I love a romance and this was perfection! This author has quickly become a favourite of mine! A great well written book with great chemistry

The Summer Getaway by Tilly Tennant

I love armchair traveling through my books, and France was written so beautifully that I felt like I was there. Saint-Raphael sounds like the perfect vacation destination. Do you ever want to grab a character by the shoulders and shake some sense into them? lol. That's how I felt about Ashley! And Haydon, if I'm being honest. I liked these two, but they also drove me bonkers sometimes! I just wanted Ashley to tell Haydon about his secret daughter, not dance around the subject for over 3/4 of the book while simultaneously being upset and jealous if she sees him with another woman. It's been ages since their one-night stand, he doesn't know the big secret, and yet she's pouting and questioning whether or not he even deserves to know he has another daughter because she can't trust him when she currently has no claim to him. Haydon needs to be careful or his daughter will turn out to be the most spoiled brat ever with how he treats her like she can do no wrong. But even though they drove me crazy, I wanted to know what happened! I thought about this book while I wasn't reading it, and was excited to pick it up again when I had time. I do wish Ashley had dropped the secret earlier so we could focus more on her and Haydon as a couple, rather than on whether or not she was going to tell him he was Molly's dad.

Every once in a while, you obviously need to cleanse your palate of dark, gloomy, disturbing stories and read a nice little romance. That’s what this is. This is a sort of book you can read curled up on your chair in the sunshine, with a glass of wine, or at the poolside and get lost in the story of Ashley and Haydon. I’ve never read anything by Tilly before so this was quite an experience for me and I did enjoy this story.

I will admit, Ashley did get my nerves a little bit with her whining, and she was a little bit repetitious about her situation. Yet, that didn’t detract from me the story and the whole when will Ashley tell her secret!! I mean, we know the secret. We know the secret from pretty much the beginning. However, no one else knows this. We all know about Haydon being Molly’s dad. No secrets in the blurb and the rest of the time we are just watching Ashley and Haydon. Love never runs smoothly. No, I mean, it would be boring if it did.

I mean, I was sitting there listening to the audiobook and I can’t remember it must be about 30% in and we meet Haydon and then we meet Haydon’s daughter Ellie and I was just like how the hell is the rest of this book going to go? Not gonna lie. I guessed quite a lot of it. I kind of guessed how it was going to pan out and some of the threats to their relationship but it still didn’t take away anything from the book.

I thought the narrator was fab. I would love to go to the place they went to in the South of France that sounded absolutely beautiful. I just enjoyed the story. I enjoyed the story of Ashley and Haydon learning about how they got to where they were today. I was cheering when they first met I must admit as soon as I knew Haydon was booking a holiday with his daughter. I was cheering because I just knew that they were going to Ashely and that got me through a particularly low point I was going through that week with my knee. It was just it filled me with joy.

As I’ve always said in stories like this, it doesn’t matter if you know the end, the middle or the beginning. It doesn’t matter if you know the reveal. It’s all about the way the author writes the story. It’s the characters that make it believable and what makes you care. I say top points here to Tilly. She’s done all that, I cared about Ashley, I cared about Haydon. I cared about Molly and Ellie and how it would all work out.

I really wanted to make sure that everyone had the happy ending they deserved, did they get it or not? Well, you’re gonna have to read the book.

3.5 stars rounded up: This was a sweet, summer, second-chance romance. Ashley Moon had a whirlwind vacation years earlier, one where she met the love of her life, or so she thought. When he returned home, he gave her his phone number, at least that was what she thought. Finding herself pregnant and with a number that was not his, she raised her daughter, Molly, alone. Fast forward sixteen years, and Ashley's step-father has invited her to his relative's home on the French Riviera for a holiday. They are excited and can't wait. What Ashely wasn't expecting was that Molly's father, Hayden, is on vacation with his fifteen year old daughter and staying in the villa next door. It seems Hayden doesn't recognize her and their daughters become friends. As they become friends and share parts of their lives with one another, will Ashely be able to share her most important secret of all?

