The most wonderful time of the year?
Katie Warham has just one wish this year…to have the best Christmas ever!
If only she could lock herself away in a cloud of flour and sugar at her cosy little tearoom, Crumbtious Cakes, instead of spending the festive season trapped with her judgemental mother, crazy Aunt Gina and loved-up celebrity brother Carl…
But Katie never expected her ex-boyfriend, widower Sam – and his two adorable children – to turn up on her doorstep. She didn’t think that any man could tempt her under the mistletoe this year, but Sam might just prove the exception! And as the snow begins to fall and Katie puts the final touches to her famous Christmas cake, she begins to wonder, could her Christmas wish actually come true?
This holiday season, snuggle up by a roaring fire with a mulled wine and enjoy Darcie Boleyn’s festive winter warmer!
It really is time I started to work my way through the large number of Christmas themed books sitting on my kindle. Wish Upon A Christmas Cake, the debut novel by Darcie Boleyn was published for kindle by Carina on 2nd October, and is available from Amazon UK and Amazon.com. I’m delighted to be part of the blog tour today, organised by Jenny In Neverland, and to offer the chance to win a £20 Amazon gift card.
Set a book in a cake shop, and I’m always a pushover – Crumbtious Cakes, run by Katie and her best friend Ann, is beautifully described and just the kind of place where I’d enjoy spending time (as my waistline sadly bears witness…). Thankfully (for my waistline!), the action moves elsewhere when Katie joins her family for Christmas at Hawthorne Manor. Her parents are moving abroad – and her relationship with her mother has never been an easy one – but things should be easier having her actor brother Karl and his boyfriend Angelo there too. But she really wasn’t expecting Sam to be there too – the love of her life, a relationship that ended with great sadness – with his two young children and two slobbery dogs.
There aren’t many surprises in this story really, but it does have a real “feel good” feel and is really nicely written. Katie and Sam, damaged characters in so many ways, are eminently likeable: I also loved brother Karl, and the total character transplant her mother seems to have experienced is well handled. I liked the subplot involving Ann too – she’s not a main character, but I really took to her and on/off boyfriend Mark. There are some extremely funny moments in this book (I thought the chair lift scene was hilarious…) and others that might well bring a tear to your eye. I enjoyed the little details too – the Christmas tree decoration with the sad memories was thoroughly lovely. Nice one Darcie – a good start to my Christmas reading…
And here’s the Rafflecopter for that lovely giveaway – good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
My thanks to author Darcie Boleyn, publishers Carina and netgalley for providing my e-copy for review – and to Jenny for organising the tour.
Darcie Boleyn has a huge heart and is a real softy. She never fails to cry at books and movies, whether the ending is happy or not. Darcie is in possession of an overactive imagination that often keeps her awake at night. Her childhood dream was to become a Jedi but she hasn’t yet found suitable transport to take her to a galaxy far, far away. She also has reservations about how she’d look in a gold bikini, as she rather enjoys red wine, cheese and loves anything with ginger or cherries in it – especially chocolate. Darcie fell in love in New York, got married in the snow, rescues uncoordinated greyhounds and can usually be found reading or typing away on her laptop.
Follow Darcie on Twitter, Facebook or via her blog.
Hi Anne! Thank you so much for your lovely review and for hosting me at your blog! Hope you and yours have a wonderful Christmas! XXX