The first in a series about Maggie who leaves Scotland to take a job as a teacher in a Girls school in Cornwall. She connects with her students over the year as friendships are formed and tested.

So far the books I’ve read by Jenny Colgan have been hit-or-miss. And I think after this one, I’m probably through trying to read them. This one was too predictable. It definitely seemed more suited to a young adult book and being a re-release of a book she wrote under her pen name of Jane Beaton, that may be the case. The drama and negative connotations about being overweight was just too much for me and I have to give it less stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

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I throughly enjoyed this book and will be glad to read all of the series. I think there are 6 books total. I usually do not read series but I will make an exception as I enjoyed the characters and look forward to read what they are up to in other reads. I say give this a go and you might enjoy it too.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my digital copy in exchange for an honest review...I requested this book based on the cover and the title alone...and if I am being honest, it was a "good" book but I did not connect at all to any of the characters or even the story line...Well, let's just say that I didn't like most of the characters and the ones I did like, I found I couldn't respect, if that makes sense. I loved the setting but that was about it.

This book is about a girls boarding school in the UK. The story takes the reader through a year of school. The characters were very real. The descriptions of the school and its location were beautiful. I really felt like I was there This is the first book I have read by this author but I will definitely read more! Thank you to Netgalley and Avon Publishing for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

I am a long time fan of Jenny Colgan and will honestly pick up anything and everything she writes! She’s one of the first authors that truly got me into reading and her writing and storytelling just stand out to me as a step above. I feel that I could pick even just a sentence of her excellent writing out from amongst a whole pile of books. She’s just that good!

I’m sure it will be no surprise then to hear me say that I absolutely loved this first book in a new four part series, Welcome to the School by the Sea! Oh, how I adored it from start to finish!!! The whole English boarding school on the sea element here was a knockout and just plain fun, as were the entire cast of characters and the glorious Cornwall setting! I enjoyed getting to the know the characters, especially Maggie, through the story and without going into detail as to soil the story, found there to be wonderful character development by the end. Something that Colgan does so well here is inviting the reader right into it all, giving you the feeling as you’re reading that you are right there, experiencing it all for yourself. This book was light, fun, fast, and yet full of drama and I was here for every second of it.

Many thanks to Avon Books and NetGalley for the gifted e-copy!

This is a fun book. If you like the author's other books you can’t help but love this one as well.
It’s a bright sunny day in Cornwall. The school year is beginning for students and teachers at the little boarding school by the sea. Maggie is the newest teacher at Downey House and is absolutely determined that she is going to make her mark. She’s so excited to start her new teaching job but it just may not work out well for her long term relationship with her boyfriend Stan.
Simone has won a scholarship to the boarding school and is feeling all the emotions. She’s nervous and excited. She really wants to make her family proud. When she gets there she finds herself forced to share a room with the wealthy posh girls of Downey House and all she wants to do is find a friend, and quickly.
Fliss is a very angry child. She did not want to go to boarding school and absolutely hates it. She wants to go back home. While Simone is just trying to fit in, Fliss is trying to find a way to get out.
This book takes place over one year and as it progresses you get to see friendship grow, trials and errors, a teacher trying to fit in, and more.
This was a really good first book in a three book series. I would recommend giving it a chance.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and couldn’t be happier with it. It’s a well written story with characters you get to love and hate at times. Definitely a worthwhile book.

As Jenny Colgan books go, this was not my favorite. However, I do like the setting and the character development. Too many references to weight and body size, which I think we need to all do much less of.

I loved the first book in this series. The boarding school with its fun cast of teacher characters, the students, and a nearby boys' school are a perfect combination. I loved Maggie! I loved the setting, too. Oh to go to school right on the coast like that. I can't wait to read the rest of the series.

Received an early edition of this book from NetGalley, thank you NetGalley (although it was previously published under the pseudonym Jane Beaton and the title Class). I am a big fan of Jenny Colgan books and was not disappointed by this one. I really enjoyed the storyline of the main teacher, Maggie Adair, who is trying something completely new by taking a job at a private girls boarding school. She is from Glasgow and has never before strayed from her small world - teaching at the same school she attended. I really admired her bravery in moving away, even leaving her long term boyfriend, to experience a new way of thinking and being.
I also liked the head teacher’s story; Dr. Veronica Deveral is a solitary, introverted, but successful leader of the school, and we gradually learn why she keeps to herself. The other characters, both teachers and students, are interesting and mostly realistically portrayed. There are some negative comments and portrayal of negative body image and bullying, which readers should be aware of, but they supported the storyline.
Knowing this is the first in a series of six books, I liked the ending which left several unfinished narratives.
I recommend this to anyone who enjoys boarding school books, or wants a light, fun read.

I have been wanting to try Jenny Colgan's books for so long. I was very excited to see that a new series was coming and I picked this one up very fast. I love the cover and it sounded great. I especially love books set at boarding schools. However, my excitement fizzled out pretty quick. I didn't realize that this was an old series, written by pen name Jane Beaton, that was just being rereleased with Jenny Colgan's name. Overall, I didn't really care for a lot of this story. There was some fat-shaming, which I found terrible and a real downer for the story. There were a lot of characters introduced, and I had to look back at the list of characters a few times to see who was who. The chapters were also sort of long, and there were multiple points of view and storylines told in each chapter. I normally enjoy books where the chapters switched points of view, but this was too much with each chapter having various storylines being told. I found it hard to keep up with. Even though the book synopsis for book two sounded interesting, I don't think I'll be continuing with this series. Though based on other reviews I read, this series is not a good judge of Jenny Colgan's other books. So I will still be looking forward to reading other books by her! This series seems to be an exception to her writing and stories.

