Really enjoyed this one. Esme has a guest house on the west side of Ireland, and although she getting quite elderly and injured herself, plus going blind, she still has a lot of life left in her. Listening to her guests, and offering words of wisdom, the book goes along well. There are several story-lines, and they overlap and connect at times too, which is good. Cora and her distant husband Michael, Phyllis and her husband Kurt who is slowly spiraling with dementia, and Niamh, who is pregnant with her married boyfriend's baby. Phyllis' son Rob and grandson Josh are also there, and of course Marta, Esme's friend and helper at the guest house. Almost felt like a small community, and a good balance of each story line. Would highly recommend.

Loved this book, great variety of characters who met and the guesthouse and subsequently their lives became entwined. Have read other books by this author and this was another excellent book

Tucked between the pages of this feel-good fiction, is a little warning about the need to tackle the ageism that has pervaded modern society. The Willows Guest House in the Irish village of Ballycove has been operated for almost 200 years by the family of Esme Goldthorpe. Guests are treated like family and problems are solved over a cup of tea and a listening ear. Esme is a true custodian of wisdom and I loved how her age and experience contributed to the success of the guest house.

In addition to ageism, another spotlight that got my hackles up was the greedy developers that tended to see dollar signs and opportunities rather than human beings and history. Hogan shows that age doesn’t need to be a factor in guaranteeing a win against gentrification.

I can always count on this author to provide an entertaining read, yet leave me with a thought-provoking concept or two. Hogan’s focus on vulnerability, connectedness, and the benefits of sharing a burden will stay with me for quite some time.

I was gifted this copy by Aria & Aries and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

Loved this book, a cosy summer read which I didn't want to put down. The Guest Hous3 by the sea is the kind of place I'd like to go to escape real life for a few days.

Esme has run The Willows guest house for as long as anyone in Ballycove can remember, but as her eye sight fails and she has a fall just before the start of the summer season she is forced to sit back for the first time in her life and let her friend Marta take charge.

From her chair in the entry hall, not much passes Esme by and she shares her pearls of wisdom with the guests who are staying for many different reasons. There's Cora, the wife visiting indefinitely... without her husband; Niamh, the city professional with a life-changing decision to make; and Phyllie, the grandmother whose family is slipping away from her.

Esme's guests provide the colour that helps her keep her grip on the world. All of them have something they want to escape – or to hold on to. But Esme can help them find their way before the summer is over?
Although Ballycove is a fictional coastal village in Ireland, this story took me right back to my childhood holidays in Ireland with my family and it was wonderful. In my head I could imagine the beach and spent a lot of the time comparing the scenery to Bantry where my family are from!!

The book touches on many areas including unwanted pregnancy, a possibly failed marriage, and the heart-breaking dementia storyline – but all the tales are all beautifully woven together with golden thread.

An absolutely wonderful book.

A lovely book by Faith Hogan which makes you want to go and stay in this guest house. Great setting, warm characters and a pleasurable escapist read. Would recommend.

A very enjoyable read that involves you in the lives of a skillfully interwoven group of characters. Although you feel from the outset that the author has happy endings in mind you are swept along with how she resolves all their problems.

The Guest House by the Sea by Irish author Faith Hogan is a lovely book about change. Focusing on several guests facing personal challenges as well as the innkeeper readers will be uplifted as attitude changes bring renewed focus on living life to the fullest. I voluntarily reviewed an advance copy of this book from NetGalley. Highly recommend.

Saying this was a really nice book sounds as though I am damning it with faint praise, but that isn’t my intention at all. It’s a well put together story about some of the guests who visit a small hotel on the western coast of Ireland, each of whom have a problem to solve. There’s Niamh, who finds herself unexpectedly pregnant, Cora, who walks on her boring husband, and Phyllis whose husband is facing dementia.
At the centre of the story is Esme, who is in her eighties has owned the guest house since her mother died, having moved there sixty years before to recover from heartbreak of her own. But now she is blind and incapacitated by a broken leg she still finds a use for herself by chatting to the visitors and letting them discover the useful quotes in her guest book.
I wanted to love this book but felt I couldn’t quite connect with the viewpoint characters enough for that to be the case.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I absolutely love Faith Hogan's books. They're always so heartwarming, and have the most beautiful messages inside. I loved this book so much.
How we see different characters and their reason for going to Ballycove to Esme's guest house. They each seek healing. I love how Esme the old woman who owns the guest house sits with each guest and offers words of wisdom.
There's such a beautiful sense of community and kindness at the guest house. How they all help each other.
I personally would love to go to the guest house and sit with Esme for a chat and a cup of tea ☺️✨
I just adored this book, it was such a cute, cosy, book fill of wisdom and friendship.
Faith Hogan does it again!! Highly recommend this book 🙌

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this lovely book.
This is such an enjoyable read and I was totally absorbed in all the lovely heart warming characters. Ballycove is the perfect setting and I could just picture staying at this guest house by the sea and having a good heart to heart with Esme.
I have enjoyed all Faiths books that I have read so far, such an amazing author. 5 star read for me

Faith Hogan does it again! I have now read all of her published titles and enjoyed each one and The Guest House by the Sea is no exception.

