Another good story from Bella Osborne, although I really need to stop reading serial parters and wait until they are all together. I never have time to pick up the next in the series so am left wondering as the book always ends mid-story. However, it's well-written and the story is good.

Thank you Netgalley and Avon Books for my gifted ARC copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book is written in 4 parts. I thoroughly enjoyed Part 1 where we meet Nancy and Alice who are housemates and friends. The chapters are such that they are split into what is happening in each of their lives. Nancy runs her own craft business and Alice is a Teaching Assistant.

When Freddy enters the scene, he certainly brightens it up and had me laughing and rolling my eyes. I am curious to see where this book goes and look forward to the next installment.

Nancy is very unfortunate to have to cope with Freddy. I am quite interested to see how he will turn things around because I am aware that we have not seen the last of him. And maybe Alice will realise that not everything is as it seems and that the school where she works doesn't seem to have many reliable and caring people.

A quick read, as it is only part 1 of a 4 part series - looking forward to reading the rest of the book!

This novella-sized book is the first of four. Nancy must hire wealthy slacker Freddie in order to secure a deal with his uncle's business. Although employment plays no significant role in Freddie's fascinating life, he still needs to convince his parents that he is capable of working.
I advise you to hold off till book 4, which, ideally, will be published as one book.

Oh My God!!!
How can you end it like that, I turned the page fully invested only to find it was the end.
Can't wait to read more, I'm looking forward to watching the characters grow.
Overall a sweet story of friendship and romance.

Links to review to come asap

I have yet to meet a Bella Osborne book I didn’t like. And reading this one was such a teaser! I absolutely LOVE Nancy and Alice and it is fun hearing about their very different lives.

Poor Nancy having to deal with Freddy lol. I know we have not seen the end of him and I am suuuuuuper curious as to how he is going to redeem himself! And hopefully Alice will figure out that things are not always as they appear and it doesn’t sound like there are many trustworthy and kind people at the school she works at.

I am absolutely ITCHING to read the rest of this one. I had a hard time putting it down from the get-go because it is near impossible to not fall into this story. Can’t wait to read the rest of it!!!!

The Anglophile in me loved the Britspeak and writing style in this first part of a serialized novel! I truly do love all things England!

But, I was put off by the language, crude humor, and lifestyle choices at odds with my personal content policy. So, this became a DNF read for me.

I received an eARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Thanks to netgalley for the book in exchange for a review.
Having never read any books by this author, I wasn't sure what to expect. I have to admit I read the blurb but that was it, so I didn't realise this was a short story and part of a little series. It was a decent short read, however ended with no actual ending. Also, not sure where the title comes from as it doesn't reference seashell bay anywhere in the story.
Overall, it wasn't bad for a quick read but it's also not amazing so far. My thoughts might change when I read the rest and it hopefully ties in to place a bit more.

This is a great teaser for the complete book. Reading the first ten chapters has made me hungry for the whole novel. Well written and great characters, well worth 5 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for this ARC

I-was a little disappointed on this one, I love Bella’s books, but I just didn’t like or connect with the characters on this one, I’ll still read the next and hope they grow on me or develop a bit, but not every character can be for me I guess

A quick read, as it is only part 1 of a 4 part series - looking forward to reading the rest of the book!

Nancy is a desperate woman. She has a small business, employees who are relying on her and a lack of funds to grow her business. Enter Freddy, a charming, useless fellow who is supposed to help her out in exchange for a deal with his uncle. What could possibly go wrong???

Then there is Alice, Nancy's housemate who is a teaching assistant and a real sweetie. She shares an unexpected kiss with a man at a nightclub and doesn't see him again - until suddenly she does, and all she can do is think, and wonder....

I really like these two main characters, and Freddy too (even though he would drive me bonkers, as he does Nancy and her staff). This was an easy read but has some substance to it :)

Enjoyed very much.

4.5 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon.

Not a good start. I usually love books by this author but this one doesn't bode well. Unlikeable characters and a story line I'm not really invested in. Fingers crossed part 2 is better.

I usually love all books by this author but this one left me disappointed. Didn't really like any of the characters and the title, so far, is misleading. I'll try part 2 to see if it gets any better.

This is novella sized book and is part 1 of 4.. Nancy needs to emp,oy rich layabout, Freddie, in order to get a contract with his uncle's company. Freddie has an exciting life where work doesn't figure but has to prove himself capable of working to his parents.
I suggest waiting until book 4 is published and hopefully it will be made into one book.

