Every now and again, you pick up a book (or your Kindle) and find a story that just seems so easy-to-read that it feels like coming home. Which, in the case of Annie’s Holiday by the Sea, is quite fitting, really, since that’s one of the main themes of the story.

Annie Trebarwith is a real loner. Since the death of her mum, she has been living an independent life in London, sharing a flat in the capital, embarking on a series of temporary office jobs, and putting her failed romance with a lecherous ex behind her. Life with her mother was unconventional, and Annie has grown used to moving around, never settling, never putting down roots. She is all too aware that her mother’s Cornish family turned its back on her when she got pregnant and that her parents wanted nothing to do with her, or her baby. As a result, Annie is equally determined to have nothing to do with her extended family.

So it’s a bit of a shock when she is invited to Cornwall to visit her great aunt Alice, who has not been well and is in need of help. Finally meeting a member of the family is bad enough, but the culture shock of Cornwall in January, after the busy streets of London, is enough to make Annie decide that this visit will be very brief indeed. Her determination only increases when, upon arrival in the coastal village of Salt Bay, she has an unpleasant encounter with Josh Pascoe – a grumpy-looking chap who definitely isn’t someone she wants to get to know better, even if he does look like a cross between Poldark and Richard Armitage.

The dismal, wet weather does nothing to change Annie’s mind, but Aunt Alice turns out to be rather lovely, and new friend Kayla, who is Australian and great fun, makes the village more interesting. When Annie’s love of music leads her to revive the Salt Bay Choral Society, her bonds with the village and its past tighten, and she makes new discoveries about her own family’s past.

But events conspire to drive Annie back to London, where she is employed by her new found relative Toby. But are Toby’s motives for giving her a job entirely honourable? Annie frets about Aunt Alice, about the future of the choir, and – in spite of all her best attempts – about what exactly the devilishly handsome Josh is getting up to.

But an independent London girl doesn’t belong in a Cornish village, does she? And with Josh’s evident dislike of the Trebarwith family, there’s really nothing to go back to…Is there?

I absolutely loved this book. It’s written in such a deceptively easy style that I just found myself turning page after page, eager to find out what happened next. Annie is a wonderful main character – her vulnerable nature brilliantly masked by a great sense of humour. Josh is absolutely gorgeous, and yes, I did fall in love with him. Too right, I did!

Salt Bay is such a delightful village. Having holidayed many times in Cornish coastal villages, it felt very real and familiar to me. I laughed at the scene which featured a coastal path down to the beach. I totally related to poor Annie’s struggles with it. I’ve struggled  similarly myself. Those paths are horrendous! There were some real laugh-out-loud moments in this book, and yet it had an emotional pull, too. I will confess, I had a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye as I read the last page. Very moving indeed.

I would definitely recommend this book. It’s a great holiday read, and I absolutely can’t wait to get my hands on the sequel and find out what Josh and Annie get up to next. 5/5

You can buy Annie’s Holiday by the Sea here.