An Old Fashioned British Holiday
Starting Again In Silver Sands Bay by Karen Louise Hollis is a really fun contemporary read that delighted my senses.
The book is set over the six weeks summer holiday and in a caravan park in Lincolnshire in two caravans which are lacking modern conveniences. It awakened memories in me of caravanning when I was young.
Karen Louise Hollis assaults all the reader’s senses. Holidaying in Britain means alternating the sun and rain – I could ‘hear’ the raindrops on the caravan roof. Chip suppers could be ‘smelt’. I could ‘feel’ both the hot sun and the cooling rain. An old-fashioned holiday camp pub was easy to visualize.
All the characters were realistic and likable as the reader follows two single parent families. Raising a child alone was never a choice – but one lost her husband, and the other’s wife ran off with a richer man (both as the book opens & five years prior to the main story, so no spoilers here). We witness the guts taken to raise a child alone, and also the loneliness adults feel parenting alone.
The book is written from two alternating points of view as we see life from both family’s viewpoints.
Starting Again In Silver Sands Bay was the most delightful novel that I absolutely loved. I cannot wait for more from Karen Louise Hollis.
I received a free copy from Rachel’s Random Resources for a blog tour. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.
JULIA WILSON
Starting Again in Silver Sands Bay
Becki is fifty and a single mum to eleven-year-old Jemima, after being widowed five years ago.
Dan is forty-eight and a single dad to eleven-year-old Freddie, after his wife left him five years ago.
They have both given up on love.
But when they all go to Silver Sands Bay on the Lincolnshire coast for the summer, will they be able to put the past behind them and find love again?
Purchase Links
Author Bio –
I was born in Lincoln, England in 1969. I loved writing from an early age, being the daughter of two journalists. I am a mum to five children and have three grandchildren. I have had over twenty books published and have written about a variety of topics including motherhood, poetry, Doctor Who and gymnastics. My first novel Welcome to Whitlock Close came out in 2022 and my second one Starting Again in Silver Sands Bay in 2023.
Social Media Links –
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7198889.Karen_Louise_Hollis
https://www.instagram.com/karenlouisehollis/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/620519862392433 – FB author group
Thank you so much for your gorgeous review!