Another fabulous book from Josie Lloyd!
I loved the friendships forged through a united love for wild swimming, I loved getting to know all the characters individually, but then watch their joint friendships grow!
A beautiful book about the power of female friendship groups. It really made me wish I lived by the sea and could go wild swimming! Sadly I live in West Yorkshire, no coastline here!
I can’t wait to read more from Josie after also reading and loving The Cancer Ladies Running Club!

A real tale of strong female friendships. They are all connected by their love of sea swimming.

I did struggle with the Covid references.

As a sea swimmer, I adored this book. A gorgeous story of female frienship, this book was a quick read that stayed with me a long time after.

I thoroughly enjoyed my journey to the open water around Brighton with these four strong women. Touching, heart warming and emotional, it's full of joy, and shows how the connections we form, with people we learn to trust, can heal.

Absolutely loved this book. Such an enjoyable life affirming read. Made me laugh out loud. An must read for everyone!

I had to revisit this book a couple of times as I wasn't quite in the right headspace to read it.
I am glad it grabbed me when it did. This is a brilliant novel about female freindships.

Lifesaving for Beginners by @josielloydwriter a NetGalley review. A group of female friends, of all ages and all of whom are struggling in life one way or the other. Yet what bonds them together is their cold water plunges, which becomes a lifeline for them all. I really enjoyed this book for many reasons, it’s set during covid something you don’t read about often and it’s not a major part of the story but it’s there in the background and had a huge impact on one characters life. In sad, it’s funny, it’s emotional and it’s predictable and it feels real, honest and at times raw. It’s not the greatest book I’ve read this year but it’s a good book and I think mainly so because of the characters and their friendship, as a reader I felt part of that great, lucky to be part of this inner circle. It’s also about change, change for the better even though at times those changes can be hard. It’s an easy read, there’s no huge wow moments, no twists or turns to the plot, as I’ve said it’s predictable but this didn’t put me off because it’s so well written and because you feel apart of this friendship group, even though you know what’s going to happen, there’s still this need to find out what happened to ‘your friends’! All these positive things are able to come across because of the author and how well it’s written, she writes sensitively and with compassion when writing about tough issues like grief and mental health. For me the big positive and constant throughout the book was the characters, a great cast of individuals, Helga for me was the one that took a while to warm to, a tough exterior, bossy, feisty and opinionated, yet as a read in the reasons behind this become apparent and my opinion of her softened. Thats another great thing about this book, the characters develop and grow, again adding a realness to the story. There’s no doubt despite the emotion that this is a heartwarming, feel good read, an easy read, a good spring pick. I definitely recommend you adding this you your TBR pile. I do think there are better books out there to pick to read first so with that in mind it’s a ⭐️⭐️⭐️ from me.

This book has a huge and positive focus on genuine character development, and I really appreciated getting to know them and their histories fully. As far as others books in a similar genre go, this one looks at much more than the superficial relationships between characters, which is important when dealing with the various tricky topics that appear throughout. The pace dipped towards the middle and end, I found, but the well-written content earlier kept me reading,

Very timely and speaks to the popular culture of wild swimming, whilst tackling a variety of deep discussions in often a light-hearted manner. A great summer read and one I was left thinking about after I turned the final page.

DNF - Gave up after 5%. Found the fact it was set during Covid and lockdowns, rather jarring given the main characters lack of care about covid restrictions. And I just don't want to keep being reminded to the pandemic. And even half way through I was still confused which character was which, and what their story is, and thus each chapter was taking me far too long to adjust to the new focus.

Suspect there is a great story in there, but I lost the will to continue reading. Sorry.

This was a fun, easy read and is an easy way to while away an afternoon.

There were quite a lot of characters in the 'Sea Gals', and at first I found it difficult to keep their various situations separate. I love how they bonded and grew through their shared sea swimming hobby and it definitely rescued them all from various trials and tribulations. It is set against the backdrop of COVID, which might make this a confusing read in the future - it is funny how quickly we forget how many of our freedoms were temporarily curtailed during the lockdowns.

The book does address some thorny issues: particularly Maddy and Jamie, but they are done quite gently and are all resolved satisfactorily at the end.

