3 women meet all at a point in their lives when they need help and take a chance on friendship and the Summer that changed them. Cathy Bramley know how to write about friendship that sometimes only another woman will understand from dealing with bereavement, illness and blackmail this Summer changes all of them for the better

If you want a book to sweep you away, make you laugh, make you cry and give you a warm hug then pretty much anything from Cathy Bramley will do that and this new book is no exception.

Set by the sea in Merle Bay, three women are thrown together unexpectedly and become the friends they did not realise they needed until they found each other.

Katie, runs the local lingerie shop and is keen on giving a boost to all ladies who come into the shop. But she is hiding her own secret and she cannot possibly tell anyone.

Robyn is healing but whilst she may be physically it seems the emotional scars are a long way from that and her marriage is at a crossroads. Can the strength of their love see them through?

Grace, the older of the three women is grieving. she has come to Merle Bay to find herself, to move on. However her husbands children seem hell bent on making sure they get what they feel they are entitled to until a revelation makes Grace reassess everything she knows.

The instant friendship that strikes up shows you how women can draw on the strength of others and have no hang ups or barriers about their past actions. Sometimes it is easier to talk to a stranger than someone you are close to.

Add into the mix Amber, grieving for her mother and at that awkward teenage age and her father Barney, the local newspaper journalist. There could be some consequences if the secrets all of them hold are spilled forth.

This book covers some pretty tough topics; cancer, adultery, grief, exploitation of young women and mental health. Recovery from one, some or all of these things requires many methods and this book shows you that strength can be sought in friendships, in the environment by the sea, and in the wonder of craft with sea glass that is in abundance at the beach in Merle Bay.

I loved the book without a doubt and one of the best Cathy Bramley has written.

What a wonderful read this was! We meet three women – Katie who runs Auntie Small’s lingerie shop, Robyn who is coming to terms with her new body following life-changing surgery and Grace who is still grieving for her husband. They are a great bunch of women, all very likeable, but all going through their own different problems. They didn’t become friends until they were drawn together to help Grace when she has a little accident, but they worked so well together you would have thought they’d known each other forever!

The book was truly a delight to read. I couldn’t put it down once I’d started and I very quickly became lost in the women’s lives! It was wonderful to see their friendship grow and see them support each other! It’s such an emotional read but filled with lots of love and laughter – I couldn’t help but giggle when Katie and Robyn first met Grace, who found herself showing a little bit more of herself than she wanted! There are some tender moments, lots of heart-warming moments and a couple of moments where I was so angry, I could have screamed, particularly on Grace’s behalf!

The location of Merle Bay on the Northumberland coast sounded perfect, and I found myself dreaming about living in Sea Glass House where Grace was living! Sea Glass beach sounded amazing also, and what better way to solve your problems than to walk along the beach with your girlfriends, talking them over and collecting little pieces of sea glass! I also thought Katie’s lingerie shop is fabulous – who would have thought it was so much fun to read about balconette bras and Brazilian thongs! It was so completely original, and this book featured some great topics which should be talked about more, such as period poverty, the BRCA breast cancer gene and even ‘bra poverty’, where you donate old bras (good quality of course!) to help those who can’t afford to buy them. You really don’t realise some of these problems exist until you start reading and thinking about them!

I thought this book was a perfect read for me! It had everything that I could need – great characters, stunning location, fun, laughter, love and friendship! It filled me full of hope and happiness in this gloomy world at the moment and showed me that there isn’t a problem which can’t be overcome! Fab, fab, fab!! Love, LOVE, LOVED it!!

An enjoyable read, the sort of book that would be fun to take on the beach to while away those hot summer days

This is an absolutely delightful book!
Set in the quiet seaside resort of Merle Bay, the book follows three women who didn’t know each other until they bumped into each other on the beach and became firm friends.
• Katie has taken over the local lingerie shop after the death of her aunt, but she struggles to trust people after a traumatic incident when she was 18.
• Robyn is married to a local fisherman. They were talking about starting a family when she discovered she carried the BRCA gene that caused her mother’s death from breast cancer. After preventative surgery to reduce her risk of getting cancer, she is struggling to come to terms with her new body & her relationship is struggling.
• Grace recently lost her husband and she is staying in a house belonging to a friend. She is struggling to come to terms with her single life, whilst also fighting a challenge from her husband’s ex-wife & children over the terms of his will.
All of the characters are likeable and realistic (not perfect!) and Amber was an unexpected star – she isn’t a “main character” but the way that the 14 yr old is depicted is both adorable and again realistic.
The book touches on some difficult subjects including cancer, exploitation, grief and difficult decisions, but these are balanced with some humorous moments and the power of friendship. I really liked that it wasn’t the soppy ”boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy meets girl again & they live happy ever after - the end” book that I expected, this was a book about women empowering women.
It was very well-written and I wanted to keep reading & find out what happened.

Overall, this is an uplifting, emotional read and the beach setting makes it perfect for summer. I want to go hunting for sea-glass now!

This book has a great feel good factor, making me smile throughout. Characters who I would love to have as my friends and a plot which is both thought provoking and sensitive. A really great holiday read.

