This is another cosy read from Julie Caplin, this time featuring Maddie the hopeful artist we first met in ‘The Little Paris Patisserie’ and Nick, Sebastian’s friend and Nina’s brother from the same book. Maddie is a fantastically practical, no nonsense woman and Nick is generally a hard working farmer, when his head isn’t being turned by Tara his stunning model girlfriend that is. Set around a boat based in Croatia we find Maddie accepting a last minute job crewing on it for Nick, Tara and four of Tara’s friends (although perhaps acquaintances is more appropriate) This book has warmth, humour and characters in abundance, well written and very easy to read this is a great stand-alone book as well as part of the series.

I have so been looking forward to reading this novel by Julie Caplin. I've really enjoyed all of the other novels in the Romantic Escapes series and this one caught my eye with it's bright and cheerful cover. I love colours used, which really catch the eye and the pretty trees and flowers on either side of the cover.

This particular novel is set in the beautiful sounding Croatia, sailing along the coast to visit a manner of different coves and towns. On this trip, main character Maddie is hired to do the basics: cooking, cleaning etc for a group of 6 very rich (and most of them), very stuck up people. Maddie still enjoys the work however, even though two of the models on the yacht are rather unkind to Maddie. She makes the most of a few hours she has on the boat to herself, sunbathing and taking part in her passion - painting.

I really feel like I got to know all the characters on the yacht really well throughout this novel. They each had their own individual personality and I enjoyed getting to know them all - some more than others admittedly but it was still drama filled and enjoyable to read! As well as Maddie, we also saw part of the novel through Nick's eyes. Nick's sister Nina is friends with Maddie and managed to get her the job on the yacht, however they had never met each other before this and lets just say that Maddie's first impression of Nick wasn't the best!

As the story goes on, we get to know both main characters a lot better, and get to see the chemistry build between them. Despite Nick being on holiday with his model girlfriend! We get to see the pair bond when Nick is extremely ill with food poisoning and the rest of the group are away at a celebrity pals house partying. Nick and Maddie grow really close during this time and it's clear to see that sparks fly. I loved each of them, they had a great relationship and between them shared some funny banter.

As well as their relationship, we get to read a lot about the towns and coves of Croatia and I'll be lying if I said I didn't want to visit this beautiful sounding country! It honestly sounded idyllic and I longed to visit there! It gave me a major case of FOMO and I wanted to grab the next flight to Croatia and sail it's seas ASAP. Overall, this was a perfect summer read. It's lighthearted, sunshiny and perfect for those long summer days.