Friday 14 August 2020

Book Review ~ Beach Hut Surprise - Sarah Mallory, Sophie Weston, Lesley Cookman,Liz Fielding,Joanna Maitland and Louise Allen ☼


Libertà
July 2020 


Who's there? Lovers, vampires… A body?

Little Piddling—now renamed Little Piddling sur Mer—is a resort with ambitions.

But odd things keep happening in Little Piddling. Especially among its delectable beach huts. They are a magnet for lovers and other, stranger, visitors.

Take a romantic stroll along the beach after dark and you might encounter more than you bargained for.

Six favourite authors let their hair down on the Piddling sands...





What did I think about it..

It’s been such a treat, over the past few days of this summer heatwave, to spend time in Little Piddling sur Mer with this bunch of talented authors. Each of the six stories, whilst all very different in content, share a common theme of being based around a row of beach huts nestled in this rather special coastal resort, all of which add an air of jollity and delight to each of the stories. 

Little Piddling sur Mer could be any number of seaside resorts I’ve visited over the years and in the hands of these six talented authors the place comes alive, whether it be at the height of its Edwardian splendour, an other worldly encounter in 1973, a mystery with a dark past, a troubled ghost with a hidden secret, a tale of vampires, or the case of the missing brewer, all are guaranteed to be quirkily different but equally entertaining. I found each novella really easy to get into and even before the first chapter was ended I felt like I was amongst some rather special friends who had just been waiting in the shadows and who were more than happy to brush away the dust from the nooks and crannies of the beach huts and were ready to reveal their story to me.

Unsurprisingly, all the authors of Beach Hut Surprise are successful in their own particular genre but in this anthology each of them have stepped out of their respective comfort zones and have delved into areas a little bit different to their norm, however, there is no doubt that each of the stories work really well and entertain from start to finish.

It would be difficult and entirely remiss of me to choose a favourite story from the six on offer as each have their own special appeal, and it becomes rather like choosing your favourite chocolate biscuit from a box of gourmet chocolate biscuits. There something deliciously different about each of them and yet collectively they become a perfect variety of entertaining stories. All six novellas are a perfect length for reading in an afternoon in the garden, or whiling way an hour or so socially distanced in the park.


You can read more about the background to the stories and the authors by clicking here


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