This is a fabulous book. Oh my goodness, so tense! The story builds through the heat of the summer, the tension mounting until BAM! the perfect storm of an ending. The writing is beautiful, the descriptions so clear that I walked along the Cornish cliffs, walked through the magnificent Cliff House, lived in the dingy little terrace that was Tamsyn's home.

This is a coming of age story our protagonist, Tamsyn a sixteen year old girl who is still grieving for her father who died six years earlier. He used to take her to The Cliff House and she's obsessed with the place and the people who live there. Her mother is the cleaner, so she has a key... I'm not going to say any more.

The book revolves around the have's and the have nots, the cast of characters belonging to two families. Each person is carefully and vividly drawn in this slow burner. They are believable and real, as is the dialogue and the story chugs along at just the right pace to reveal different facets of their characters. The different points of view also give us a better feel for what everyone's motivations really are and add to the reading experience.

It's a wonderful book and I'll definitely be reading more from this author.

A story of friendship and obsession, that left me unsatisfied and wondering why I had committed the time to reading it. I liked the descriptions of the Cornish coast, and ached for the protagonist’s loss of her dad and disintegration of her family, but the story arch and especially the denouement felt wanting. Not one, I’m afraid, that I’d recommend.

I really enjoyed this. A really evocative read showing two sides of life in Cornwall. One a family devastated by a death, a working class, mining family with unemployment and poverty as their background. Tamsyn from this family longs to be part of the other life - a family with a stunning holiday home nearby. The family are perfect in Tamsyn's eyes. Beautifully written with a fantastic cast of characters and some startling behind closed doors surprises. You can almost hear and feel the sounds of the coast of Cornwall.

In life all is not what it seems and this is so true with the Cliff house.
In the summer of 1986 Tamsin is obsessed with the inhabitants of the Cliff House the Davenports who to her inexperienced mind have everything that she does not have.. But all is not what it seems.
This book is a coming of age experience dealing with adolescent issues combined with adult undertones.
A great read.

Tamsyn lives with her Mother, Grandfather and brother in a small house in Cornwall. She has always admired and watched through binoculares the Cliff house where her mother works as a cleaner. One day she goes over to fetch something and is astonished when she meets a girl of her own age. Edie is the daughter of the owners who Tamsyn never knew existed. When they strike up a friendship she is over the moon. This is the story of their summer in 1986 . Occasional chapters give a glimpse of now. Edie is of a family worlds apart from that of Tamsyn as Tamsyn learns to her cost, but is enthralled that she is allowed a glimpse of their lives by being friends with Edie. This is one of those beautifully described books that would be lovely to read whilst on holiday or even if not- it transports you to the sounds of the sea and evokes your own childhood experiences of the sounds and smells of the beach. Of wondering about cocktail parties and wearing elaborate clothes. Of a life that can’t be yours but you love to dream about. I wouldn’t personally have classed this as a psychological read (which it is classed as) more, for me of a women’s fiction. That said still an enjoyable read.
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Perfect home, perfect family, perfect life. It’s so easy when you are outside looking in to imagine that you are witnessing perfection but as Tamsyn discovers that’s not necessarily true. While there was much that I liked here, my overwhelming emotion was sadness. I’m pretty sure I felt sad for each person in the two families at some point. There was a lot of detail in the descriptions that really brought the characters and the location to life. I was sent down memory lane by the description of the coloured cigarettes as I recall seeing them as a child and being a bit mesmerised. As I got closer to the finish I found I was turning the pages quicker and quicker as I had to know how it would end.

I received a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, HQ, and the author.
Although an interesting premise and enjoyable at times, I was a bit disappointed by this book.
It felt quite long and drawn out, leading up to an ending and 'reveal' that was slightly strange and inconceivable, considering the earlier progression of the story.
The characters also felt a little absurd at times, so it was hard to feel fully involved and invested in the story. 2.5 stars.

Thanks to Net Galley and HQ for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
An excellent fast paced read., a story of loss, friendship, obsession, relationships and the beUtiful cliff house
Tamsyn misses her dad, she loves watching the cliff house, her father loved the cliff house too. Tamsyn is lonely and desperate for a friend.
The Davenports arrive arrive from London to spend the summer at the house, she meets their teenage daughter,Edie and is fascinated by her, she sees Edie as having everything, living in a beautiful home, the pool, her posh mother and handsome dad, she could watch them all day through ger binoculars. She can’t stay away from them, has a burning need to be with her new friend at the house every day.
Tamsyn’s mum works for The Davenports cleaning their house and she sees the family in a different light from her daughter and worries that Tamsyn will be hurt.
As the story unfolds it becomes clear that all is not perfect in the Davenport household and that Tamsyn’s relationship with them could lead to disaster. 4.5 stars. Thoroughly enjoyed this book and would definitely read more from this author.

This book was very atmospheric and entrancing. I enjoyed the story and the characters and would recommend to others. A great read.

I really enjoyed The Cliff House. As Lisa Jewell states, it’s a beautiful, stirring story of loss and obsession.

