Summer by the Sea by Jenny Hale

For Faith the one summer she can’t forget is when she fell in love as a teenager – only for her sister, Casey, to steal her man. Now, at the request of her beloved ninety-year-old Grandmother, Faith has agreed to a family holiday – at their childhood beach house, where it all began. 

Faith hasn’t seen her sister in years but is finally ready to forgive and forget, enjoy the sunshine and relive happy memories. 

What she’s not ready for is meeting Jake Buchanan – the owner of the beach house – or the long-forgotten feelings he ignites in her.


Jenny Hale is fast becoming my “go to” author when I am looking for a perfect holiday read and that is exactly what Summer by the Sea was to me.

Faith and her family are returning to the Outer Banks where they spent many years together for their family holidays. Faith and her sister Casey have not been in contact for some time but their Nan has booked this trip for her birthday to try and bring the family together again but Faith is unsure how she will cope being around her sister again without mentioning the elephant in the room. Will the help of the familiar, calming surroundings and the gorgeous Jake be able to bring the sisters back together again?

Faith was a wonderful main character she had a loving and soft side to her but she was also determined and strong in her beliefs, I could really feel her adoration and passion for the quaint seaside town and she really tries to encourage to see the beauty of the traditional town. Being the younger sister I have often felt like I am in my sisters shadow so I did feel that I could to relate to Faith on some level as like Faith I am the less confident one and we couldn’t be more different. Her sister Casey was a character I was wary of at the start and I found it took a while for me to take to her character because of her actions but towards the end of the book I did warm to her character.

I loved watching the relationship between Faith and Jake grow, never quite knowing what would happen as both of these characters don’t find romance comes easily and yet they both seemed to glow in each other’s company so I constantly felt myself wanting to push them together! Jake was my favourite character I felt from the start that there was something a little mysterious about him and yet he was charming and welcoming and he seemed to have a soft side to him especially when looking at the family and being in awe of what they had.

The storyline pulled me in straight from the start and I loved the mix of emotion, romance and summery feel to this book it was pure escapism which I love in a holiday read, Jenny Hale manages to transport us to an idyllic setting in which she describes so well. Make sure this one is ready on your kindle for your holidays.

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