Studies at the School by the Sea

School by the Sea, Book 4

By: Jenny Colgan

Narrated by: Eilidh Beaton

The long-awaited and never-before published finale in New York Times bestselling author Jenny Colgan’s delightful School by the Sea series.

After all those lessons, it’s time to graduate....

Beloved literature teacher Maggie Adair loves her life at the prestigious Downey House boarding school on the gloriously sunny, windy English coast. It was there that she found her footing as a teacher and fell in love with her colleague David—the two great anchors of her life. But these days Maggie’s feeling restless, lured by the promise of a different life back in her Scottish hometown. How can you follow your heart when it seems to be taking you in two directions at once?

Meanwhile, Maggie’s favorite students are abuzz at the thought of graduation and set to fly the nest to their next adventure. What will life hold for mercurial Fliss, glamorous Alice, and shy, hard-working Simone when they finally finish their studies at the school by the sea? Will Maggie stay to welcome the next class of girls, or will she too graduate to new adventures?

©2024 Jenny Colgan (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers

Another great School by the Sea book.

I’ve really enjoyed Jenny Colgan’s School by the Sea series. This is book 4. I will be waiting and checking for book 5 regularly.

It feels like the author gave up

I really enjoyed the 3 previous books in the series but this one was pretty awful. I only finished it because I was invested in the charters from previous books.

Another lovely installment

Book 4 has carried one sweet with the stories of the teachers and students of the school(s) by the sea. The tender dramas of a brilliant case of teenagers are engaging, infuriating, and heartwarming. The private lives of the teachers hold no less drama! You feel like you’re seeing this small slice of their lives, and I personally can’t wait to see what comes next for them.

The narrator annoys me some, though. Why does everyone have basically the same accent? At the very least, Maggie - who loves her Scottish homeland so much - should have a Scottish accent! This seems a consistent drawback of this audiobook series.

The Worst of the Series

A good presentation by the narrator, but on the whole the story was a let down considering the build up of the prior books. Overall the story was too scattered with no character development, if anything I think the main characters regressed. It also failed to complete plot lines brought up in prior books.

it lead seamlessly into the lives we've grown to love

i can't say enough good things about this series, School be the Sea by Jenny Colgan. It was hard waiting for this book to be released but well worth it.
Dare I ask if there will be a book 5?
i recommend this book!

very slow

extremely slow and predictable, non existent character development, in my opinion. Also a bit "twee"

I just give up on this series…

I can describe myself as a fan of Jenny Colgan. I’ve enjoyed several of her other series enormously, but this one is just terrible. I kept expecting it to improve. But no. The protagonists remain completely hare brained to the point of being unlike-able. Endless miscommunications and stupid, inexplicable choices. All that and a sub-text of class inequality that continually whines throughout. Eeeek! These books are not at all cozy or heartwarming, just frustrating and grim. I am sorry to say I will definitely never buy another one and would recommend staying away from the entire series.

Disappointing

I really enjoyed the previous books in this series, however this book was disappointing for a number of reasons. First, it was disappointing as a means of tying up the previous storylines, just uninteresting and flat. The main relationship also didn't feel like it aligned with the descriptions in the previous books, almost as though it was written by a different author, characters felt different, the voice didn't connect in the same way, etc. However, the most disappointing element of this book for me was the characterization and generalizations made about young people, in particular adolescents from low income backgrounds. I physically cringed as the author described interactions that would likely occur between 'rich kids' and 'poor kids.' It all felt based solely on stereotypes, and provided the young people little depth, or recognition of individuality and identity.