The Beach Hut Next Door

by Veronica Henry

[Leah]

Veronica Henry is a Chick Lit author that’s been around ages, but I’ve only read her last book, A Night On The Orient Express which was super enjoyable! So I was very excited when I read about her new novel The Beach Hut Next Door, I know she released a novel a couple of years back called The Beach Hut, and I figured she’d done another set of stories about the fantastic Everdene Beach Huts but I can’t say for definite as I haven’t read the first book and I can’t locate it on my TBR shelf (I’m SURE I had it, but oh well!). I wasn’t sure if The Beach Hut Next Door was going to be a series of short stories, all self-contained, or if they were inter-linking, but I was very excited to find out, and it’s the most wonderful Summer read!

The Beach Hut Next Door is a very clever novel. Despite wondering if the stories were inter-linking, or stand-alones, they’re actually a bit of both! Every story follows nicely with all the rest, and the novel flows just like an actual novel would, believe it or not, despite the short story nature of the chapters. It’s really, really clever. A really quirky, excellent way of doing things and I was super impressed. I don’t read many short stories, normally because I hanker for more than I’m given, and it’s tough to be introduced to characters for such a short time and not see them again (especially in a 300 page novel), but I liked that characters popped up again, it gave the novel a much more rounded feel, to not simply discard the characters once their chapter had finished. Super, super clever.

I literally dream of going to Everdene and buying my very own beach hut. It sounds PERFECT. Right on the beach, with the sound of the waves lapping you to sleep every night, painted in beautiful ice cream colours, and so many different personalities that you can’t help but make friends. Sigh. I have never wished for a place to be a reality as much as I do the Everdene Beach Huts. It’s such a delighful setting, with such delightful characters. I enjoyed Elodie’s story, even though it didn’t seem as if it was going anywhere at first. She actually has quite the tale, and I thought she handled herself with aplomb, considering the events! Vince was probably my favourite characters, I loved his rugged ways, and the fact he was a fisherman (although I was VERY happy I couldn’t smell him – yuk!) and I liked his drive and his ambition, helped along by his annoying friend Murphy. Then there was Jenna and her ice-cream van – I loved her little story, and the only thing that could have heightened my reading experience would have been for more of Jenna. She was as sweet as the ice-cream she served!

Veronica Henry is such a great storyteller, weaving plenty of characters into her new novel and making us care for them, even if we only know them a short while. The Beach Hut Next Door is the perfect Summer read, and I’m quite glad Veronica came back to her beautiful Beach Huts for another go around – I, for one, could read another book all about the beach huts and the characters I met during The Beach Hut Next Door. I felt like I clicked with them immediately and I was quite sad to say goodbye, although it was a very, very good goodbye, with everything wrapped up very nicely and neatly and even a quick look, once again, at Tim and Rachel, a couple who only appear very briefly, but who made quite the impact! That’s the wonder of Veronica’s new novel – you’ll meet so many wonderful people, and love them all!