I’m delighted today to be helping launch the blog tour for The Christmas Season, the second book in the new series from Ally Sinclair, and sharing my publication day review. Published today (10th August) by Hera Books, it’s now available as an e-book on all major platforms and in paperback. My thanks, as always, to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for the invitation and support, and to the publishers for my advance reading copy (provided via netgalley).
If there’s one author who can get me reading a book with “Christmas” in the title when it’s only August (sorry, everyone – but I am a “never too early” person!), it has to be Ally Sinclair. In the olden days(!), when she was writing as Alison May, my Christmas was never complete without the latest book in her Christmas Kisses series (and another sorry, because I can’t share a link – it looks like they’re just not available any more…). But I’m loving this new series – A Season for Love started it off beautifully, introducing us to Emma, picking up the reins at her mother’s well-established dating agency and comes up with an ambitious plan to prove herself and build on its previous success. And so, the idea of replicating a Regency season is born – and, while being the story of Emma’s own journey, the book then followed the lives and romantic adventures of the individuals who signed up for her new venture. Such an original idea, so beautifully handled, and I thought it was an absolute delight – you’ll find my review here. So I was really looking forward to joining Emma once more, and seeing what she’s come up with to help her latest batch of singletons find their Christmas romance…
You are cordially invited to your Happy Ever After…
Emma Love is a matchmaker who believes in old fashioned courtship, over swiping left or right. She’s inspired by Jane Austen, Bridgerton and a thousand and one perfect romance stories, where matches were made at elegant soirees and not by sliding into your intended’s DMs.
This year, Emma is inviting you to a very special social season, where a hopeful singleton might find their own Mr Darcy waiting under the mistletoe. At a series of glamorous, festive, and, most importantly, romantic events, Emma is making it her mission to find love for everyone this Christmas Season.
How will she fare trying to find perfect matches for the Price twins, both too busy trying to outdo the other to ever look for love? Can she encourage the sexy Season rake, Theo, to change his ways? And what of Hope Lucas, who Emma has failed to match before, but who still has faith that Mr Right is out there?
And with Emma so focused on finding everybody else’s happy ever after, is she at risk of letting her own perfect match slip away?
Welcome to the Christmas Season.
An uplifting, original and romantic read that fans of Bridgerton, Lex Croucher and Lindsey Kelk will love.
Planning a Christmas season of matchmaking based around Regency-era events proves to be something of a challenge for Emma – the more familiar festive touches came from Victorian times, but with her customary inventiveness and attention to detail (some might call it obsessive…) her programme of events gets underway. As in the first wonderful book in this series – with you really don’t need to have read, but then why wouldn’t you? – the story focuses on the individuals looking for love. Hope was one of last season’s matchmaking failures, gifted a second attempt at finding love, with free tickets also provided for three of her single friends. Theo, a bit of a player, is her very best friend, always there when she needs him – and she shares a home with twins Grace and Connie, who both engage with differing degrees of enthusiasm and commitment. And this becomes Emma’s story too – while she has a rather special touch in finding matches for others, her own relationship is experiencing some challenges in being the “happy ever after” she’d hoped for.
Grace and Connie – the twins – are very different people. Connie is the unconventional, more anarchic of the pair – who resents Grace’s need to control, to achieve everything with such ease, and far too often apologise for her sister’s behaviour. But that confidence and control proves to be something of an illusion – and, after quite a journey, both sisters eventually gain a greater sense of worth and self-knowledge through their experiences as part of the season. Theo’s lack of commitment provides Emma with something of a challenge – but Hope really is looking for love, although perhaps in the wrong place.
The different events are just wonderful – the afternoon tea with its seating challenges, the Christmas-themed crafting session with all its many undercurrents, the ice-skating event with families and friends invited, the Christmas Eve ball to end it all in the most fitting way possible. And the characters are quite superbly drawn – some initially less than likeable, but becoming very close to your heart – and the threads of their individual storylines, which could so easily have become confusing, beautifully distinctive and perfectly controlled. The story-telling really is excellent, every relationship (and there are many, including the friendships and family complications) one I really believed in, the emotional content perfectly judged. And, just in case you get the wrong impression, this is very much a contemporary story – there’s plenty of humour, but also a few touches of darkness, and a number of more difficult and complex issues handled with particular sensitivity. All the main characters are on a challenging journey, with a few surprises and unexpected developments along the way – and I so enjoyed sharing it with them.
Too early for a Christmas read? Although this is a book with all the festive touches you might expect (or, in my case, really want to see…), this is a book you really could read at any time of year. I really loved it – and recommend it really highly.
About the author
Ally grew up on the North Yorkshire coast and now lives with her husband in Worcestershire, at least until she can persuade him to give into her yearning to live somewhere nearer the sea. No kids, no pets. She sometimes manages to keep a pot plant alive. Briefly.
She has been writing professionally since 2013, and is also published as Alison May and, in collaboration, as Juliet Bell. Ally is a former Chair of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, and currently works as an associate lecturer for the Open University.
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