Sunrise By the Sea

Oh, I am always so excited when I see that Jenny Colgan has a new book coming out! Her latest - Sunrise by the Sea - has just released. (And I've already finished it!)

Colgan has a number of series on the go - Sunrise by the Sea is the fourth in the 'Little Beach Street Bakery series. This latest akes us back to the wee Cornish island of Mount Polbearne.

Don't you love the cover shot of all those colorful seaside houses? I think (no, I know!) I could very easily live there. The scenery is lovely, but it's those who live there that make this series so heartwarming.

Polly (the owner of the bakery) is of course there, along with her husband Huckle and their twins Daisy and Avery. The twins have grown and their dialogue is priceless. Another show more member of their household is Neil the puffin - a reader favorite! It's always lovely to catch up with returning characters - I feel like I'm catching up with old friends.

But, this book belongs to Marissa. Her beloved grandfather has died and she doesn't seem to be able to move on with her life, retreating more and more into herself and away from the world. Through a set of circumstances she ends up in Mount Polbearne in a wee rented house. It's quiet and peaceful - until a new tenant moves in next door.

Colgan has done a great job depicting Marissa's illness, it's written with care and is believable. I'm sure we've all felt like Marissa at some point in time. I loved Marissa's online Skype relationship with her grandmother in Italy. (And I missed mine all the more) And it wouldn't be a Jenny Colgan book without a romance (or two). That new neighbor? Interesting. Loud. Annoying. The will they, won't they, yes, no, maybe so, romantic plotlines are always great fun. And the descriptions of food? Mouth watering!

Mount Polbearne is that place you'd want to live - and the better part of that would be down to the residents. They're caring, quirky and community driven. Barring moving to Mount Polbearne (it is indeed fictional), I'm quite happy to visit in the pages of Jenny Colgan's imagination.

Another heartwarming, addictive, escapist, just lovely read from Jenny Colgan. I loved it. show less

This was a lovely read, and it tackled a number of important topics: the way we process deep grief, especially when our culture or even family does not understand. It also takes an unflinching, well documented journey into the depths of prolonged depression and even phobia. And it examines the contrast between extreme privilege and entitlement vs. the struggles of those who have to scrabble out a living.

And yet! Ms. Colgan always manages to keep the tone gentle yet true; sympathetic, but never maudlin or cloying. Her skill at weaving together love, death, humor, and the shadows of isolation never descend into a dismal experience for the reader.

Marissa (the protagonist) is so very, very human, and Ms. Colgan's skill at the telling show more detail makes this a gentle, but never, ever shallow story. show less

Another wonderful Little Beach Street Bakery book from Jenny Colgan. This story features not only our regular Mount Polbearne residents, baker, Polly, and her beau, Huckle, the honey maker, their pet puffin, Neil, their wealthier than wealthy friends, Kerensa and Reuben and their son, Lowin, and the town regulars, but it also introduces us to more of Polly and Huckle's family, the new school piano teacher, Alexei, and the new, very quiet girl in town, Marisa, who mainly keeps to herself. Marisa quickly becomes the main character in this story, and you can't help but care for her immediately and feel sympathy for her with the hard time she is going through. You also get to know her headstrong Nonna in Italy quite well, and you can't help show more but fall in love with her, too. The seaside town of Mount Polbearne in Cornwall is faced with adversity and, once again, bands together to help get through the rough time. The story has ups, downs, suspenseful moments, heartaches, and, as always, the heart of the story is based on love and friendship. Another truly wonderful read that leaves you wishing you could really travel to Mount Polbearne to visit with the characters. show less

Not at all the book I was expecting, but an interesting one. There’s an “outro” at the end of the book by the author, explaining how it wasn’t quite the book she expected it to be either, and explains why.

Without spoiling the author’s attempt to avoid spoilers, I’ll just say this is a book about long-term grief and how it can turn into something altogether different and how Marisa finds her way out of it with the help of a small Cornish island. Colgan addresses agoraphobia and how it tears Marisa away from her family and friends as she becomes ever increasingly isolated. How her roommate kicks her out for being such a drag and she finds a home on a tidal island off the Cornish Coast that’s a perfect hideaway for Marisa, show more except for the Russian piano instructor living next door who teaches and practices all hours of the day and night. Between the Russian, her therapist and her Nonna back in italy (the latter two converse with her via Skype/Zoom), she slowly finds ways to break the cycle of isolation and reconnect with people.

This is a book that manages to be neither perky nor heavy; respect is given to Marisa’s struggles without drowning the reader in it. It’s light without being fluffy. There’s obviously a back story with the secondary characters; I’m assuming this is part of a series that takes place on this island, but it never interfered, or left me feeling as though I missed something. I’m guessing Sunrise by the Sea is marketed as a romance, but I’d argue against it. There’s a romantic connection at then end but the rest of the book is about Marisa’s recovery with occasional side-forays into the financial struggles of Polly and Huckle (whom I’m assuming starred in a previous book).

An enjoyable read – not quite what I was looking for, but it held my attention nonetheless. show less

This was straightforward feel-good book.
Marisa moves to a small coastal village after her grandfather passed away and slowly learns to enjoy life again. She meets her piano playing neighbour and a mom of two kids. Very little happens but these people living their lives and it had a cosy, sweet feeling to it.

I liked the setting of a village bakery, the friendship between Marisa, Alexei and Polly and the emphasis on Marisa’s family bonds. But then it started going downhill into a ‘we dont like each other but actually we’re in love’ type romance. I liked Marisa and Alexei’s friendship, but it annoyed me how the grandma basically said “he is a man and you’re a woman, so it has to be love”

If you aren’t as romance critical show more as me, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it more, because the rest of the book was nice. show less

Sunrise by the Sea is the fifth book in the Little Beach Street Bakery series by Jenny Colgan. I had not read any of the earlier books in the series and found the beginning confusing. Chapter one introduces two married couples, two children, and a puffin in rapid succession without context or backstory. Chapter two turns abruptly to a wealthy, immature playboy and Marisa, who refuses to leave her room and join him at a party. The six adults live in a different part of the UK and have no obvious relationship. I was tempted to DNF.

However, after the ill-conceived beginning,Sunrise settles into an entertaining but uneven story. Marisa is agoraphobic and clinically depressed. Once this becomes clear, Marisa becomes a sympathetic character, show more and I rooted enthusiastically for her recovery. The precipitating causes of her situation and the events leading to her gradual return to health are not convincing. Still, Colgan avoids the standard literary depiction of the therapist as a buffoon. The story includes a romantic subplot, but the focus is an upbeat, optimistic account of Marisa’s gradual recovery. The relationship between Marisa and her grandmother was particularly appealing.

Sunrise drags at points with long digressions that do little to advance the plot. For example, the descriptions of Marisa’s skill in the kitchen remind me of the long lists of esoteric ingredients and extended procedures that accompany recipes in gourmet magazines like Food and Wine. An editor’s firm hand and discriminating eye could have corrected many of these problems.

The weak conclusion bookends the unfortunate beginning. I had the impression Colgan didn’t know how to bring the story to a close and resorted to a literary cheat (i.e., the magic solution). The rich guy mentioned briefly in the first chapter and in passing after that solves the financial woes and fulfills the desires of the central characters.

Despite the shortcomings I have noted above, this is an entertaining story populated by likable characters. show less

Aww, the outro was so sweet. I love Jenny's books and this one was no disappointment. I feel like as time goes on her characters develop more "real" problems and I appreciate that--hearing how Flora was struggling financially just felt so much more real than reading about how our Londoners move to the seaside and set up a restaurant and boom it's profitable.