Sunrise by the Sea: Escape to the Cornish coast with this brand new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author (Little Beach Street Bakery): An ... read by the Sunday Times bestselling author

Oh, my God I love it when a Colgan comes out. I love everything she writes (thought not so keen on the Jenny T Colgan ones) and my heart leaps when I get a notification the next one is ready to buy. Despite writing so many novels Colgan has managed to keep me excited about her next book as she seems to have been able to keep to what makes her writing so enjoyable: rounded, sympathetic characters, descriptions of landscapes and food, funny animals, and absorbing plots. You know where you are with a Colgan!I think my heart truly belongs to the Island of Mure books, but the Little Beach Street Bakery series has much to recommend it including a portly puffin. In anticipation of this being released, I quickly reread the first three and it was good to remind myself of Polly and Huckle and their strange Cornish village on an island.This book, number 4, follows familiar characters but introduces two new ones who are the main focus of the story: Maris and Alexei (love Alexei). They are new arrivals to the island and the story traces how one becomes involved in the community of the island rather quickly, while the other - rendered a hermit due to grief - withdraws and hides away. My favourite bit was the skype link to Italy...Loved every minute - read it in about a day and a half - was like a gorgeous box of chocolates without the calories. (However the chocolate I ate while reading it, unfortunately, did)If you haven't read Jenny Colgan start with her very early lovely ones: Amanda's Wedding, Do you Remember the First Time, The Good the Bad and the Dumped, for example then grab a copy of A very Distant Shore (Mure no 0.5) and fill your boots with stories of the wonderful Scottish town of Mure.

When I realised there was another book in this series I was so excited and could hardly contain myself. I had absolutely loved the first 3 books about Polly, Huckle and Neil the Puffin and couldn't wait to hear what had happened to them.What I wasn't expecting was an entire book, (well almost) about someone else! A rather sad character whom I couldn't warm to, and her larger than life next door neighbour who was equally depressing!Come on Jenny, what we're you thinking of? We've been in lockdown for so long and all in dire need of being wafted away to paradise to the idyllic Island of Polebearn once again.So disappointing....

Really torn by the book. I felt Marisa was well drawn and the handling of her grief insightful and sensitive, but the relationship with Alexi just didn't feel real, it felt comedic. Too much focus on his size meant I just couldn't see it, and it knocked the story for me. I just kept seeing a scene from James bond (petit woman, huge man) and I just couldn't take it seriously, which was a shame. Loved Polly and Huckle from their first story, so good to revisit them, even if they weren't the main characters.

I really like books by Jenny Cogan but I was a bit disappointed with this one. After the death of her beloved grandfather Marisa moves to Cornwall and lives on a remote tidal island in a holiday let. She does not want to see or talk to anyone but somehow she gradually gets drawn into village life and becomes friends with Polly, who owns the local bakery and who has twins plus a pet puffin (no, I didn't know puffins could be found in Cornwall either). I didn't particularly take to Marisa and found her relationship with Aleksi who lived in the second holiday let very convincing either but the book did grow on me and it has not put me off reading future books by this author.

As an Italian, I find this book so stereotypical is worrying and borderline offensive.The catholic Italian grandma (“nonna”) who just wants her granddaughter to marry someone rich is beyond me. The recipes that are supposed to be “truly Italian” are not. The protagonist and her brother mock their extended family saying “I will call everyone Anna-Maria”. Some Italian sentences look google-translated at best.I am seriously appalled. Just do your damn research before writing a book.I can only imagine what Russians might feel about Alexei’s character. How insulting is it that the narrator says Alexei can “barely speak English” when he can clearly converse and teach in the language??? And I bet that the author can hardly say “ciao”.The plot line is also slow and non believable. Marisa basically just wakes up and is magically cured for her depression just thinking about food. Oh okay…… cool.I will never buy another book from Jenny Colgan again, this will be my first and last.

Read a few of Jennys books and found the stories to be rich with interesting characters. This one to me had no real story with characters that added nothing to the story - such as Polly. I could also not relate to the main characters- the Russian piano player did nothing for me. Would only buy this on paper back and would not really be upset if I missed it all.

I really enjoyed this sequel once it got into its stride. I did find it a bit difficult to relate to the problems of the central character initially but her developing story was worth the effort. It was also good to catch up with the lives of characters from the previous books in this series.

Having read the three previous books in the series I was really looking forward to catching up with Polly and Neil the Puffin. However, they are only really in the background of this new story (about a third of the book I would say). The subject covered in this book is a serious one so this book is not quite so "fluffy" as your regular women's contemporary fiction. However, I did enjoy it but not one of my favourites of Jenny's.