A great feel good book. It was great to read about the journey that Grace, Robyn and Katie have gone through. All very different but they show how solid their friendship is after a chance meeting. There are some amusing parts and some sad parts. They are all strong women but they all have adverse issues to deal with and the story tells how sticking together and being kind wins through.
All the serious issues are dealt with sensitively and can be related to. It teaches that kindness to others is the way forward..
Thank you Cathy for such a lovely story and I would like to see a sequel to see how the characters progress in their lives

Cathy Bramley always writes such lovely, heart-warming and embracing reads that give you that warm feeling inside and this new book, The Summer That Changed Us, is no exception. With such a gorgeous cover that really sums up the themes of the book I couldn’t wait to dive in and read all about three women, their three secrets and the one unforgettable summer that changed everything for them. Right from the beginning, you feel at home and at ease within the setting of Merle Bay, a seaside town on the north east coast of England. Thanks to the vivid descriptions by the author, I could picture the setting so clearly and you feel as if it could be real and that you would love to live alongside the main characters.

The story follows three women, Katie, Grace and Robyn, who have never previously met but a funny if somewhat unfortunate mishap leads to the women forming a close bond that by the end of the book has transcended beyond friendship and they have developed a strong sisterhood. Each women is hiding their own issues and worries and are afraid to come out in the open and express how they are feeling. But thanks to the unique closeness, rapport and solidarity that emerges between them over the course one summer they soon learn that a problem shared is a problem halved. Instead of threading water alone and wandering aimlessly dwelling on an issue that sharing the load, pushing ahead and changing direction may be the best advice they have ever learned.

Katie had lived with her Auntie Jean for ten years until her death a year ago. She has been left the lingerie shop, Auntie Small’s, and enjoys running it alongside her co-worker Nula. Merle Bay has been a haven for Katie and she has been happier there than anywhere else in the world. Instantly, the readers interest is piqued because when she mentions it’s her haven you wonder what has she been hiding? Is she running from something? Despite the success of the shop which is not just your usual lingerie shop in that they always go above and beyond for their customers and Katie has been a support system for so many women dealing with a wide range of emotional and physical problems there is an air of hesitancy surrounding Katie. It’s like she always looking over her shoulder waiting for something to go wrong. It’s as if she can’t let go of something which would allow her to fully embrace her life in the present. Thankfully, the author doesn’t leave us waiting too long to discover just what Katie has been holding back and when a mysterious and threatening letter arrives for her we discover just what she has kept secret and what has haunted her for so long.

I loved the development of this aspect of the overall plot. To me it seemed as if Katie was very much stuck between a rock and a hard place and she had no choice but to give in to demands that were being made on her. I understood completely what had happened to her when she was younger and why she had wanted to not reveal things but it appeared as if the past was catching up with her and this time she couldn’t run away. Will her friendship with Grace and Robyn provide her with the strength and tools she needs to confront what she has long purposefully kept buried? The past should not cloud her life anymore and she needed to find the courage and determination to face it head on. Especially as she has met Barney Larkin, the editor of the local newspaper, through his daughter Chloe. There is definitely a spark between them but she can’t let it ignite until the past has been resolved.

Grace is a woman who needs time away from her old life. Time to reassess and heal following the death of her beloved husband Myles. She needs to get away to a place where he is not imprinted on her mind and where she can learn who she is to be without him. Through a friend she rents Sea Glass House overlooking a stunning beach and its here where Katie and Robyn come to her rescue. Initially it’s a tentative association that is formed but the three women soon realise they are kindred spirits. Grace needs to catch her breath and reimagine herself and with the help of Katie and Robyn just as she takes baby steps in doing this, her world is once again rocked. I felt so sorry for her that just as she was beginning to find a way out of the darkness that engulfed her, her world is once again rocked to its very foundation. We learn what has happened but then things get even more dramatic and I didn’t know how she was going to handle things. I would have been so mad at what Grace learned and I don’t think forgiveness would have come so easily. When everything you thought to be true was a lie and your carefully ordered world was nothing but a façade. Betrayal features heavily in Grace’s storyline and I wondered would she ever find her way back from it?

Robyn is the last woman who form the special trio and boy was she hurting. She is married to Finn but you can tell they are experiencing a very rough patch that could if she allows it to happen develop into something much more permanent. Her outward scars may be beginning to heal but inside she is a mess. Her emotions are all over the place and I thought quite often she saw things in a different light to others, as in problems where there weren’t any. She feels useless in that she can’t contribute to the household as things aren’t going great with Finn’s fishing business but more pressingly she feels such a failure that she will never be a mother. The reasons for this really impact on you as a reader and give you plenty of food for thought. Things with Robyn aren’t as cut and dry as one would think. She questions things internally instead of voicing things vocally to Finn and you are so glad when she meets Grace and Katie as they give her the opportunity to say what is on her mind and they don’t in any way condemn or judge her for the way she thinks and feels.

