A lovely read by a fun author. This one has Emily, a midwife, feeling frustrated and in need of a vacation, when she gets a call from her friend Rebecca to help cook for the summer. Leaving England for Scotland, to work on a barge that carries passengers, is just what she needs for several months. Meeting Alasdair, Rebecca's brother-in-law was an added bonus. A good summer read, and one I highly recommend.

Sad to say I felt this was a bit slow, though I confess it followed a string of good thriller books and this may have contributed to the slow pace feeling.
From the starting chapter I thought Emily would be a feisty character - a midwife on a mission, but instead she went off on a sabbatical summer break cooking on a close friends floating hotel and her whole personality mellowed and became something else.

I really did not care for this book. The story line just did not hold my interest so I don't feel I could give a fair review, To be honest it was somewhat boring and drug out for me . I never finished reading it.

This was a nice, pleasant beach read. Unfortunately, it was rather slow paced and I had a hard time staying interested in the characters.

This was a fun romance featuring midwife Emily, who goes to help on her friend Rebecca's boat while Rebecca is pregnant. While there, she meets a doctor, Alisdair. Emily intends to go back to her real life, so her developing feelings for Alisdair are very inconvenient.

Good characters and an interesting storyline made this one that I really enjoyed.

Emily was a midwife who was a bit burned out and needed a break so when her friend, Rebecca, asked her to come to Scotland to help on a "puffer" boat for the summer, she jumped at the chance to get away for awhile. Rebecca's husband, James, had a brother, Alisdair, who lived nearby and who was a doctor. After sometime, he and Emily hit it off romantically. But, Emily was leaving and returning to her home and her job in the Cotswold. Was it even possible for her to find a man that she wanted to spend her life with? Would it be worth the risk for both Alisdair and Emily?

I had a hard time getting involved in this story. It was difficult to connect with the characters and their lives. It was well written but slow. I like a faster paced story.

I was given a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Emily is a midwife that specializes in home births. She’s overworked and in major need of a vacation. When a close friend that she hasn't seen in years offers her an opportunity for a working holiday, she jumps at the chance. And so the adventure begins. Emily accepts Rebecca's offer and takes sabbatical from work.

While on the boat she meets some lovely characters and most significantly, Alasdair and his young daughter Kate. Emily and Kate get on well, as in Kate's mind Emily has no desire to marry Kate’s father. Being a friendly handsome doctor in Scotland, he’s a bit of an eligible bachelor and Kate has seen many young women try to befriend her to get to her dad.

A Summer at Sea was a lovely story, and although the reading went at a more leisurely pace than I’m used to, it had lots of excitement wrapped throughout. I liked the book's viewpoints on home birth vs. hospital birth. I’m don't think I'd ever want to have a baby at home, but it was interesting to read a bit about it and learn something new. The main themes of the novel were family, love, and opening your heart to new people and new places.

This one from Fforde just wasn't really my cup of tea. I initially went for it because of the setting, Scotland. Once I really started reading I just didn't feel like Emily's character and story really fit well in the setting. This read just didn't really keep my attention.

7/10 from me. My thanks to the Publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

Katie Fforde's books are all similar in some ways, as they're usually fun reads about relationships and the problems encountered by the couple that the story revolves around.

In A Summer at Sea, our female lead character is at a junction in her life, Emily is a midwife and her relationship status is a singleton. She's happy with life in some ways, but in others she feels that it's perhaps time for a change before she becomes too old or set in her ways to make that change.

When her heavily pregnant friend asks her to hep her out, as cook on her boat, in order to help take the strain off her. Emily jumps at the chance to help out her friend. Unfortunately, things don't always work out as we plan them to. Men who needs them? Alasdair is the local doctor, he's rather good looking and Emily is trying her best not to take too much notice of him. Can she keep up with her resistance towards him or will she be drawn in?

This is a typical Katie Fforde story, that you can't help but fail to be entertained by. I enjoyed reading about Emily and all that happened to her, while taking time out. Why not grab a copy for yourself and take some time out of your life too.