There’s nothing better (in my opinion) than being by the sea! So to celebrate summer on One More Page I’ve put together a list of my favourite 2014 books set at the British Seaside. Grab a bucket and spade and join me at my (imaginary) beach hut for a holiday by the sea 
The Beach Hut Next Door by Veronica Henry
If there is one fictional place I would choose to spend my summer holidays it would be in one of the amazing beach huts in the gorgeous Devonshire town of Everdene! I’ve loved all of the stories that Veronica Henry has set there and hope there will be more to come!
Summer appeared from nowhere that year in Everdene . . . and for those lucky enough to own one of the beach huts, this was the summer of their dreams.
For Elodie, returning to Everdene means re-awakening the memories of one summer fifty years ago. A summer when everything changed.
Vince and his brother are struggling to come to terms with the death of their father – but they have very different ways of coping.
And for Jenna, determined to put the past behind her, the opportunity to become ‘the ice cream girl’ once again might just turn her life around.
But this summer is not all sunshine and surf – as secrets unfold, and some lives are changed for ever . . .
Blue by Lisa Glass
Cornwall, surfing, and summer romance – what more could you want?
Surfing is sixteen-year-old Iris’s world, and when the ultra-talented Zeke walks into her life, it soon becomes her passion.
Over one amazing summer, as she is drawn into his sphere, she experiences love, new friendships, but also loss, with an intensity she never dreamed of.
But is Zeke all he seems? What hides beneath his glamorous and mysterious past? When Iris decides to try for her own surfing success, just as her ex-boyfriend comes back into her life, she will test her talent, and her feelings for Zeke, to the limit…
The Unpredictable Consequences of Love by Jill Mansell
The cover of this book makes me smile every time I see it – it’s like a little ray of sunshine! Another lovely story from Jill.
In the idyllic seaside town of St Carys, Sophie is putting the past firmly behind her.
When Josh arrives in St Carys to run the family hotel, he can’t understand why Sophie has zero interest in letting any man into her life. He also can’t understand how he’s been duped into employing Sophie’s impulsive friend Tula, whose crush on him is decidedly unrequited.
St Carys has more than its fair share of characters, including the charming but utterly feckless surfer Riley Bryant, who has a massive crush on Tula. Riley’s aunt is superstar author Marguerite Marshall. And Marguerite has designs on Josh’s grandfather…who in turn still adores his glamorous ex-wife, Dot…
Just how many secrets can one seaside town keep?
Ice Creams at Carrington’s by Alexandra Brown
Mulberry-on-Sea is another fictional town I’d love to visit and not just for the seaside! This is the third book in Alexandra Brown’s Carrington’s series and is a fun, sunny delicious read!
Georgie Hart and Carrington’s Department Store have got the world at their feet. Since a reality TV series put them both on the map, life has been amazing! Carrington’s profits are in the pink, Georgie has carved herself a place in the nation’s heart and her romance with Tom, the store’s boss, has finally blossomed.
Now summertime has come to Mulberry-on -Sea and Georgie is in great demand. The town is holding a big summer festival and she and her mates from Carrington’s are planning on making sure that Mulberry puts on the show of its life!
But Georgie is about to get the offer of a lifetime – one that is just too good to turn down and something that will test her loyalties to their limits… Will Georgie be able to pull off it off once again, or has her luck finally run out?
Summer Evenings at the Seafront Hotel by Vanessa Greene
A lovely little short story set in Scarborough. This is just perfect for a quick holiday read and to fill the gap until Vanessa’s next full length novel, The Seafront Tea Rooms is published in September!
24-year-old Cally is a receptionist at the South Cliff, a beautiful hotel overlooking the South Bay. She once dreamed of becoming a midwife, but with funds in short supply and her father ill, Cally has abandoned her studies and is rapidly losing her sparkle. Then she meets Liliana, a chambermaid, and the two women strike up an easy friendship. Liliana’s stories of the hotel guests provide the light relief Cally desperately needs and soon they’re meeting every evening on the balcony of room 14 to feast on eclairs and discuss the latest comings and goings. When Cally catches the eye of charismatic chef Anton, they have even more to talk about on those summer evenings – but then Liliana learns something that could shatter Cally’s new-found joy . . .
The Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan 
Another winner from Jenny Colgan; guaranteed to warm your heart as well as tempt your taste-buds!
Polly Waterford is recovering from a toxic relationship. Unable to afford their flat, she has to move miles away from everyone, to a sleepy little seaside resort in Cornwall, where she lives alone above an abandoned shop.
And so Polly takes out her frustrations on her favourite hobby: making bread. But what was previously a weekend diversion suddenly becomes far more important as she pours her emotions into kneading and pounding the dough, and each loaf becomes better and better. With nuts and seeds, olives and chorizo, with local honey (courtesy of local bee keeper, Huckle), and with reserves of determination and creativity Polly never knew she had, she bakes and bakes and bakes . . . And people start to hear about it.
Sometimes, bread really is life . . . And Polly is about to reclaim hers.
In The Summertime by Judy Astley
I love the premise for this novel and the fab summery cover!
It’s twenty years since Miranda, then sixteen, holidayed in Cornwall and her life changed forever. Now she’s back again – with her mother Clare and the ashes of her stepfather Jack, whose wish was to be scattered on the sea overlooked by their one-time holiday home.
The picturesque cove seems just the same as ever, but the people are different – more smart incomers,fewer locals, more luxury yachts in the harbour. But Miranda and Clare both find some strangely familiar faces, and revisit the emotions they both thought had disappeared.
Escape for the Summer by Ruth Saberton
I love Ruth’s books and this sounds like a lot of fun!
Can Andi Evans find the strength to start again?
Betrayed and broken-hearted, Andi’s redundancy is one shock too many. Suddenly single and in debt, a summer working in the pretty Cornish town of Rock seems the perfect solution.Determined never to trust again, will a chance meeting with a stranger change her mind?
Andi’s sister, Angel, is determined to find a man who can keep her in style. Heading to Rock, summer playground of the rich and famous, seems an inspired idea until a misunderstanding threatens to end a romance that has started to mean more to her than she ever expected…
Actress Gemma is no stranger to diets and disappointments. As the future of her career hangs in the balance, Gemma hopes a summer in Cornwall solves her problems. With a reality TV show being filmed in the seaside town surely she can avoid the pasty shops and win herself a role.
Arriving in idyllic Cornwall, all three girls are hoping for a holiday to remember. But will this be for the right reasons? Or, as emotions run higher than the tide, will the summer escape turn their lives upside down?
High Heels and Bicycle Wheels by Jane Linfoot
I’m reading this at the moment and loving it! A great summer escape!
Meet Bryony: she’s a fun-loving, very single TV production assistant whose idea of sport is the Jimmy Choo sales scrum.
Meet Jackson: Cycling’s bad boy superstar. Injured and out of a certain race this summer, without his training, he’s looking for another distraction…
Bryony’s facing a triple whammy – her last single friend just named the day, her mother’s offering to have her eggs frozen, and the guy she’s loved from afar, forever, has just got hitched. So she’s more than happy to accept the offer of a totally out of character but seriously steamy one night of no-strings fun. Especially when the guy in question is so attractive he even looks good in Lycra!
Jackson’s on the lookout for a new career but if the opportunity to work on TV means a fortnight with the most uptight woman in the world, he’d rather not bother. He never goes in for seconds – and who in their right mind would head off in a campervan, with a woman who irons her knickers?
Add in a tandem (yes a tandem) and fast forward to double trouble for a summer neither of them will ever forget!
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