I thought this quote from the book was so powerful as it summed up the three women and how they are dealing with things to perfection, but it is also something which can be said for us all. ‘People were a bit like the shingle beach, she thought, it looked perfectly ordinary on the surface, but take the time to dig a little deeper and you discover the sea glass, unique in every way, with histories and stories you couldn’t even begin to guess.’ The beach and sea glass play an important role in this story and were woven wonderfully through each woman’s unique journey. All three women hit rock bottom but the future is in their hands. ’The three of us are going to fight back. We’re not going to cower away, afraid of what others think of us. We’re going to show the world what we are made of’ And boy do they and I was rooting for them every step of the way as this wonderful story further unfolded. The three women make a promise and are filled with a determination not to let their issues suffocate and defeat them but to instead face things head on. You will cheer them on every step of the way as they learn life is too short to be anything but happy and if anything like me you will be sad to leave this special trio once you reach the end of what was an exhilarating, captivating and sparkling story.

Another hit by Cathy Bramley, I always enjoy her books and this was yet another hit for me, great characters, quaint seaside setting, what's not to like

I love books about friendship and the support you can get from it, so this was always going to be a winner. Throw in a seaside setting and I’m sold. Perfect summer read with a real feel good feeling.

The Summer That Changed Us by Cathy Bramley is a wonderful, feel good story about three women who all meet at Merle Bay and become good friends and their own support network. Grace, Robyn and Kate all live in Merle Bay and find comfort and support in their friendship. Great characters, good storyline and a really good read. Another Cathy Bramley favourite book to read and enjoy.
A really enjoyable and entertaining read.
Highly recommended.

The new feel good read about three women searching for friendship in a sparkling seaside town. This was a very well-written book with wonderfully-interesting characters.

A great read. I liked the characters in this novel and the way they helped each other out. The descriptions of the place made you feel you were there. I would recommend this book to others.
The sea glass sounded so interesting and helped bind the whole storyline together.

Great read, flows perfectly. Well-written and completely engaging. I have devoured this book in one sitting with no regrets. I NEED more. This is a perfect sunny day read that has left me with a huge smile.

This book is a very life affirming read for any woman.
If you're struggling with body image for any reason, reading this book might just help.

Three women each with their own body image hang ups and for various reasons.
They come together by chance, and change each other's lives.

You cannot escape from your own mind, but the right support can change it.

Another great book from Cathy, I was instantly drawn to the cover before noticing the author. Fab setting and characters. Brilliant and heartwarming

This was a change from the usual Cathy Bromley book I’ve read but I really enjoyed it. Three women meet up at a seaside town, each of of them with their own problems and with their friendship blossoming begin to trust each other with secrets unspoken, they find solace in female friendship. This covers some very sensitive issues , such as cancer and bereavement, and Cathy handles this with a respectful and sensitive touch. It’s also full of fun and humour, it was a joy to read.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

As usual, I liked the cover of this book (I chose so many books this way!), and the blurb sounded just what I needed, a light-hearted book about new friends. I loved The Summer That Changed Us!

The book is set in the stunning Merle Bay, where the beach is scattered with beautiful sea glass if you know where to look. It’s beautifully written and flowed wonderfully, so I was quickly entrapped by the lives of Grace, Robyn and Katie. From being complete strangers to having a no holds barred sharing system between themselves, they manage to navigate new friendships and their troubles through ups and downs over the summer, becoming best friends.

Each of the three women has her own issues and personal problems they don’t want to share with anyone else. They are wide-ranging from the traumatised teenager to the widow to the one who doesn’t want to have children and has recently had operations to prevent cancer. There is a good mix, but each is equally sad in its own right. However, the love between them by the end is beautiful; they have become family more than friends and root for and support each other. This also has a ripple effect on those around them.

Each character is well developed, they are realistic, and you feel that you know each of them well. I found changing each protagonist was easy as they were so different. So many serious issues are covered but sensitively.

This is a joyful and uplifting read that fills you with hope, knowing that there is always a positive even in the darkest of times, and things will work out in the end. Often sharing their problems has helped each of the women and shows the reader that this can be the case in their own lives.

I loved the beginning with their hilarious meeting, three complete strangers and one very embarrassing incident! The humour and funny moments continue throughout, but I especially loved the daughter of one of the other characters, possibly the most loving and caring teenager you could hope to meet!

I have already recommended this book to many people; you should definitely buy yourself a copy as soon as you can!

What a truly stunning read this book is and Cathy never fails to disappoint. Heart warming and beautifully written.

When three women meet on a Northumberland beach, they form a friendship that will give them each the support and strength to face their problems. Owner of a small lingerie shop, Katie, is being blackmailed over old, nude photos of herself taken when she was much younger; fisherman's wife Robyn worries that her preventative surgery for breast and ovarian cancer has made her unattractive to her husband, Finn, while newly widowed Grace is reeling from the betrayal of her late husband's first family as they set out to destroy her happy memories.
With three empathetic characters and underlying issues of self-confidence and how easily it can be destroyed, this is a strong, ultimately joyous and life-affirming story.
The various plot threads keep the momentum going, and there's lots of fun, laughter and romance amidst the angst and tears.
The women often collect seaglass, and I felt it was a great analogy for each of them - beaten and buffered by life's waves that only make them stronger and more beautiful, the rough edges of day-to-day life smoothed away with each emotional beating they face down.