This was an enjoyable summer read, perfect to read at the beach or better yet, while on vacation. I enjoyed getting to know both Ashley and Haydon. They were single parents (Hayden was divorced) and loved their kids so much. They were protective parents and very realistic and relatable. The girls became good friends, but one year does make a difference in their teens, so there was a bit of turmoil involving a boy. I also liked that the girls had some similarities, but also were different. The whole nature vs nurture thing at work here. I kept waiting for the aha moment when Hayden realizes who Ashely is but it was long in coming. There is some angst caused by lack of communication, but in typical Tilly Tennant fashion, all eventually works out. This is a second chance romance, but the lack of recognition made it a bit different from others I have read, but that also bothered me a bit. How could you have a physical relationship with someone and want to see them again, yet 16 years later you don't even recognize them? Overall an entertaining story that I enjoyed.

I was looking forward to a summer read with lots of sunshine and a light story.

In the beginning I struggled a little bit to get into the story. I had some difficulties with the names and didn't really know who is who. By the time this got better and I found myself enjoyed by the story.

Molly and Ashley were nice characters and they had a tight mother-daughter bond. Still I had the feeling that the blurb gave a little bit too much away of the story.

The setting was really nice and had a good summery touch to it.

What a fun, light read! I have read other Tilly Tennant books which I have also enjoyed. She does a nice job of creating likeable characters.

I just adored this wonderful book by the fabulous Tilly Tennant. The characters and the story were excellent and I just felt I was there with them all in the south of France. Loved this book so much.

I didn't expect to fall in love with this book as quickly as I did. I loved the characters as they were so down to earth and relatable. The storyline was gripping and I'm sure every single parent could put themselves into the mother's shoes. A perfect feel-good read and I can't wait to read more.

The Summer Getaway is a great beach read for fans of Holly Martin, Christie Barlow and Kat French. Exotic local (south of France) and a shocking discovery make for a perfect holiday novel. I'd recommend to my readers looking for a fun contemporary romance.

Our main character Ashley, is a likable single mom and you are rooting for her happy ever after but it takes a while to get there! So much hemming and hawing by Ashley takes a little away from the story. Ashley's mother gets quite annoyed with her as she waits and waits to talk to Haydon about the BIG secret and I found myself feeling the same way. Obviously, if she told him right away there wouldn't be much of a story but that was an unnecessary dilemma. I would have rather heard more of their back story than all of the waiting.

This is an ok, modern fiction story. I did find that it dragged on a bit and then ended quickly. There are better books available.

A lovely story set in a beautiful place. Tilly really brought the location to life in this book. The characters were great and you really warmed to them as a reader. I wasn't sure as I started the book that I was really going to like it as I found it a bit stilted at the beginning, but I'm pleased that I persisted.

This is a nice enough tale about two separate families that decide to go on holiday, whose lives become intertwined in a rather coincidental way. It’s a nice, enjoyable romance with a very predictable ending, therefore is not too taxing a read and is great to relax to. The only problem I had with it is that it took forever for the woman in this story to get to the point of the story. It’s very difficult to say exactly what I mean by this without a whopping great spoiler, but if you’ve read it you’ll know what I mean; the woman has one job to do throughout the story and manages to drag out until the last couple of chapters. This meant that I was impatiently seething at her and wishing the author would just get on with it. Not only that, but the way in which the man and the woman’s lives come together is too much of a coincidence to be believeable. Finally, the other thing I didn’t like is that the man and woman spend one day together and have a few kisses, and all of a sudden he’s going crazy asking worrying if she’s going to dump him (‘dump’, after a few kisses?!) asking where they’re going together, saying how happy he is with what they’ve got together... if it was the other way round I’m sure the man would run a mile!

Sue, Ashley's mother, was a right pain. I really wanted to tell her to back off and trust Ashley to sort it out herself. Whenever she appeared in the story, I could feel my blood pressure rising! She was annoying and interfering and quite dislikable - yet she was only trying to do what she thought was best (though there was a hint of seeking retribution in her meddling). And that's good writing when a character can make you feel so strongly!