I loved Esme with her vulnerabilities and wise words for all of her guests. I admired Cora, was rooting for Niamh and Rob, empathised with Phyllis and Kurt and was suspicious of Tanya and Paschal. I cared about them all and even worried about how much Marta was doing. Really think Joel Lawson needs his own story please!

Faith Hogan has a way of writing that flows and carries you along as you get closer to the many characters and care about them as their stories unfold. By the time the book is finished, you wonder how you will get by without regular updates on their progress through life. Real issues and problems tackled in a gentle way. Bravo!

I love the cover. It makes me want to own a physical copy of this book. The story only reinforces that desire. I felt sorry for Esme owing to her health woes, but the situation makes her an interesting observer through whom we get to experience the lives of others. All the characters in this book are dealing with something, and that gets revealed as the story progresses. Read this book to cultivate empathy and to enjoy how Esme guides them to find their way back to the joy in life.

BLURB: Esme has run the guest house for as long as anyone in Ballycove can remember.

But in her declining years, her sight is failing, and when she has a fall on the eve of the summer season, she is forced to take a back seat for the first time in her life.

From her chair in the entry hall, not much passes Esme by. There's Cora, the wife visiting indefinitely... without her husband; Niamh, the city professional with a life-changing decision to make; and Phyllie, the grandmother whose family is slipping away from her.

Esme's guests provide the colour that helps her keep her grip on the world. All of them have something they want to escape – or to hold on to. But can Esme help them find their way before the summer is over?

REVIEW: This light and fluffy book started out well, but the unclear plot and pacing that just dragged out was no fun at all. From the blurb, I expected something in the vein of “Valentine’s Day” or “New Year’s Eve”, where all stories are interwoven, but it failed to deliver for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this in return for my honest review.

This is a story about a lovely vacation resort where people come to rest, relax and reset. Cora is in a loveless marriage, Neve has been sleeping with a married man who doesn't really care for her and Phyllis is coming to the reality that her husband Kurt is sinking into dementia. The owner of Ballycove, Esme is blind, but while recovering from a fall, listens to her visitors and reads quotes written each day in the guest book. This story is full of warmth, characters you will come to love, and a feeling of hope that things will work out.

I loved it, loved it, loved it. This was a tremendously good read from beginning to end. I loved Esme. despite her limitations, losing her eyesight, she was a wonderful person. I would loved to have spent a quiet afternoon with a cup of tea just chatting to her. What an astute lady she was focusing on what she could do and not getting upset by the things she could no longer do, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about all the characters especially cora, Niamh and phyllie. It was a very moving read and left the reader with lots of food for thought. Brilliant.

'The house of second chances'
..

Everyone needs a dose of feelgood, hug-in-a-book reading, every once in a while. Yes! there are inevitably a few tears shed along the way and not every ending has roses around the door, but if you are feeling the need of a comforting shoulder to lean on, and a wise word whispered in your ear, then Esme is just the confidante you need, and this is definitely the story for you...

Be aware however, that there are trigger points for any particularly emotionally vulnerable readers, although personally I didn't find them too troubling, as they are all part of the rich tapestry of life as we know it today.

...

The Willows Guest House has been run by Esme Goldthorpe for more decades than she cares to remember, although the place is more than just a business to her, it is also her home and her very lifeblood, having been in her family for almost two hundred years and been run by the women of generations before her. Esme knows that the place isn't perfect - far from it - as its age is beginning to give it away and a gentle dilapidation is gathering pace with the passing seasons. However, its location right on the western coast of Ireland, with the stunning views of the ocean it commands, more than makes up for any cracks which might be showing. Esme is determinedly holding out against the local Fenlon family, who are buying up all such similar properties with a view to building a large luxury hotel complex and are becoming increasingly ruthless in their methods to try and get Esme to sign on the dotted line. With the amount of money the Willows needs spending on it and faced with Esme's advancing years and failing health, the outcome might seem inevitable, especially as this promises to be one of the most challenging seasons ever. However, Esme has underestimated the esteem she is held in, both by her guests and the redoubtable and fiercely loyal Marta, who has been with her for so many years now, that the two are more like mother and daughter.

This year, so many of her guests are amongst her most long-standing patrons, making the trip this time for a whole raft of different reasons and when they have collectively and individually met and been reunited with Esme, they decide that she should on no account be bullied into taking any action about the future of the Willows, which she doesn't want to happen. As the storyline unfolds we learn of the many reasons which have brought them together, as if by fate, at this place, at this time, and their shared experiences are the bedrock of this wonderful book. Esme herself, despite her own physical and emotional limitations, through her wisdom and ability to listen intently to each person, hearing what is left unsaid as much as the words which are spoken, holds the key to many of the answers they seek, although they must work things out for themselves from Esme's guarded observations, as the way forward must be the choices and decisions of their own making.