Ok number one, I love anything Jenny writes. Number two I love anything that takes place at a boarding school so this was the PERFECT novel for me and the perfect start of a new series by one of my favorite authors! What a charming story about love, friendship, starting over and beautiful Cornwall!

I have tried several times to read this book unfortunately, I found that the story and the characters were simply not for me. I did not finish it.

Jenny Colgan just keeps getting better and better. While I know that many people put esteemed authors to the test with their newest books, and that it's human nature to seek out flaws, this book springs from some captivating, confident place in Ms. Colgan. She sets a gorgeous setting, populates it with living, breathing characters, and holds us happily away from real life for as long as you wish.

This is book 1 in a wonderful new series, Maggie Addair. Jenny Colgan writes wholesome fun novels. Set in an English boarding school in Cornwall, England, Maggie is starting her first year teaching. This story covers the first year of her adventure and introduces some great characters including Simone and Fliss who are very different but on track to become best friends. Will be on the lookout for book 2, Rules. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Welcome to the School by the Sea, by Jenny Colgan, is the first book in a new English boarding school series. The story is quintessential Colgan-style with its laugh-out-loud humor, quirkiness, acerbic, and often times cutting commentary, but ultimately heartwarming, feel-good conclusions.

Maggie needs a break from her teaching career in the underprivileged, rather rough area of London. When she unexpectedly receives an opportunity to teach at a girl’s boarding school on the shores of Cornwall, she hesitantly, but eagerly seizes the opportunity. The potential downside is that it means time away from her longtime boyfriend, Stan…but perhaps a break would serve them well.

It’s not easy fitting into a school where you are clearly the outsider, in more ways than one, and Maggie is not the only one to feel the discrepancy. As Maggie attempts to settle in, Simone, the scholarship winner, also struggles to find her place in the exclusive Downey House. This cast of characters have all kinds of issues to overcome, many lessons to learn, and antics to pull.

As with many boarding school stories, this one is ripe with girl bullying, elitism, pranks and punks, and more than a fair amount of weight issues and fat shaming. Be warned, it’s hard to read at times. I definitely struggled with some of the issues and the way that they were portrayed. But there’s also Jenny‘s unique style of humor that is truly delightful. And her conclusions are undoubtedly like no other.

This story was far from perfect, but I found enjoyment in it all the same. If you're thinking about reading it, I'd say its worth the time!

Thanks to netgalley and publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest review

3.5 STARS

I am a big Jenny Colgan fan and this book was cute, Nothing special for me, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I will always read a Jenny Colgan when it comes out!

You can always count on a Jenny Colgan for a feel good book. Welcome to the School by the Sea is the first in a series of books about girls’ boarding schools in England. Four distinct girls are roommates and each has their own unique story. The main character, the English teacher, has her own story to tell. As she decides to leave her previous public school job, she has to decide if she is good enough to teach at a private school and how will this fit into her life with her fiancé. I look forward to the rest of the series and many more Jenny Colgan books.

Welcome to the School By the Sea by Jenny Colgan
I received this book after its release date from Netgalley. This had no influence on my review.

Let me start by saying that this edition is a reprint of a title released under Colgan's pseudonym, Jane Beaton, in 2008. The world is a much different place now, and the current edition reads as if there has been no updating, other than changing the author's name. I love Jenny Colgan's more recent work, have dipped in and out of her various series, and was very excited to read the first in her School by the Sea series.

Things started off okay...teacher, Maggie Adair, off to her new job, along with a new group of girls, among them, Alice, Fliss, and Simone, arriving for their first year at the all girls boarding school, Downey Hall. Sounds good, right? Not so much.

The fat shaming by fellow students, teachers, and school administration was AWFUL. My heart broke for Simone, a scholarship student who doesn't hail from the same posh background as her schoolmates. Her weight is constantly referred to in the book, and not in a positive way, if there is such a thing. Really?!? Haven't we moved beyond this? (This is a re-release. Could this plotline not have been changed? Truly cringe-worthy.) Not only is she "the fat girl" in the story, she is shy, nervous, and comes from a poorer background, so she becomes the "obvious" suspect when valuables begin to go missing in the dorms.

While other plotlines were a bit more engaging, I could not get beyond the treatment of Simone, who was described by a teacher as having the potential to be pretty, if she would just lose some weight.

Ultimately, nothing else stands out for me beyond this horrid plotline. It brings the whole story down. The only reason it does not receive 1 star, is because I finished it. I will not be reading the rest of this series, which is unfortunate, because I love stories set in boarding schools. I will continue to read Jenny Colgan's more recent releases, as they show more growth, depth, and sensitivity as a writer.

This is about an all girls boarding school. It follows three girls and a teacher who is making a change in her life. It was ok, I found it a little boring at times. It was a womens fiction. I thought it was interesting to read but it was not my favorite.