#Feature: A quick catch-up – my early Christmas reviews… #ChristmasReads #bookreviews #RespectRomFic

Well, Michael Buble, Wham and Mariah Carey are on Radio 2 again, there’s a distinct whiff of snow in the air, and I think it’s definitely time to turn my attention to Christmas! I’ve set aside Monday to put up the tree and decorations, but first I really do need to sort out my pre-Christmas reading list (you see, I have my priorities right…!). Just one more non-Christmassy review to share on Friday, but that one’s already written – Christmas books all the way now, and I’ll share my list of planned December reads tomorrow.

But I did start my Christmas reading earlier than ever this year (would you believe the beginning of August?) when everyone else might not really have been in a particularly festive mood, so I thought it might be good to remind you about the Christmassy books I’ve already read, with links to find the reviews and to purchase your own copies if you so desire (just click on the title for the Amazon page).

So, let’s go back and start from August again…!

The Christmas Season by Ally Sinclair

 

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.

 

“A contemporary story… individuals looking for love… a Christmas season of matchmaking based around Regency-era events… a book with all the festive touches you might expect (or, in my case, really want to see…)… I really loved it – and recommend it really highly.”

 

Just 99p for kindle – you’ll find my full review here.

Summer Hates Christmas by Rachel Dove

 

Summer Hastings hates Christmas. She loves sunshine, the beach and running her travel agency, sending people off to their dream destinations – even if she doesn’t get to see the world for herself. For Summer, Christmas is nothing but a reminder of all the things that have gone horribly wrong in her life, so when handsome Noel Pritchett moves his pop-up Christmas shop in the store next to hers, Summer is livid.

 

Noel loves Christmas…and he also has a sneaking suspicion that he might be falling in love with Summer, if only he could break through the armour she has surrounded herself with. Just why does Summer hate Christmas so much? And can Noel be the one to prove to her that life can be sweet all year round?

 

“A rather lovely developing romance I really believed in. There are heartbreaking elements to the story, but there’s a lot of fun too – some of the Christmassy set pieces were really laugh-out-loud, and the perfect counterpoint to the more emotional moments. Uplifting and particularly heartwarming – I’d recommend you give it a try.”

 

Just 99p for kindle, free via Prime reading – you’ll find my full review here.

The Gingerbread Christmas Village by Kiley Dunbar

 

Everyone deserves a Christmas treat…

 

The annual Wheaton gingerbread exhibit (a model village made of gingerbread) and grotto has been an important part of the sleepy Cotswold hamlet’s Christmas celebrations for decades.

 

For years the gingerbread exhibition drew visitors from across the region and each year the model town grew more elaborate and ambitious but recently, interest has been dwindling. The gingerbread grotto needs to be rehomed or close forever.

 

Sixty-four-year-old Margi, the event’s founder, has had enough of village life (and its total lack of eligible men) and is planning to sell up and head to Birmingham to live closer to her niece.

 

She has lost her spark and her Christmas spirit and decides this will be her last gingerbread village, but despairs when she finds her only support is her old friend, Izzy, her niece Lucy from Birmingham, and Fern, the shy young farmer’s daughter. Oh, and Patrick, the gorgeous, reliable school caretaker.

 

As if this wasn’t enough, Lucy is determined to get her out dating again and persuades her to try some online dating apps but Margi’s had her heart broken too many times and wonders if she has just missed her chance.

 

Can they save the Gingerbread Grotto and can Margi get her old spark and her Christmas spirit back?

 

A cosy, totally feelgood seasonal read that will have you smiling. The perfect read to snuggle up and have you feeling festive! Fans of Jenny Colgan and Trisha Ashley will love this book.

 

“Was it all as Christmassy as I wanted it to be? Oh yes, it was simply perfect – infused with the aroma of baking gingerbread, and with that all-embracing warmth of the season. Emotional, beautifully observed, written from the heart, and the most wonderful story, this is one you really must add to your Christmas reading list – I promise you’ll love it as much as I did.”

 

Just 99p for kindle – you’ll find my full review here.

Christmas at the Cat Café by Jessica Redland

 

It’s the most wonderful time of the year on Castle Street, and there’s a paw-some new business opening….

 

It had always been Tabby’s dream to work with cats and an inheritance from her beloved nanna has finally made that a reality. Idyllic Castle Street in Whitsborough Bay couldn’t be a better place for pastry chef Tabby to open a cat café with her boyfriend, Leon.

 

But when Leon leaves her in the lurch, the pressure mounts for Tabby. With Christmas fast approaching, she has to open the café on her own – a daunting prospect, especially when she’s been hiding her health issues from the ones she loves.

 

Faced with local resistance to the café – and somebody seemingly determined that she won’t succeed – Tabby will need her friends, family and cats more than ever to recover her broken Christmas spirit and pull together for a Christmas miracle.

