The weather in the UK is often very grim, life for everyone can chuck horrible and painful obstacles in our paths, and generally the global news is enough to make one despair. All of which contribute to the reasons why books like this one by Heidi Swain are so popular and much loved.
A novel where there is always a happy ending, where people are kind and caring, interested, genuine and thoughtful, where romance flourishes and any niggles are swept away with sunshine and simplicity.
The Secret Seaside Escape is one such book. It is set by the sea (Norfolk), always a winner for me, and features the cosy Crow's Nest Cottage, the Smugglers pub next door, Home Farm, a cafe, food, a beautiful beach, handsome men and lots of love!!!
The characters are people you'd want as your friends. Sophie who runs the cafe and her daughter Hope who has endless enthusiasm, George and his dog Skipper, surly farmer Charlie in his tractor...
It might all sound very idealistic but we all need a comfortable dream or two, and the fictional goings on in Wynmouth, the misunderstandings about a dreadful accident, who is actually in love with who, and why a first kiss behind a beach hut as a teenager is enough to send Tess scuttling away from her PR job to relive some golden memories of the past, all create a wonderful feel-good book feast.
I can't give the book 5 stars as it is very sweet in parts and everything very neatly parcelled up, BUT I am smiling having read the book and will definitely pick up more Heidi Swain novels in the future to give me that warm hug and an optimism that sometimes in life things can be good, whenever I am in need of a reminder.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book by Heidi Swain. It touches on the issues of mental health sympathetically and shows how issues maybe misinterpreted. The characters are well written and the story is enjoyable as it weaves the characters lives together. Will look forward to jumping back into their lives if Heidi writes a sequel!

I loved this book and was so sad to have finished it leaving behind the characters and the seaside town of Wynmouth. Tess works in her father's PR firm and is a workaholic. She makes a decision that for the sake of her health she will take time off. Tess sends her father an email the day she leaves for a cottage she has booked in Wynmouth, a place she has happy memories of childhood holidays.
She quickly makes friends with the cottage owner and publican Sam and Hope and her mother who run the cafe. Being a workaholic Tess isn't finding it easy to wind down and becomes involved in helping out Sam and Hope.
So many things happen in this book and I couldn't put it down. I felt as if I was living in the seaside town and in Tess's cottage. I am hoping for a sequel.

As with Poppy’s Recipe for Life when Heidi’s latest book ‘The Secret Seaside Escape’ went up for review early I just couldn’t resist requesting to read it.

I just knew I wasn’t going to be disappointed. Heidi takes us to a completely new setting to Wynmouth where Tess Tyler decides to go on holiday from her high pressured job working in PR for her father. Tess wants to escape her life for a bit but also takes with her a family secret. However that doesn’t even compare to what she discovers when she goes to Wynmouth. I’m obviously not going to divulge those secrets but they are all packed with drama!

I also really enjoyed meeting new characters such as Sophie and Hope along with the lovely Sam. I could see how close the residents of this seaside village are and they are always there to help each other out. I adore a book where there’s a strong sense of community and this one certainly has that!

I am a mega huge fan of Heidi’s writing so I get beyond excited to see her announce yet another book which I’m sure will be a yet another huge success. If you want a book that is packed with friendship, family and community then this book is definitely for you ❤️ If I could give ‘The Secret Seaside Escape’ more than 5* it’s obvious I would so I am giving it 5*/5* 😊

Thank you to Simon and Schuster for an advanced copy of this book via Netgalley.

I am a big Heidi Swain fan and have read all of her books so far so I was really excited to give this a read. Unfortunately it didn’t hold my interest and I gave up about half way through. Not for me, this one.

Sometimes you're at a point in life where its so challenging you need an escape, to run away, not only was this true for the main character of this book, it was true for me and whilst I couldnt run away, I could hope that my favourite author's new book was absolutely fantastic so I could escape into it for a few hours. Thankfully it was.
At first I was worried it was going to be predictable but after a few chapters Heidi swain hit you with so many curve balls that you didnt expect that it was anything but predictable and it was absolutely brilliant. She described family, love and friendship in a way that many of us can empathise with. Another fantastic book by Heidi Swain. I love it that much that I may buy a paper back version when it comes out just so I can have it on my bookshelf.

With a perfect setting in Wynmouth, I thoroughly enjoyed meeting the villagers and seeing Tess’ impact on their lives. This is a super read with some likeable characters with their intriguing back stories. Tess has returned to the place she remembers feeling safe and happy in her childhood and shows herself to be such a capable and proactive person. Friendship and family issues merge together and there are some surprises in store. Highly recommended for a warm and uplifting read. Lets hope we return to Wynmouth in the future.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of the book.