I really love the concept of this book. Life is all the better when you surround yourself with people who support and love you and it is reciprocated.

The Sea-Gals are such a great group and really quite funny. My friend and I are hoping to start cold water swimming and this book as given me a funny insight into what it might be like.

Poor Helga is going through a lot, but I love that she has the Sea-Gals to help her get through the rough times.

I really like the connection to the pandemic but it's just mentioned now and then and is really relatable.

I love the chat on the beach that Claire and Ash have. It's something all teens should know about whether they're male or female. I like how concerned Ash sounds when his mum shares it with him.

This book is emotional, romantic and funny amongst other things, it's a really heart-warming story and I love the different characters and how the author dips into details in each of their lives. They're all connected but have a very different time and experience with one shared thing of being part of the Sea-Gals.

A heartwarming story with friendship at its core!
This tells the story of how five different women, each going through their own trials and challenges in life come together and form a firm bond and forever friendship over swimming in the Brighton sea.
It's a sweet and steady story, each of the women is likeable and you can easily relate to each of them in some way, the writing is compelling and descriptive and I really liked how easy it was to read.
The gorgeous setting of Brighton beach is a character of its own, a beautiful setting evocative in description and worthy of a mention of its own.
Overall, a wonderful and inspiring story!

A heartwarming tale that has you invested from the first chapter, likeable characters and a story line that makes you not want to put it down.

A decent summer read, well written and the characters were easy to warm to, even in the chilly waters around Brighton!

Novels like this that were written and set during COVID restrictions have definitely taken a snapshot of time in the most unique way. What an odd thought that is!

Lovely story of a group of women who bond over cold water swimming in Brighton during covid. They all have their issues and histories, but together they help each other find happiness. Full of rich warm characters

As I'm fortunate to live by the sea, I've occasionally considered sea swimming but I'm not a fan of the cold! However, if I could meet the 5 lovely ladies known as the Sea-Gals, I'd be there in a jiffy!

With the ladies being of different ages and coming from differing backgrounds, it enables the author to tackle some of the challenges that women have to deal with throughout their lives, but she does so in a sensitive yet meaningful way. But the book is not just about life's struggles. There's friendship, encouragement, solidarity and fun too.

The book is highly recommended of you enjoy a spot of heartwarming escapism with interesting characters in a lovely setting. I will definitely be reading more from Josie Lloyd. 4.5 *

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy in return for an honest review.

Josie Lloyd does it again! I loved this book!
The lives of the characters become entwined, and they are so heart-felt and poignant. I devoured this and wanted more. You laugh and cry with the ladies and I defy you not to become embroiled.

I've been recommending this book to everyone. It's one of those where you race through and then are bereft when it ends. The women's stories and the strength of their friendship through the twists and turns is heart warming and really gets under your skin. As a swimmer myself I could totally relate to the healing power of being in the water and the perspective it gives you, which was captured perfectly. Highly recommend.

What a fabulous uplifting story! A group of women calling themselves the Sea Gals meet regularly throughout the year to swim in the sea in Brighton. Each of these women have their own challenges and this book tells the story of how they deal with them. Maddy was an influencer and has come to Brighton to look for her son who left home under a cloud after a row with his father. Dominica is recently bereaved and struggling with the aftermath of losing her partner, Chris. Clare, a wife and mother of two boys is feeling invisible as she feels taken for granted by her family. Helga is the oldest swimmer who appears lonely and remembers a love from long ago and Tor, the youngest, who is hiding the fact that she is gay from her family. All these women really have in common on the surface is their love of swimming but they all have similar values and beliefs and form a very strong bond together, helping each other out in any way they can. This is the first book I have read by Josie Lloyd but I am looking forward to reading others by this writer. Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me an ARC of this book.

I read Josie's first book and was very impressed . This is another book about friendship, this time about sea-swimming which brings a diverse group of women together. The book touches on other issues such as homelessness, relationship breakdown and problems in relationships as children start to grow up. Another aspect is the use of social media.
The book is set in the time of COVID in Brighton. The main characters are well portrayed and their friendships feel believable, as do the problems in their lives. A feel good read, may be a little predictable, but none the worse for that
Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4898381184