 

Will the cat café bring the festive joy to Castle Street as Tabby had hoped or will it be a cat-astrophe? And can the magic of Christmas on Castle Street mend Tabby’s broken heart as well as her business?

 

Escape with million-copy bestseller Jessica Redland this Christmas for the purr-fect festive treat!

 

“For so many reasons, I think this was my favourite book yet from this really special writer – she just gets everything absolutely right, drawing it all together with the most perfect ending, and I couldn’t recommend it more strongly. Just perfect – and one of my books of the year.”

 

Just 99p for kindle, free via Prime reading – you’ll find my full review here.

In the Greek Midwinter by Mandy Baggot

 

It was supposed to be a holiday of a lifetime…

 

But when Jen’s boyfriend David suddenly cancels their romantic Paris trip, needing to urgently travel to Athens for work, it’s best friend Bonnie who suggests they surprise him.

 

Having already booked the time off from her events company – Christmas Every Day – Jen decides an impromptu and romantic gesture might be just what their relationship needs.

 

Arriving in Greece and finding David is not there, Jen has a lot of questions. And when she gets her answers she has a choice – should she go home or should she stay a while?

 

With the help of Astro, the handsome yet Christmas-hating waiter from the local bar, she sets about a little Greek Christmas research. But what starts as a ‘business trip’ soon turns into something more…

 

“A Christmas book unlike any I’ve read before, devoured in a single glorious sitting – the author’s writing really has never been better, and can only urge you to add this book to your festive reading list. It made me laugh, it made me cry, and it entirely captured the spirit of Christmas – I absolutely loved it.”

 

£2.99 for kindle, free via Prime reading – you’ll find my full review here.

Love Lindisfarne by Kimberley Adams

 

LOVE LINDISFARNE… Take a Christmas trip to magical Northumberland and find love amongst the stars in this feel-good novel, which will transport you to iconic Holy Island where dreams really can come true!

 

Dumped at the office Christmas party, Ellie is about to vent her spleen on social media when a photo of a cute little dog advertising a charity catches her eye. Her world suddenly changes dramatically when she is offered a month’s stay in Northumberland to help look after rescue animals.

 

Ellie isn’t too sure where Northumberland is, but accepts, eager to start a new life away from London. Her destination is Lindisfarne, and her arrival on the small island in the North Sea is terrifying, fearing for her life on the causeway as the tide comes crashing in.

 

Ellie finds herself living in a hilltop castle, and far from the cats and dogs she expected she would be looking after, she is faced with all kinds of furry and feathery animals – and she doesn’t have a clue about any of them!

 

Welcomed to island life by the warm-hearted residents, she quickly embraces living in this special place, and from the moment she spots the mesmerising Zen with the gorgeous coffee bean eyes, her plans to stay single and mingle begin to fade fast.

 

Thanks to a severe storm, Lindisfarne is cut off from the mainland, and the islanders work together to salvage the planned Christmas events. Ellie is kept so busy that she hasn’t much time to think about her future when her time on the island ends.

 

Will the universe give Ellie its blessing? Will she find her happy ever after on the enchanting island of Lindisfarne? If it’s in the stars, then it’s in the stars…

 

“There’s that community feel where everyone pulls together when the going gets tough that always draws me to a book – and it’s set at Christmas, adding all the right emotional touches. And the setting really is absolutely perfect – that part of the Northumberland coast is a real personal favourite, and the author’s love for it is something you can feel in every lovely description.”

 

Just 99p for kindle, free via Kindle Unlimited – you’ll find my full review here.

Starry Skies Over Primrose Hall by Jill Steeples

 

Homes don’t come much more idyllic that Primrose Hall. Set against the backdrop of the beautiful Primrose Woods, and restored to its former glory, Pia Temple still pinches herself when she wakes up there every day.

 

Waking up next to Jackson Moody is pretty great too. And since the couple rekindled their first love, they’ve become an unstoppable team running Primrose Hall’s packed calendar of events, surrounded by the friends and family who make up the crew at the hall.

 

But not everything is perfect at Primrose Hall. Pia is beset with doubts about the future, and a new arrival shakes everything Jackson thought he knew about his past. And as the events come thick and fast – literary festival, craft fayres, Halloween and the much-anticipated Christmas Carols evening – the many balls Pia is juggling threaten to tumble down around her ears.

 

Will the year at Primrose Hall be a time of endings or new beginnings…

 

“With the perfect emotional touch and a particularly heartwarming ending, this was the loveliest addition to a series I’m very much enjoying – I’ll be looking forward to my next visit to Primrose Woods.”

 

£1.39 for kindle, free via Prime reading – you’ll find my full review here.

The Perfect Christmas Village by Bella Osborne

 

When Christmas-hating Sam moves to Holly Cross, he thinks he’s found the perfect home, until he discovers that, each year, Holly Cross transforms into the most Christmassy village in the whole country…

 

Blythe is just one sale away from being Real Estate Agent of the Month, so she twists the truth to sell a home to city boy Sam, who is looking for the perfect house in the perfect location. Little does he know he’s just bought a cottage in the middle of the most Christmassy village in the country. And if there’s one thing Sam loathes, it’s Christmas.

