The Endless Beach

Much better than Cafe by the Sea, the first book in this series, but still falls short of the other Colgan books I’ve read. I do love the Scottish setting and descriptions of the food—satisfies my wanderlust. All in all, a very easy quick read that tackled some surprisingly deep topics for its genre.

Disclaimer: I love Jenny Colgan's books!

Saved this for my holiday, but I didn't expect to rip through this so quickly! It was great to catch up with Flora, Joel et al, and I was not disappointed in the book in front of me. Colgan thoughtfully put a brief reminder of who everyone was at the beginning of the book, which saved so much of the repetition of the goings on in the last book (which can be really annoying!!).

My only criticism is that the book isn't long enough!!!

This was a great book to follow up on the Mure series. I read book 1, but had not had time to go through and read the next book in the series until now. I liked this book, didn't love it. I think it clearly shows the issues between Flora and Joel and how unhealthy their relationship was and honestly I really thought the whole thing got tied up way too neatly. I assume that will come back to bite them in the next book. But the clear star of this book was Saif. We get to follow him and all of things he had to do to get his children back and get them back to Mure. The biggest issue why I could not give this book 5 stars though was the whole plot with Colton. I am sorry, I ended up disliking the character a lot for what he did and I just in show more general hated the entire thing. The book has a nice rhythm to it, but certain parts felt a bit hollow. I think when Joel came back to Mure the flow of the book just got kind of hazy at that point. I just lost interest in him. And I don't think Colgan meant to do this, but Joel's mental health seemed to be just hey get some rest, eat some food, etc. and not really getting into what was going on there. It still felt even at the end that Flora and Joel were not on equal footing.

"The Endless Beach" follows Flora who is thrilled that she is finally with her former boss, Joel. They are on Mure enjoying the winter days/nights with each other. Only one fly in the ointment is that Joel is constantly being flown all over the place since he is a lawyer for the rich Colton. Joel doesn't share much of himself with Flora and all they tend to do is sleep together. Joel needs Flora to keep him centered and happy, but she needs more. After a disastrous trip to surprise Joel in New York (sorry I was on his side on that one) the twosome seem to drift apart. Along with that there is a secret that seems to have come between Colton and Joel. And Saif finally hears news of his children and tries his best to keep things quiet, but the residents of Mure have no qualms about butting in.

Flora reminds me a bit of other characters that Colgan has written. I just got bored by the whole Charlie/Jan thing. It was dumb. You did not date. You kissed him. The end. I was over it and started to hate to see those names at all. But Flora deciding she needed more than what Joel was ready to give her I thought was good. Too often we have romance novels where you have a woman just get crapped on by the hero, but they say they love you and everything is okay. I still don't know if this is a relationship to be rooting for.

I loved, loved, love Saif's character and the whole star-crossed love aspect of his relationship with Lorna. His plot saved this book for me.

I don't want to spoil, but the other plot point...sigh. The whole bury your gays trope is alive and well in this one and I can't believe Colgan even did it. Left a bad taste when I finished the book.

The writing was very detailed and the flow was really good throughout the book.

The setting of Mure always feels magical and otherwordly and it definitely feels that way again at times.

The ending though. Sigh. There's so much tension and I just don't know if I want to read the next book or not. show less

Sequel to 'The Summer Seaside Kitchen', but it's not necessary to have read that first. Set on the fictional Scottish island of Mure.

Flora is the main protagonist, a young woman working in a tea shop; but I didn't really warm to her. Nor did I much like any of her family, or her high-powered lawyer boyfriend. However, there's an excellent subplot involving a Syrian refugee working as the island's GP; his story is moving, realistic and poignant. The issues covered feel authentic and are quite thought-provoking.

I found the first part of the book a bit fluffy, but liked it increasingly as I got into the different storylines, and could hardly put it down by the end. Recommended if you like light women's fiction with some unexpected show more depths.

Full review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-endless-beach-by-jenny-colgan.h... show less

I somehow missed reading the first book in this series, so I spent much of the first part of the book trying to figure out the characters and their backstories. The tale got more interesting after that. The relationships between the characters are intriguing, and the problems they encounter make up the bulk of the story. Nothing comes easy, and it seems like life on that Scottish island can be a challenge, even if the surroundings are beautiful. The story has humor as well as pathos, and readers can’t help but become invested in the lives of the characters as they work through their troubles. But I do agree with other reviewers who said Agot acts more like an annoying two-year-old than a four-year-old. I also recommend the audio show more version; the narrator gives listeners an excellent rendition performing the Scottish voices. show less

I wasn't crazy about this book; yet, I usually enjoy Jenny Colgan's books. In this, Flora quits her London job and returns home to a Scottish island and opens a cafe. She originally went back there to conduct business with her boss (Joel), an attorney, who worked for Colton, a real estate entrepreneur who was buying property there. Her boss secretly fell in love with her (as did she with him) and decided to move there permanently as well, still working and traveling extensively for Colton. Of course, Flora and Joel could not share their feelings for each other, nor could Joel get over his upbringing which caused him to shy away from deep relationships with anyone. Then there is Colton who fell in love with Flora's brother, Innes, but is show more harboring a deep secret that only Joel knows that leads to more strife. If everyone talked to everyone else, I guess there wouldn't be a book. But while I enjoyed the characters, maybe that would have been a good thing. show less

The talented Jenny Colgan has taken us back to the Scottish Island of Mure, for the second Summer Seaside Kitchen book, where we get to see all of our favorite people again!

But with the good, comes the bad and as I was blubbering my way through this book, it showed me just how talented the author is, to provoke such a reaction in her readers.

Now I'm not going to go into everything on the island, but our favorite people are all there! Flora and Joel, Fintan and Coltan, Argot, Innis, and the rest of the family. But we also get to know Lorna better, and the doctor Saif. But the ugly head of Jan is there too, with the long-suffering Charlie! And I hate to say it, but I truly dislike Jan's character!

I will give you all warning though, this show more book deals with tough subjects, and one of them being cancer, which truly struck a nerve with me, as my father has been suffering from the same type in this book for years, and while I understand the situation, I kind of hope there is another book, where the character takes the experimental surgery. But I do praise the author, for highlighting one of the less publicized cancers.

Endless Beach is a beautiful story, filled with celebration, heartbreak, determination, and wonder! Which is why I give it 5 stars! show less