Tess is a hardworking PR person who needs a break. She works with her father and her mother has recently passed away. When cleaning out her mothers belongings she finds her diary and it all becomes too much. She has lovely memories of holidays with her mother in Wynmouth and fondly remembers her first kiss there, behind the beach huts, so she takes a break and heads there.
She meets some lovely friends, mainly Sam and Hope, and throws herself into life in Wynmouth. She even uses her PR skills to organise nights in the pub and a solstice party on the beach. Then a familiar face turns up and a lot of little fires are lit! She reads her mothers diary and finds out some interesting stuff about her parents marriage and questions everything she believes in. Eventually it all comes crashing together, her parents past, her own past and possibly her future.
I really enjoyed the story of Tess and I found her a likeable character, if a little niave at times. The friends she makes are all lovely and the backdrop of Wynmouth and the beach will have you looking forward to the summer.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and Heidi Swain for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

I absolutely loved this book. It's only the second of Heidi's I've read, but it's really made me hungry for more.

I loved Tess, and the community of Wynmouth was so welcoming and loving – it really seems like the perfect place to escape to when work gets too much. It gave me such nostalgic vibes for me and my family sitting on a beach in Whitley Bay feasting on fish and chips.

The book is also an advertisement against working with your family. I wasn't a big fan of Tess' dad, and I also didn't much enjoy Chris either.

It's fantastic escapism fiction, and you will enjoy this immensely.

I read this while in Norfolk where the novel is set and really enjoyed it.

Following Tess as she runs from her busy job and family secrets to her favourite childhood holiday destination and the people, places sense of community and belonging she finds there (alongside some romantic intrigue) make this book a perfect, easy holiday read.

Great new book from one of my favourite authors. I love the Wynbridge novels and thought I’d be a little disappointed with a new location. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Wynmouth had me wanting to pack my bags, rent a cottage and set off to the sea. It was a great community filled with great new characters and even a couple of cute dogs. Who could ask for more? What was particularly great was that I thought I knew exactly how the story was developing so the plot twists really took me by surprise, even though I loved the new direction. Really hoping that they’ll be more from Wynmouth in the future. A story for Charlie perhaps?

I’m always overjoyed to see a new Heidi Swain novel, but when I saw this delicious burst of colour pop of a cover and realised we were heading to a whole new location – a seaside one at that – I was fit for bursting!

The Secret Seaside Escape follows Tess Tyler, who works for her father’s PR firm and for almost two years has thrown herself into working non-stop in the hope of it helping her grieve for, and get over the death of her mother – instead, it just got shut away in a box waiting to be reopened eventually, with added work pressures and her father’s work expectations mounting and mounting…

Tess often catches herself thinking back to her childhood family holidays on the Norfolk coast – in the seaside village of Wynmouth. She felt at her most happiest there – in fact, her mum and dad did too. When going through some of her mum’s possessions she finds a photo of herself outside Crows Nest Cottage – they’d never stayed there but she always felt it had a certain allure and charm to it. So, desperately in need of a work break, and when finding a diary of her mum’s that make’s her see her father very differently she looks the cottage up…

From the moment I stepped into Wynmouth alongside Tess I could honestly see and feel why she felt relaxed, free and at home there. Swain has drawn up such a quaint and charming setting where you feel the personality of the place straight away, and by the end of the novel it didn’t just become my favourite of her settings, I wanted to live in that dinky cottage, rent a beach-hut, discover the rockpools, sit and play scrabble and listen to spooky stories in the rustic Smuggler’s Inn – with the lovingly, bashful Sam, of course, and visit the bright and colourful Sophie to taste some of her mouth-watering, caribbean fusions and rum hot-chocolates at her equally bright and colourful beach cafe! It also seems that charm worked on Tess too, as despite just wanting to rest, it turns out that once there she can’t quite shut down her marketing brain and she ends up quickly getting involved with the local business owners over ways and ideas of how to get more visitors to Wynmouth and ultimately improve their profits – meaning she can just push her own problems back under the rug for a wee while longer.

If there’s one author out there who makes you feel nostalgia for things, it’s Swain, and through this book she made me revisit my own happy childhood holiday memories in Filey – where my parents took myself and my brother every year! Each year we stayed in the same hillside cottage overlooking the beach, we ate fish & chips, we walked Filey Brigg with our buckets and nets discovering their own little rock-pools, and built boats by sand on the beach. I know the cottage is still there, but still to rent out I’m not sure. Maybe I should see…

Of course there’s all the usual delights you come to expect by this author in The Secret Seaside Escape: food, friendship, community and romance. Always highlighting important issues too within her stories: importance of community, shopping local, beach cleaning, and the positive impact that social media presence has on businesses’ are just some of which are touched upon. But I was rather shocked, pleasantly shocked I should add, by the slightly heavier feel in this one. There was mystery, intrigue and drama a plenty going on – from Tess’ mothers diary entries, an event that happened in the village over a decade ago between childhood friends Sam and Joe and a first kiss that happened behind the beach huts also many years ago whilst Tess holidayed there which sets the rather adorable romantic storyline into play and which I truly loved seeing unveil itself ! I feel these more layered storylines really showed a growth in Swain’s writing and whilst some things I worked out, others I really was surprised at and enjoyed discovering the ultimate 'whys'.