 

Sam’s arrival puts Holly Cross’s chance to win the title of Britain’s Most Perfect Christmas Village now in jeopardy, and the villagers are soon up in arms. Meanwhile, Sam is in his own personal hell surrounded by fairy lights and everyone is looking to Blythe to fix things.

 

But as the festive season looms, maybe there’s more than just Christmas in Holly Cross for Sam to fall in love with…

 

“The warmth of the writing really is exceptional – the whole book felt like the most gorgeous festive hug, and I adored every single moment. This is one I’d urge every lover of Christmas romance to add to their reading list – I promise you won’t be disappointed, and that it’ll delight you in every way. It might be only October, but I found myself buying some new fairy lights and a far-too-large nutcracker ornament today – and it’s all because of Bella Osborne…”

 

£3.19 for kindle, free via Kindle Unlimited – you’ll find my full review here.

Winter Wishes at Roseford Reloved by Fay Keenan

 

When the ceiling of preloved clothing shop Roseford Reloved falls in at the height of Christmas season, owner Polly Parrott is in despair. She can see her fortunes draining away as quickly as the water is pouring through her roof. What makes it worse is that standing right underneath the deluge is Will Sutherland, sporting hero and new owner of Parson’s Grange, the new modern mansion in Roseford.

 

Polly and Will’s first meeting is about as far from a success as it can be, but over a festive season of Christmas markets, a Yuletide Ball and inconvenient snowfalls, can they forge a friendship or even more, despite their unpromising beginning? Or will the complications in both of their lives end their romance before it even begins?

 

“Heartwarming, hopeful, uplifting, romantic – and just a thoroughly lovely read. This is a series I’m very much enjoying – and I hope there will be many more books to come.”

 

£2.09 for kindle, free via Prime reading – you’ll find my full review here.

The Christmas Love Letters by Sue Moorcroft

 

A secret romance was just the start of the story…

 

Tucked into a crook of the Norfolk coast lies Nelson’s Bar – an idyllic village where time seems to stand still. Maddy Cracey has called this beautiful spot home all her life, as had her husband Adey – until an epic row sent him storming out into a blizzard, with no sign of him since that fateful night.

 

Six years on, and Maddy’s life in the village has settled into a gentle pattern with her young daughter and Great Aunt Ruthie. However, when handsome stranger Raff turns up with a handful of long-forgotten love letters, their quiet life is upended as family secrets from the past are unearthed.

 

As Raff and Maddy get to know each other, they grow closer and a love story of their own seems inevitable. But when Maddy receives a mysterious message, she can’t help but wonder whether her own past is as distant as she’d thought it was…

 

The festive new novel about love, family and the power of words from Sunday Times bestseller Sue Moorcroft, perfect for fans of Sarah Morgan and Phillipa Ashley.

 

“Emotionally, this book was everything I could have possibly wanted – but it’s a real page-turner of a story too, and one that will stay with you long after you’ve turned the final page (and my goodness, what a perfect ending!). My favourite book yet? Yes, of course it is – until the next one. Do add this one to your Christmas list – I couldn’t recommend it more highly.”

 

£2.99 for kindle – you’ll find my full review here.

Celebrations in Bellbird Bay by Maggie Christensen

 

Sandy Elliot is devastated when a fire destroys her new business and doesn’t know how she can go on. When she receives a call from her grandmother’s old friend seeking her help, a trip to Bellbird Bay seems like the answer to a prayer.

 

Rob Andrews is proud of what he has achieved with Bay Bikes, the business he set up when he returned from Afghanistan. But the memory of his time there still plagues him and has always prevented him from forming any close relationships, afraid his deep-seated guilt and recurrent nightmares would scare off any woman foolish enough to become involved with him.

 

Upon meeting, it’s certainly not love at first sight. Sandy hates his beard and tattoos while Rob, though attracted to Sandy, doesn’t believe he deserves to find happiness.

 

But Bellbird Bay is a small town, and their paths continue to cross, making it impossible for them to ignore each other or to deny the attraction between them.

 

With the festive season approaching, can Sandy and Rob overcome their pasts and enjoy a celebration of their own?

 

“I do really love being on the Queensland coast at Christmas – the sunshine and seafood dinner might be unfamiliar, but the spirit of the season is every bit as present… This was another really lovely addition to a series I’m so enjoying – with all the elements that have made Maggie Christensen one of my favourite authors. I’m looking forward to my next visit already – very much recommended.”

 

£3.29 for kindle, free via Kindle Unlimited – you’ll find my full review here.

There – a touch of holly and some lovely covers, and I think everything might be looking suitably Christmassy here. Do check those prices before you click – I’ve done so today, but things can change. And I just hope I haven’t missed anyone out! Planned December reads to follow tomorrow…