Interesting characters who were very relatable ,just a shame it was just Part one & just a mere 84 pages intrigued to know what the rest of the Story will reveal so will have to wait patiently until Yuletide & hope someone will buy me a full copy hence why I've only given 4 Stars. #NetGalley, #GoodReads,#Amazon.co.uk, #FB,#Instagram,#<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/8a5b541512e66ae64954bdaab137035a5b2a89d2" width="80" height="80" alt="200 Book Reviews" title="200 Book Reviews"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/ef856e6ce35e6d2d729539aa1808a5fb4326a415" width="80" height="80" alt="Reviews Published" title="Reviews Published"/>,#<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/aa60c7e77cc330186f26ea1f647542df8af8326a" width="80" height="80" alt="Professional Reader" title="Professional Reader"/>.

I’m a big fan of Bella Osborne and this first entry in a new series did not disappoint. What’s not to love about a book that focuses on crafting, has great characters and is laugh out loud funny. A great start to the series!

An Invitation to Seashell Bay: Part 1: All Things Crafty

This short little book by Bella Osborne is the first of four parts, sort of like reading a book in four parts? Or a series of four novellas to complete a story maybe! Either way, I think I quite like it - it's certainly made me want to read part 2!

Part one has basically just set the wcene for what's to come. We meet Nancy who owns her own business, All Things Crafty. However, in order to secure a contract to keep her business going, she is forced to hire Freddy, a rich socialite who doesn't need the money and who doesn't appear to be taking the job at all seriously. We're also introduced to Nancy's housemate, Alice, though we don't know too much about her yet.

This was an interesting beginning and I'm very intrigued to see where the story goes in the next three parts!

Thank you so much to Bella Osborne, Avon UK and Netgalley for the ARC of part one.

I absolutely loved this book and can not wait for the next instalment
Nancy has her own craft business which is doing well but, like all fledgling businesses could do with a cash injection. When she is asked to attend a meeting to show off her products and ideas she is so excited and believes this could be the solution to all her problems. However, after her laptop is stolen and she is covered in coffee the meeting does not go according to plan.
Feeling disheartened and worried about the future for both her and her employees she accepts the offer of an assistant from the investor in return for some interest in her business. The only problem is the assistant is Freddy. Freddy is quite a handful and far more interested in having a fun time with his posh friends than actually doing any work. But, he needs to prove to his parents that he can hold down a job and Nancy needs the business leads/contacts from the investor. So let battle commence- will Freddy just do his own thing or will Nancy show him the joy of a job well done.

I am well & truly hooked!! I now need to read about Nancy & what's going to happen to her business. Hurry up with the next part, please!
Get reading, you won't be disappointed.

Blessed with one of the most annoying leads I've come across so far, this is a welcome addition to this author's books and this is such a good setup for the following 3 parts. Roll on part 2!

This is my first serial novel so I was excited to see how it worked with the ending; whether it was like 4 short novellas or whether each serial ended seemingly randomly in the middle of a book.
Firstly though I want to talk about the actual book before the format. I'm absolutely loving the story so far! Nancy and Alice are great characters and I love we fact it seems like we'll be getting both of their stories throughout the book. Two stories for the price of one! So far they don't hugely link, they're just friends with two separate stories happening to them, so I'm not sure whether something will join them later on or if we really are just getting both friends' stories, but I love it either way!
I'm also really liking Bella's writing style. It's my first of her books and going into it I was worried because the romance read I paused to read this quickly I was struggling with a bit. I thought I'd just read too many romances recently and over-romanced myself so was worried I'd struggle with this one too. But I've been absolutely loving it so I definitely think I just wasn't getting on with the writing of the other one and really got into this one.
So serialisations... As I said I was worried it would be weird just reading a quarter of a book and then stopping and reading other books before reading another chunk of this one. I like the idea of breaking them up in principle, for those that don't have a lot of time. If a quarter comes out every couple of weeks it would give people that don't read often time to read each bit as it comes out. It didn't seem to end too badly at a cut-off, although it definitely wasn't a whole rounded novella and I'm fairly certain will pick up exactly where it left off. But it did seem more like a TV show, as in each episode is not too bad on its own before you then watch the next one. I'll give a better judgement on that when I read the next installment but so far it's not bad! And I'm loving the story and really looking forward to the rest!