As a mark of their individual and collective respect for their wonderful hostess, her guests pool their many talents, in their determination to make The Willows a place which will be there for many years to come and a haven where they know they will always be welcome.

...

This richly crafted, multi-layered, cross generational story, transcends the elucidation of everyday domestic intrigue and interest, which it might at first appear to be. There is so much more depth, heart and even moments of unashamed humour, to be garnered from author Faith Hogan's wonderfully textured, evocative, poignant and emotional narrative and dialogue, which wrapped itself around me like a comfort blanket.

Esme, whilst coming to terms with her own frailty of age and health, and no longer with her beloved Colm by her side, still holds deeply locked within her heart the long held secrets which saw her return to her roots all those years ago, never to leave again, a trauma which she has hitherto only shared with one other special person in her life. This makes her even more determined that her home should continue to be a safe place of sanctuary, comfort and healing for those who cross its threshold, whatever their reason for visiting.

Faith unashamedly, yet sympathetically, raises for discussion some of those often complex and difficult to deal with issues, which surround us in our daily lives and can result in such traumatising long-term outcomes for both the sufferers and their loved ones. Dementia, rape, abortion, miscarriage, physical and mental abuse, lone parenting and the fading blooms of a lacklustre marriage. You may think that this list is sad and depressing enough to make you not want to even open that first page; but believe me, Faith made it so easy to step into Esme's world, seeing things through her eyes, as she attempts to help her guests maybe think about things which they consider to be insurmountable problems, from an altogether different perspective, which may help them unravel their often confused thought patterns. At the same time, her guests, in some cases almost against their will, are beguiled by their unassuming hostess, her homely and understated guest house and the calming forces of the ambient coastal surroundings.

Whilst the wider location and the way in which it helps Esme's guests connect with their innermost thoughts, adds texture and depth to the storyline, this is definitely all about the house itself and the wonderfully well drawn and developed, authentic characters who pass through its doors each and every season. Their hopes, dreams, pain, moments of happiness and joy, are all emotions which surround them like a cloak when they are free to be themselves and don't have to put on a brave face to cope with the added pressures of everyday life. Maybe, not having walked in all of their shoes, I couldn't connect with everyone and their unique problems equally. However, their individual vulnerability and that feeling that they were searching for a sense of belonging, was so definitely prevalent when they first arrived at the Willows, but after Esme had worked her magic and they had begun to open up and connect with one another, they seemed to grow in stature, more able to make decisions about their futures and with the confidence to follow through with actions.

Ballycove is a fictional location which has been melded with some real locations, although with the aid of my trusty Google maps, it was quite easy to pinpoint where this small town might be situated. However, this book was never about the places themselves, which are background window dressing for the immediate area around the Willows, the house itself and, more importantly, the people within its four walls. Faith has made full use of of the palette available to her, to paint a picture full of vibrancy and colour, which offered a real sense of time and place that I could almost step into. Taking in the sights, sounds and smells which lift this small coastal corner of the west of Ireland off the pages, for a truly transportive and immersive experience.

What typically makes reading such a wonderful experience for me, is that with each and every book, I am taken on a unique and individual journey, by some amazing authors who fire my imagination, stimulate my senses and stir my emotions, and this storyline over delivered on just about every front, so thanks for some lovely moments and images to treasure, Faith.

Welp- I don't like it. Although yes, I did enjoy it at some points but it's not my favorite go-to type of fiction.

It was like a slice of life, fluffy, heartfelt and heartbreaking type of fiction and actually I really like it but it's the way that this book has a very unclear plot and undecided destination that made me dislike it.

It's also in the way that this was very dragging, and although it worked well in the end for all the characters, it also left a lot of loose ends that I just don't understand why there was no clarity for it.

I mean the characters were great and we have a lot of main characters, sice it's the type of story that includes a lot of people that intertwined together by the guest house and have their own stories to tell. Like the movie Valentine's Day or the New Year's Eve. Which is great and pretty interesting, but the execution was just weak.

It just had a lot of potential and it could use a little bit of drama, you know? It just felt so flat that I had a hard time finishing this one- so 2 stars from me. It's pretty disappointing cause I had some expectations when the plot got interesting in the beginning but oh well- here we are.

A fantastic read. I really enjoyed this book great writing again by Faith Hogan the characters were interesting and the story was really good. Esme family have owned the guest house in Ballycove for generations but now she is much older things are getting harder for her and after an accident leaves her immobile she spends more time chatting with the new guests that arrive at the beginning of the new season. As we follow the three families they are all struggling with their own problems but their time at Ballycove makes them assess their lives and hopefully bring them some comfort and happiness which they all deserve and Esmie also looks back on her own life and shares her wisdom. I really enjoyed this story

This is a story of life, love, living, second chances, and even death. This is a story that can be from any of our lives and that is what makes it interesting and special.

I love the Irish setting and Esme made me laugh and cry. The characters in this book are people you can relate to and it is such a real story and this I found wonderful. It is a very visual read and one I could play out in my head and I love that about a good book.

Thank you NetGalley and Aria &Aries for giving me the opportunity to read and review this wonderful book.