Another fantastic book from Katie Fforde, you always know you are in good hands. Our protagonist is Gloucestershire based midwife Emily. She is not having the best of time at work so is happy to go and help out her friend who is having a difficult pregnancy. She swaps midwifery for cooking on her friend's Rebecca and James' boat in Argyll and there may be a little bit of romance along the way.
This was such a lovely read, I loved seeing Emily out of her comfort zone and watching the relationship with Alasdair and his daughter develop over the summer. Emily gets a lot more than she bargained for when she agreed to come and help.
A Summer at Sea is a great story with likeable characters and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Heartwarming!
I love all Katie Fforde's book, but this one is my favorite. I finished the book yesterday, and I am still smiling. The setting is romantic and beautiful. The story is fun and heartwarming, but the best part about the book is Emily your love this chacter

Thank you once again for approving my request- much appreciated.

Full review coming soon to my blog and ofcourse will be added to other social media platforms

A Summer at Sea is based around Emily a young midwife living and working in Gloucestershire. Emily is very happily single and is clear she doesn't want children she loves her life and is happy on her own. When she hears of her best friends Rebecca's rough pregnancy she is offered the chance to go and cook on her and der husband James's puffer boat in Argyllshire over the summer. of course Emily jumps at the chance as things have been a little difficult at work and the break could be exactly what she needs. She hasn't seen her friend for a long time so it is the perfect way to spend the summer. One of the first people Emily meets Is Alasdair (James's brother) who captures Emily's heart. As she becomes closer to him and his daughter Kate the end of the summer also gets closer making the ideas of going home harder and harder for Emily. She finds herself torn between her dream job at home with everything that she knows and loves and Alasdair and her new life in Scotland. But what will she decide?

So this is my first Katie Fforde book (I know I'm a bit behind the times) and I didn't really know about her writing style, how she portrays her characters, whether id get a feel for the book straight away or if it would take a while to get into but I was quite surprised. I found the book a bit stop starty at first but once I got into it I really enjoyed reading about the different characters and as a reader I was drawn in, I think its because its quite cosy and warm and a feel good plot and that the scene is set beautifully.

Emily as a main character is really likeable and has strong qualities in a woman. You see that Emily speaks her own mind and is passionate about her views in midwifery. She stands up for herself and doesn't let anybody put her down but readers also see a more vulnerable and emotional side of Emily when it comes to Alasdair. Emily is incredibly good with all the guests on the boat from the young children to the elderly and everyone inbetween people really seem to enjoy her company which is what makes her real and down to earth. She is just herself.

For me there are many magical moments in the book that without giving anything away really make the story quite heart warming and Fforde's way of making these moments vivid and clear keeps the reader interested. It didn't take me long at all to finish the book and it did leave me with a good feeling when id finished. I did find the book a little predictable but that is more of a personal thing and maybe because I've read so many Chic Lit novels I can usually guess what's going to happen before it does,. Also the book did at times become a bit cliché but that's part of the reason I think that I liked it. I would be open to reading more of Katie Fforde's work and would recommend this book to a friend. Nice summer read.

Emily is a midwife who is exhausted from always having to defend her beliefs and position on home births, so when she gets the opportunity to help out her old college friend Rebecca, she jumps at the chance. Taking a sabbatical from her job, she volunteers to cook on Rebecca's puffer ship which serves as holiday accommodation, and with it, she gets a different perspective on her life, and what she wants from her future. With lovely scenery and cosy scenes with the many guests and crew on the boat, A SUMMER AT SEA by Katie Fforde is an old-fashioned romance that will please many readers. For me, the pace was a little too slow, and some of the characters didn't have the depth that I look for which resulted in my not really caring what happened to them. Having read many of the author's novels, I am a fan, but there was just something missing for me with this novel.

Charming read that makes me hanker after visiting Scotland - some beautiful described scenery and a fun plot.
Katie Fforde really is one of my favourite feel good authors.

Rebecca is a midwife loves it.. She loves being single, BUT, she could also love a romance. She is offered the chance to spend a summer cooking on a boat off the Scottish coast, and she jumps at it and all it could offer.

She has bearly gotten the routine down pat, when she is heavily pregnant, and has her lovely friend on board helping out, but doing most of the work. Then there’s Emily’s competitive and jealous kitchen assistant who thinks she should be head-cook, not Emily. Shenanigans ensue.
Then Alasdair comes into the picture, the handsome local doctor
They seem to fall for each over, and the dilemia is - will she ever want her old life back again?
Great Katie novel, always a lot of fun and full of romance.

Another fabulous book by Katie - and it was set in Scotland too not a million miles away from where I live. Loved the setting, the characters and of course the ending. Katies books are always feel good and leave you with a warm and fuzzy feeling.

I really liked the setting on a boat in Scotland and there were nice descriptions of life on board.

Katie Fforde is by far one of my all time favourite author's so i was super excited to be approved to read A Summer at Sea. I really enjoy her writing style and find her books to always be full of fun, love, laughter and an entertaining read.

Sensible Emily is a midwife and really loves her job but feels that she might need a change.
Her heavily pregnant best friends offers her a summer job as a cook on the "puffer" and Emily jumps at the chance.
It is long though before Emily realises that the job isn't as easy as she thought it would be and starts to feel a little overwhelmed.
Along the way Emily forms some beautiful friendships and may even find herself falling in love with the lifestyle which has her questioning how perfect her old job and life really was. She may even find herself falling in love with one of the locals.

The Characters in Katie Fforde's book are always easy to love, they are always honest real and down to earth. Katie has this uncanny knack of always bringing her characters to life and making you fall in love with them. The romantic relationships between the main characters are always heartwarming and believable.

Another perfect read from Katie Fforde that i will be adding to my ever growing collection.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Random House UK for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely loved this book! I have yet to pick up a Katie Fforde and not immediately be whisked away to pure enjoyment! This is no different. Yes you know our heroine will have a happy ending but what a wonderful mystery and gorgeous adventure we are taken with on the way there! We are never really sure till the last couple of pages if it will end happily ever after but each page is pure enjoyment. Another pure wonderful book to whisk you away and I would definitely recommend this book!

Summer at sea with Katie Fforde sounds like a lovely way to explore the islands of Scotland!

Fancy fishing and cooking on a boat in Scotland? A puffer boat or the Vic 32 Puffer built in 1942 to be precise which is the star of this story.

Not quite the setting that a midwife from Gloucestershire would be expected to adapt to quickly but Emily is keen to get away and really it seems so far removed from her former life that it could just be exactly what she needs! Cooking for a few people however is not as easy as she hoped it would be however but the views and the fresh food more than make up for it.

The boat is quite the place to be and ideal to experience the Scottish Coast:

It’s a boat, an old cargo vessel. It used to carry cargoes all around the Highlands and Islands in the old days. Now it’s a sort of Floating hotel. People go on it for holidays”

This boat was built during WW2 and was a delivery ship carrying supplies up and down the coast. Now, there were wooden stairs, a long polished mahogany table and comfy looking cushions. Oh and that’s not forgetting the views you can drink in

Then there’s the knitting!

Lovely old Maisie introduces Emily to fair isle knitting – a real and vibrant tradition on the West Coast which brings out another part of the Scottish setting. As Emily travels more, she sees more of the Scottish coastline and really starts to see her life now and then change too.

This is a lot of fun and follows the story of a midwife too and it was interesting to find out more about this profession too but it's the whole life at sea that really makes the book for me. The book is based in Crinnan where you really can have holidays in a puffer boat and we've mapped out the locations on thebooktrail.com - this side of Argyll and Bute is really love to visit via fiction before I get the chance to go back for real - with this book in my hand!