The story itself is one of hope and love, and readers will definitely have a warm ahhh at the end of it.

I chose a light-hearted book to cleanse my reading mojo, to pace the way for an intense read. The book started strong with a loving mother-daughter duo, Ashley and Molly, with grandmother Sue. Ashley had Molly at the tender of 18 after a night of romance, yet could not keep in touch with the boy Hoydon, even after she conceived Molly.

The story moved on to a holiday in South France where the neighbor was none other than the lost boy, now a man and a father. And the whole plot moved on to the fact that Ashley had to tell him about his unknown daughter.

My first book by Tilly Tennant, and the book started extremely strong with good bonds between the women. But it lost its steam somewhere down the lane. Ashley had many opportunities to tell Hoydon about the secret but she loses out to fear. The whole book then dragged a bit where it should have been a cute and a heart warming story.

Second chance at love again felt too rushed, happened in a week. For me, none of the characters felt well developed. I wanted to connect with the characters, and I hate it when they don’t want to connect with me. I felt rejected!

On the whole, it was an enjoyable slow read!!

I enjoyed this book - didn’t matter that the premise is utterly unbelievable, but it was a great easy read and felt good!

This was such a fun read. I read it all in one afternoon by the pool. The perfect way to take your mind of the stress of every day life!

I was really undecided whether to rate this 3 or 4 stars but ultimately I did really enjoy the majority of it but just couldn't muster up enough enthusiasm to rate it any more than a 3. For some reason this book just wasn't quite a s good as Tilly's other books in my opinion. Ashley and her daughter Molly are our leading characters in the begining and as the synopsis explains we already know the situation about Molly's dad before the story really takes off. Ashley had a one night stand on a holiday in Ibiza and as such when she got home to find she was pregnant had no way of getting hold of the guy she had met. Fast forward 16 years and a holiday in France means a chance encounter with Haydon and his daughter Ella. Of course (again no real spoliers as this is in the synopsis) Ashley instantly recognises Haydon as the guy she had met all those years before.

I think this was my biggest problem with this book, was that all the revealing of a story line is already out there and as much as I don't mind the fairy tale and romance element of romance books this 'chance encounter' maybe felt like one step too far. That aside, there wasn't much else to criticise. Haydon and his daughter Ella were lovely and very readable as were Ashley and Molly. Unfortunately Ashley's Mum Sue I didn't warm to all that much. This was certainly a good read in the sense that I wanted to know what happened but there were parts that felt a little dragged out and in all honesty there were no big secret reveals or anything that the reader didn't know about beforehand. It all felt a little like we were just waiting around to see the outcome of this chance encounter. It certainly wasn't a bad book, just not one of my favorites from her.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. What a lovely feel good second chance read, has made me want to book a holiday to Ibiza.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story!

Ashley is a struggling single mum of Molly, a result of a one-night-stand when she was a teenager. She never expects to see the father again, but there he is, staying right next door when Ashley and her extended family go to France. The odds of this happening are tiny, of course, but nevertheless that is the situation. Now to actually explain to Haydon the truth of Molly's parentage, before her interfering mother does it! I have to admit to not liking Ashley's mother very much, I found her very judgemental and not all that caring, but I guess that speaks to the author's ability to craft her characters.

The only thing is, I wanted the story to continue so I hope there is a sequel of this story in the works, sometime!

I give this book 4.5 stars.

I was saving this book for my own summer getaway because I am never disappointed by a book from Tilly Tennant. I know that in advance that I will enjoy my time with the book. And I was right! I read this book during my vacation and I absolutely loved it! I devoured it! In this book we travel to the French Riviera in Saint Raphael. Lovely settings for a very nice story full of suspense as soon as Ashley bump into Haydon, the man with who she had a summer romance when she was 18 and who made her pregnant but then who disappeared from her life without knowing that Ashley was pregnant. This story is full of tension and I was totally hooked. I recommend this book!