Full of summer vibes and fizzying with family drama. I really enjoyed this book. The strong female characters are inspirational, the setting is divine and the storyline is captivating. Fantastic read all year round! Highly recommended as a feel good, enjoyable read.
Thanks you Netgalley
Liz is lonely. Since the death of best friend Jen, she hasn’t had the energy to keep the Seaside Gourmet Girls in full operation.
Headteacher Clare needs some downtime. Independent and refusing help, she’s close to burn out. She’s looking forward to time in Salcombe with Liz and her own baby daughter Ivy.
Skye is on leave from her role with the Hope Foundation charity project in Uganda. She needs to make a decision but had to have time away to clear her head to do so.
Liz meets up with Jen’s ex-husband Mike on what would have been Jen’s birthday. She’s given news that means she’ll have to get the catering business up and running again. Mike offers the opportunity for Skye to help her out for the summer, but Liz is wary at first. With Clare and Ivy staying for the summer and no love lost between Clare and Skye, it could cause more problems than it solves. Liz believes Mike when he promises to smooth it over.
Oh how I loved this story. I didn’t want it to end! The Sunrise Sisterhood gave me the whole spectrum of feelings. It felt good to snort with laughter (the misunderstanding at the business meeting is a classic), feel uncomfortable in places (the catered birthday party springs to mind – funny to watch on the outside but painful because of why), cry tears of sadness and happiness. The birthday party invite is ingenious! This made me cry big heartfelt tears. Surely it had to make a difference.
I enjoyed finding out what motivated the characters and loved them all. Mike was the biggest surprise of all for me. And it made sense for something else that had puzzled me.
The conflicts are creative, moving the action along on a jagged path to understanding and realisations. I loved how different it was for each of the characters yet comes together to make a whole.
Salcombe is where it’s at this summer. Where secrets are revealed and all three women find their own way through to live their best lives. I loved it!
Holiday reading, can take you anywhere. Here we are off to Salcombe, Devon.
Liz is grieving her best friend and work partner Jenny. She hasn’t managed to maintain the catering business since her tragic death. However when Jenny’s ex husband asks for something, it appears Liz has to get back to what she was doing before her life changed.
Clare, Jenny’s daughter is a single mother to baby Ivy. She is determined to do it all on her own, including being a headteacher and certainly not accepting help from anyone. But Clare misses her mum, and spending time with Liz in the summer holidays, is going to be what she needs the most.
Skye, has returned from her work in Uganda, she has to decide what to do next, When an opportunity to work with her godmother, Liz she heads to Devon. What she doesn’t realise is that her stepsister Clare will be there as well.
This book is full of secrets and jealousies that have threatened to ruin relationships and families. It seems that even the younger of the characters are continuing in that vain. By bringing all these women together with their emotional baggage, something has to come to a head during this particular summer in Salcombe.
Liz, Clare and Skye learn a lot about each other and themselves. In the face of adversity they are quick to defend each other, but perhaps that is the most startling outcome, it makes them as much introspective of their own actions as well.
Some lovely characters to laugh along with, exasperate about and cry with, this books is full of female hopes and desires. A proper sisterhood supports each other and Cathy Bramley shows you how it can be done with the backdrop of Salcombe added in for the perfect setting.
If you are expecting the romantic cosy fiction feel that this author often writes about then you will be disappointed. This is a book which can be seen as raw and emotional, with romance as a secondary plot. Don’t let that put you off, this is about embracing women and the strength and power of female relationships. If you need that pick me up – then it is a book to read.
Loved this book. This book was such a joy to read as it is set in Salcombe which is a place I love to visit.
I loved the strong female characters and their relationships with each of them having complications in their lives. I just wanted to hug them all. It was a lovely story about friendships and loyalty and family dynamics. It was interesting reading how they all dealt with their insecurities and helped each other along the way.
There were highs and lows of emotions and hopes for all. Well worth reading and certainly brightened my days while waiting for the rain to stop.
What a heartwarming and truly lovely story this was.
I loved meeting Clare and Ivy, Liz and Skye and seeing if their bonds can be strengthened over the course of a summer, and just what each of them is hiding.
With a gorgeous backdrop of Salcombe, this is a fabulous holiday read, that I was utterly charmed by.
The characters were so real and vivid, their secrets were believable and I just couldn't get enough of them, during my time reading this story.
It's classic Cathy Bramley, complete with a foodie flavour to it, that I just utterly adored.
Thank you to Orion and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.
Loved the book! Perfect holiday read! Once I started it didn’t want to put it down! My favourite Cathy book to date! As always a pleasure to read!
Cathy bramley never disappoints with her books. Absolutely adored this book and read it as quickly as I could because I just could not put it down
Another wonderful book by Cathy Bramley. I am yet to find a book of hers that I do not enjoy.
This particular story is a heart warming, feel good focusing on family and relationships of 3 central characters.
I couldn’t help but to keep reading as I became invested in what would happen.
A thoroughly enjoyable read.
Thanks to netgalley for the chance to read this book.
Another brilliant read from Cathy. After years on her own Liz needs help to keep the catering business she ran with her best friend Jen in business. Jen’s daughter Clare and her daughter Ivy are visiting for the summer. Jen’s other daughter Skye from her second marriage is also visiting. Both are Liz’s goddaughters and she wants them to be there for both of them although, they couldn’t be more different. They need to work together after Clare falls and breaks her arm which means she needs to let Skye and liz help her with Ivy whilst they all try and keep the business afloat.
Cathy's books are always a delight to read, A wonderful summer read, full of love, laughter and fun. It is a beautiful read about women and sisters and what consists of family. It draws on the highs, the challenges, the...i just need you there as the dynamics of relationships change. Recommend for a summer read.
I love a Cathy Bramley book - just what you need to cheer you up, lighten the mood and feel warm and fuzzy.
This ones is about 2 girls born to the same dad but different mothers and very different upbringings, who come together one summer and find sisterhood again. It’s heartwarming and amusing and gentle, and with such a satisfying ending.
what a tear jerker another brill book by cathy bramley story of three generations which have ups and downs and laughs and tears along the way but a most enjoyable book to read with a happy ending for all
Another fabulous book by Cathy.
3 women are all brought together for the summer.
Liz whose best friend Jen died leaving her to run their business alone.
Clare a single mum who won’t accept help from anyone who is also Jens daughter and Liz’s god daughter
Skye who hasn’t worked out her path in life who is Clare’s step sister and also Liz’ s god daughter
After finding out Mike the girls dad and Jen’s ex husband calls in a loan from many years ago Liz realises she needs help so asks the girls for help but doesn’t tell them the full story as she knows they aren’t close
Can they make it work ?
I absolutely loved this book and would recommend it to anyone. It is not the easiest read at times, and certainly found myself squirming at some of the situations that the ladies found themselves in.
They come from Bath, Africa and Liz's home in Salcombe, all linked by Mike, the girls' father, and old uni friend of Liz.
Liz, and her god-daughters, sisters, Skye and Clare all have secrets which come out in the summer that they are living and working together in Salcombe. You are never sure which direction any of the characters will end up in, and whether the secrets will bring them together or push them apart, let alone the life that is ahead of them that starts to come to pass over the summer!