Lessons in Love at the Seaside Salon
Author: Sophie Green
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Genre: Modern & contemporary Fiction, Fiction Romance, Historical Fiction, Fiction
Year of release: 2025
Release Date 30/07/25
Rating 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Synopsis
Seaside Salon Secrets: Love, Laughter, and Life on the Australian Coast
Four women. Four loves. Four life-changing stories. At a little salon by the sea – on the windblown coast of 1980s Australia – four different women with intertwined lives will find themselves through love, heartbreak and learning to love again.
Lost love: Trudy, 57, owns Summertime Salon in the sun-soaked Central Coast town of Terrigal. She loves her job and her clients. Her colours, perms and Princess Di cuts bring joy and confidence to regulars and tourists alike. But since Laurie died, life hasn’t been the same.
Love on the rocks: Anna, 42, brings her mother to Summertime Salon every Monday morning but never gets her own hair done. With two children and an absent husband, she doesn’t have time for vanity. When Anna kicks Gary out, will she also rediscover the joys of caring for herself, starting with highlights?
Unrequited love: Hairdresser Evie, 33, has never had much luck with men. As a single mother, love is the last thing on her mind. Then, new hire Sam joins the salon – he’s handsome and kind, and he and Evie hit it off immediately. But is their relationship all that it seems?
First love: Apprentice Josie, 19, is seeking independence. She’s determined to make her own way in the world, especially when she meets sweet surfer and mechanic Brett, who she can’t quite believe is silly over her. How long can she keep him a secret from her overprotective parents?
Uplifting and heartwarming, Lessons in Love at the Seaside Salon follows four women on their journeys for love – in all its beautiful and bittersweet forms.
Review
Welcome to the Summertime Salon — a little salon by the sea in Terrigal, New South Wales, 1980. Four lives are about to change forever.
Four women. Four loves. Four life-changing stories.
As each woman’s life begins to intertwine with the others, they’ll navigate love, heartbreak, and learning to love again — all with the help of the Summertime Salon.
First Love Nineteen-year-old apprentice Josie is desperate for independence. She’s determined to carve her own path, especially after meeting Brett — a sweet mechanic and surfer. But Josie can’t quite understand what Brett sees in her. Could her mum be right — is he only after one thing? Despite her fears, Josie begins spending time with Brett, and to her surprise, he seems genuinely different. But how long can she keep their relationship a secret? Is it a romance destined for a happy ending, or will it end before it’s even begun?
Lost Love Fifty-seven-year-old Trudy owns the Summertime Salon. She adores her job — especially her loyal clients. Her perms, colours, and Princess Di-inspired cuts bring joy and confidence to her regulars and tourists alike. But Trudy’s own joy has been missing ever since Laurie died two years ago. Life hasn’t been the same, and while everything else moves on, her grief has remained ever-present.
Love on the Rocks Forty-two-year-old Anna brings her mother, Ingrid, to Trudy’s salon every Monday. She never books an appointment for herself — there’s simply no time, not with two young kids and an absent husband. But when the moment comes to kick Gary out, Anna must decide whether she’s ready to rediscover the joy of caring for herself, to speak up for what she wants, and to finally start living life on her own terms.
Unrequited Love Thirty-three-year-old Evie, a hairdresser and single mum, has never had much luck with love — and frankly, she’s not looking for it. But when Sam, the handsome and funny new hairdresser, starts at the salon, something shifts. They hit it off immediately. Still, Evie can’t help wondering: is Sam too good to be true? Has she put him on a pedestal too soon? Can her friends help her figure it out before she gets hurt?
Uplifting and heartwarming, Lessons in Love at the Seaside Salon follows four women on their journeys for love – in all its beautiful and bittersweet forms.
It’s clear from the opening chapters that Trudy, Anna, Evie, and Josie have been given a great deal of consideration by the author. Thanks to Sophie Green’s skilled writing, the story flows effortlessly, and each of these women comes to life on the page.
Through the dual perspective technique, each woman is given space to share her story. Every perspective was interesting, believable, and, at times, deeply relatable. Lessons in Love at the Seaside Salon is one of those books where you can witness characters growing and changing individually as the plot progresses — without their arcs overlapping or becoming muddled, which can sometimes confuse the reader.
When we first meet Trudy, it’s painfully obvious that we’re riding the waves of her grief with her. At times, I found a lump forming in my throat — life can be so unkind. As the story progresses, her thoughts begin to shift, and she starts to live more in the present, rather than being lost in the past. Sophie Green has managed to respectfully maintain elements of Trudy’s grief rather than erasing them completely. That was refreshing — no one wants to grieve, but eventually we learn to carry it with us. I was so pleased for her by the end of the book; she was my standout character this time around.
Anna was a character I struggled to connect with at first. It wasn’t until we met Ingrid that my opinion of Anna changed for the better. I appreciated witnessing her transformation. It’s clear from her childhood that she felt she had to be in control of everything and everyone around her — otherwise, her world would crumble. So when the time comes for her to relax and take some much-needed time for herself, this reader let out a sigh of relief. I loved that she was brave enough to seek the changes she needed in her life, even if they rocked the boat at home. This is a trope I’m becoming increasingly fond of — it even made me think about what changes I might make in my own life.
