Description: Cleo loves winter in Wavebreak Bay. The tourists leave as the temperatures drop, the fairy lights go up and it really starts to feel like home again. It also happens to be the time of year that her best friend Eliot comes back from San Francisco.
Though the seasons change, not much else in Cleo’s life does. She’s in a people-pleasing rut taking the worst shifts at the family restaurant, pet-sitting for her parents and making little time for herself. Cleo has spent so long thinking about everyone around her that she’s lost sight of what she wants. And she wants Eliot. And she’s decided that, this year, she’s finally going to tell him.
But as the snow settles on Wavebreak Bay, Cleo’s Christmas-for-two is disrupted by the arrival of her entire family – and more guests keep arriving. As Cleo works hard to make sure everyone else is having the most wonderful time of the year, will she finally pluck up the courage to stand up for herself . . . and to follow her heart?
Filled with beach walks, hot chocolates and a will-they-won’t-they romance, this is the perfect festive treat
https://www.waterstones.com/book/a-snowfall-by-the-sea/isla-gordon/9780751585131
Why We Liked It
We loved Isla’s previous books and so we were delighted when A Snowfall by the Sea arrived.
Isla engages with all the senses when she writes, and in this delightful book there are so many opportunities to experience this. In her creation of Wavebreak Bay, we really get to experience the sea in all it’s changing beauty, written by someone who clearly loves it, as we share the sensation of immersing yourself in it, walking beside it, or warming up by drinking hot chocolate as the unexpected snow arrives.
We love the way Isla has created Cleo’s story, she really explores what it can feel like to be a ‘people pleaser’ and how to navigate your way to focus more on self-discovery and becoming your authentic self. As well as this there is also a very real reconnection with her twin sister.
The romance between Eliot and Cleo is both gentle and hopeful, coupled with a hilarious description of a Christmas that many of us have experienced!
A Snowfall by the Sea is an utterly gorgeous, heart-warming and uplifting festive read. We absolutely loved it! Highly Recommended!