The Secret Seaside Escape is a breath of seaside goodness, that’s filled with buckets of wit, romance, secrets and drama, which ultimately left me so full of warmth for my own childhood holiday memories. Be sure to pop it on your spring/summer reading lists.

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for allowing me to read an eARC of The Secret Seaside Escape in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Heidi Swain writes fantastic stories and this one does not disappoint. I was gripped from the first word to the last.
Tess has a lot on her mind and needs to get away to think thing through and take time for herself. But she finds relaxing a bit to difficult so she ends up helping out the locals where she is staying.
She meets some very nice people but there are secrets between them and history. As time goes on she finds out a few of the secrets and puts one and one together and makes 3 but all comes together in the end. This book is full of surprises it is a must to read.
I found it hard to put down and I am disappointed it came to an end because I did not want it to end.

Thank you for my digital review copy via NetGalley.

This is the first book I've read by Heidi Swain and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was curled up with our rescue dog, nursing a sore back, torrential rain pouring outside and I couldn't put it down. I loved being transported to Wynmouth along with Tess.

Great characters, lots of stories within the story and a couple of dogs too. I recommend escaping to Wynmouth as soon as possible - the book is published on April 30th.

I was delighted to receive this book from Netgalley as I absolutely adore books by this talented author so much. I was interested to see the new community of Wynmouth and found it to be every bit as welcoming and idyllic as her other settings in previous books.
Brilliant characters and some secrets that kept you on your toes throughout made this book completely addictive!
I enjoyed my trip to the Norfolk coast, Heidi’s excellent descriptive writing once again captured my imagination and had me drifting off to the seaside whilst curled up in front of my fire 🔥
Such a wonderful feel good story, I’m already looking forward to the next book!

This was such a good book. I really loved the characters and I enjoyed trying to figure out where the storyline was going. The last couple of chapters even brought a tear to my eye... brilliant ending

This book was fantastic. An ease to read and follow storyline, slightly predictable in places, but kept my interest and I just wanted to keep reading until I got to the end

Tess Tyler has a high-flying career at Tyler PR, but working for the family business isn’t all its cracked up to be. When Tess’ dad acts more overbearing boss than caring father, she realises its time for a change. After a shocking discovery Tess flees to Wynmouth, the seaside town that helped forge some of her best childhood memories.

But Tess finds the town to be quieter then she remembers, and it doesn’t take long before she’s throwing herself into turning the ailing tourist trade around along with he help of her new found friends Sam and Hope. But when a familiar face returns to Wynmouth, Tess begins to realise that everywhere - and everyone - has their secrets, and her real life might just be about to catch up with her.

I remember feeling slightly nervous when Swain set Wynbridge aside and began to write about the residents of Nightingale Square. When I requested this title on NetGalley, and saw that she was once again veering from the well-known and loved, I had that same sinking feeling.

Well, I really should have known better. having read and loved every single one of Heidi’s books regardless of the setting. If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a hundred times - or at least on every review for Swain’s books I’ve written - it is the effortless writing style, delicious descriptions, and above all, the charming characters that keep me coming back for more! In fact, I never even read the blurb on her new books anymore, I buy/request them without a second thought.

If you have, or haven’t, read anything by Heidi Swain before this novel is the perfect one to get you in the mood for summer. Full of sun, sand, sea and…well, a few gorgeous men!

Hats off to Heidi! She’s done it again, written a book with a feel good factor that makes you want to pack a case and head off to the seaside. She’s taking us to a brand new setting Wynmouth, with a set of new characters for us to meet. Hopefully we’ll be revisiting in the future to follow them on their journey? The story starts with Tess who returns to the seaside place where she spent her childhood/teenage holidays to escape her stressful job and relationship with her father. What happens in the story makes her re evaluate her life and future and how she deals with her feelings. I didn’t guess the lovely twist towards the end of the story and this makes you want to know what happens next. Hopefully to be continued...

First time reading Heidi Swain and I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the storyline and the idea that it’s possible to overcome any problems together. Will definitely look out fur more books by this author.