Evie’s point of view was so much fun — I felt like I was being swept up in her perspective. When we first meet her, it’s clear she thinks of herself only as a mother. But when she begins to realise that’s not her only role, I remember cheering her on. As her emotions shift throughout the story, I did wish there’d been a bit more clarity in how her thoughts evolved, particularly in relation to her relationship with Oliver. A stronger emotional transition would have made her arc feel even more satisfying.
When we first meet Josie, her world feels so small. Her self-confidence is hidden in the shadows, and it’s painfully obvious she’s desperate to escape her parents’ iron-tight grip. Josie reminded me so much of myself at her age — painfully shy, a people pleaser, wanting to live a life of my own choosing rather than the one shaped by well-meaning adults. She was the character I connected to most. Watching her develop her own ideas and independence at the Summertime Salon was delightful. Seeing her build relationships outside of her family, and find a cheerleader in Trudy, made me long for a friendship that genuine and strong.
The minor characters in Lessons in Love at the Seaside Salon might just be some of my favourite supporting characters ever. Sophie Green had me wanting to spend as much time as possible with Babs — she’s one of those people you love from the moment you meet them. I found myself completely immersed in the coastal town and its regulars at the salon. Sophie has done well to avoid relying on a typical ‘token bitchy character’, both in this novel and her previous ones. I love knowing I can pick up one of her books without finding petty conflict — just real people navigating real, heartfelt challenges.
Lessons in Love at the Seaside Salon felt a little slower than some of Sophie Green’s other novels Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel comes to mind. But for this reviewer, that was by no means a disappointment — in fact, quite the opposite. I loved the feeling of slowing down in Terrigal and spending time at the salon. It felt like I was on holiday, catching up with friends both old and new.
If you’re looking for a story you can savour — especially as we head toward the warmer days of spring and summer here in Australia — this book is the perfect choice. It’s the kind of novel you’ll want to share and discuss with your closest friends.
Some may say that if you’ve read Sophie Green or other titles in this genre by similar authors then you might feel like you know how this story will go but I’ve read all but one of this authors books and I can grantee you, you may have hopes and expectations of what will happen but Sophie gives no interaction of the story’s direction especially its closure and this is yet another reason I eagerly return to her books year after year and the reason behind my high 5-star-rating.
“Being a hairdresser means being an expert in managing unreasonable expectations while still trying to make the woman look beautiful. Because that’s all they want, isn’t it? To look beautiful. So that someone can notice them and give them a little lift in their day.”
— Sophie Green, Lessons in Love at the Seaside Salon
Some might say that if you’ve read Sophie Green — or other titles in this genre by similar authors — you might think you know how the story will unfold. But I’ve read all but one of this author’s books, and I can guarantee you: while you may have hopes or expectations, Sophie gives no indication of where the story is heading — especially when it comes to its resolution. That’s just one of the many reasons I return to her novels year after year, and why Lessons in Love at the Seaside Salon easily earned a 5-star rating from me.
If I had to describe the feeling this book gave me, I’d say it reminded me of the film Steel Magnolias (1989). The entire time I was reading, it felt like small-town Louisiana — only here, it’s set against the backdrop of 1980s Australia.
For readers who enjoy character-driven stories filled with heart, community, and life’s emotional highs and lows, this is must-read. If you’re a fan of Maya Linnell, Hannah Richell, Rachael Johns, Amanda Hampson or Joanna Nell, and you haven’t yet picked up a Sophie Green novel — Lessons in Love at the Seaside Salon is the perfect place to start. And trust me: once you’ve read one, you’ll want to collect them all.
Subplots and tropes included in Lessons in Love at the Seaside salon:
- Female Friendship
- Grief
- Mother/daughter relationship
- Mother/son relationship
- Self-discovery
- Potential new love
- Coming of age
- 1980’s Australia
- Small town/community
- Single Parent
- Marriage
- Unrequited love
- Secrets
As an avid reader, I don’t think we’re ever truly ready to say goodbye to characters we’ve come to care for. And while I was left with a few lingering questions days after finishing, I believe Sophie Green gave us the kind of ending that feels true to life. Not everything is neatly wrapped up, and that’s what makes it so genuine. Life doesn’t always offer clear answers or guaranteed happy-ever-afters — and neither do the best books.
This book took me on a full emotional journey — I laughed, teared up, felt my heart swell with hope, and even got a bit giddy in places. But above all, it left me with a sense of warmth and contentment. Sophie Green has once again delivered a story that lingers in the best possible way, and I’m already counting down the days until her next release.
I highly recommend Lessons in Love at the Seaside Salon to a mature audience. Fans of modern and contemporary fiction will no doubt already have this book — or one of Sophie Green’s previous novels — sitting proudly on their bookshelves.
With continued thanks to author Sophie Green, Laura Benson, and Hachette Australia for sending me a gifted copy to read and review in exchange for my honest opinion.