On one hand we have Tamsyn. She lives with her brother, grandfather and mother Angie. Angie works for the Davenports, cleaning up at Cliff House. The Davenports seem to have everything and Tamsyn spends her days spying on them with binoculars. She thinks their lives are perfect and wants nothing more than their daughter Edie to be her friend.

Beautifully written and a fabulously compelling read. Highly recommended. Thank you to NetGalley, HQ and the author for the chance to review.

I really wasn’t too sure about this book and actually only made it 40% in. It was intriguing but there wasn’t enough suspense for me and I wasn’t quite sure what the story was that the author was trying to tell. Tamsyn wants to be best friends with the Davenports who seem to have everything but then cracks appear in the perfect life. There is also a ‘flashforward’ To the present day but this is so cryptically written that I don’t feel it has much involvement in the main story

Enjoyable read with a haunting back ground. Set in Cornwall which the author describes perfectly. This book was not an easy read and it needed maybe more time than I could give. A good book to read when wanting something with a little deeper than an easy thriller, the author does a good job of writing a plot that has lose, family and deep envy intwined in its pages.

This is a beautifully written, evocative, coming of age story, set in Cornwall in 1986. The setting is just wonderful and I could just picture the art deco house sitting on the cliff and the long hot summer days at the coast. I loved Tamsyn's family, her mother who works two jobs to support her family after the tragic death of her father, the grandpa suffering from lung disease who spends his days doing jigsaws, and the brother who at first seems like a bit of a waster, but the more you read, the more depth there is to his character. Tamsyn is a typical teenager, she envies the family who live in the Cliff House and after making secret visits to the house, she is accepted into the family as a friend of the daughter Edie. However, the inhabitants of the house have their own secrets and Tamsyn seems out of her depth the more involved she becomes with the family. There is an excellent twist to the story and quite a bittersweet ending. I could definitely imagine this being made into a television series, visually it would work very well.

a lovely story with many twists and turns. Set on the Cornish coast involving love and loss, friendship and obsession, gripping to the last page.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the book in exchange for an honest review.
The Cliff House is an intriguing book about two young teenagers and the contrast in their lives. The young girl Tasman is the youngest in the family, her father drowned trying to save lives as a lifeboat man leaving his wife, son and daughter. Her grandfather now lives with them after a lifetime down the mines. Her brother is unemployed and there is a scarcity of jobs. The mother has part time jobs. Tasman spent the last afternoon with her father swimming in the pool in the empty Cliff House and it is from there that her obsession with Cliff House begins.
Eddie, who is the daughter of the parents who live in Cliff House befriends Tasman and from there on the story begins.
Recommended.

I would like to thank Harlequin UK and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Cliff House’ by Amanda Jennings in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
On the first day of the Summer holidays of 1986 sixteen-year-old Tamsyn takes her binoculars and retraces the walk she used to take with her father before he died. From her hiding place amongst the undergrowth she looks down on The Cliff House rising up from windswept cliffs where she’s always dreamt of living. As she scans the house and watches the glamorous Max and Eleanor Davenport relaxing around their pool she spots a third person, their daughter Edie.
‘The Cliff House’ is a novel set in Cornwall which tells of Tamsyn’s yearning to be accepted by the Davenports, her mother who cleans and brother who paints their fences, and her craving for Edie to be her friend. I like the vivid picture Amanda Jennings paints of the Cornish coast, her descriptions of the characters involved and of Tamsyn’s obsessions and desires. This is an interesting and thought-provoking novel.

A good memorable book. Is there such a thing as a perfect life, the character watches this perfect life but cracks always show.

This is a sneaky book.

Without knowing it, I was drawn into this book. The descriptions of Cornwall and the surrounding areas are so evocative. Even if I had never been there, it would not have mattered for the author has the most perfect way of painting the scenery in words.

We meet Tamsyn, a young girl who lives in a small house with her mother, brother and grandfather who is unwell. She has memories of spending a lot of time on the cliff path with her father, watching The Cliff House. Due to Tamsyn still mourning the loss of her father, this house becomes a real focus point for Tamsyn to the point that it becomes an obsession.

This novel is a tour de force. Tamsyn, a local cornish-girl, is obssesed by a house set on a hill near her home. She visited it a few times with her father \(who has since drowned in a life-boat accident), when no-one was there. But now a London couple come for the weekends, and Tamsyn's mother cleans up there.
One day Tamsyn is at the front gate, when the daughter of the house turns up, Edie, and she is quite angry to see anyone there, but later admits to being bored and wants to be friends The mother of the house is an alcoholic and used various drugs to get through the day.
By the end of the book, she shows her true feelings for the locals, and Tamsyn is dreafully upset at not being allowed to go there, or see Edie.
I definitely did not expect the twist at the end of the book, and the characters are very vivid, the plot is also very strong. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this.

A story of deception and intrigue. There is obsession and envy aplenty in this story. It is reminiscent of an old Hitchcock movie where you're not sure exactly who you're rooting for as your sympathies are dragged here and there. It is a compelling and very enjoyable read.