It’s such a pleasure today to be helping launch the blog tour for Mistletoe Magic in the Highlands by the wonderful Bella Osborne, and sharing my review. To be published on 10th October by Aria Fiction, it’s now available for preorder for kindle via Amazon (and on other major ebook platforms), in paperback and as an audiobook (and isn’t that cover gorgeous – the perfect setting, and who doesn’t love a Highland coo?!). My thanks, as always, to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for the invitation and support, and to the publishers for my advance reading e-copy (provided via netgalley).
Although I know I’ve mentioned it before, I was a little late to the party with Bella’s books, and she’s now very firmly on my favourite authors list. You’ll also be very aware that I entirely love Christmas books – and last year, Bella’s The Perfect Christmas Village was one of the loveliest of them all, and one of my 2023 Books of the Year. If you missed it, it’s only 99p for kindle at the moment (or free via Kindle Unlimited) – it really was totally gorgeous with its grumpy/sunshine romance, quirky community and everything Christmas, just the most perfect warm festive hug (you’ll find my review here). So when Rachel’s email dropped into my inbox with news of this year’s Christmas release, I knew it would – once more – be something rather special…
Olivia Bingham has bad luck with men.
She’s been ghosted more times than she can count, but this Christmas she’s finally met someone really special online: Fraser Douglas, a Scottish chef working at an idyllic hotel in the Highlands. He’s sweet and sensitive, thoughtful and funny – not to mention incredibly good looking.
Just when she thinks things couldn’t be going any better, Fraser’s dating profile vanishes, and Olivia fears the worst. Frustrated and wounded, Olivia decides she’s going to drive all the way out to Loch Lochy Hotel and confront Fraser.
But when she arrives, things don’t go exactly as she hoped. Worse still, Fraser doesn’t seem to have any idea who she is…
What a totally delightful read – ok, a word I’m perhaps overusing these days, but this really was a totally delicious and immensely enjoyable Christmassy read with a bit of everything I most enjoy.
Liv is understandably hurt when ghosted on-line by Fraser, who really did seem like the man she’d been searching for – but she’s also rather angry about it, tracks him down (with a little help from her support network), and decides to travel to the Highlands from her home in Blackburn, just before Christmas, to both find out why he did it and tell him what she thinks of him. On arrival, the hotel where he works proves not to be quite what she’s expecting, instead rather a work in progress – and instead of saying her bit and leaving again, the car she’s driving isn’t going anywhere very soon, she’s sustained some unfortunate injuries, and has decided it might just be better if she’s unable to remember her name for a while. The hotel is a long way from being ready for guests, but they find her a room and, in return, she finds herself helping the team prepare for the opening night of Fraser’s restaurant – dogged by disaster, and the plotting of a former girlfriend.
And I think that’s enough of the story – there are far more twists and turns before Liv’s mission is accomplished (well, if she still wants or needs to…) and she’s able to head for home again – and I’ll focus instead on why I enjoyed it so much. I was laughing from the opening pages, and the smile never left my face through all Liv’s many trials and tribulations – the author definitely turned up the comedy dial for this one, and I thought every single moment was perfectly judged. But there’s plenty of poignancy too – the supporting cast, that team I mentioned (using the term particularly loosely…) are quite wonderfully drawn, and from across the generations, and I did particularly love Liv’s friendship with Effie (and I just know everyone else will love her every bit as much as I did). There are a few intriguing subplots, one nicely echoing Liv’s experience of the perils of on-line relationships. And as Liv and Fraser’s romance, very steadily and with a lot of grumpy/sunshine, begins to look like an outside possibility again, there’s the mystery of what exactly happened when his online profile suddenly disappeared, and why her real name doesn’t seem to mean anything to him.
Add in Liv’s unusual travel companion, a Highland “coo” with a bit of an attitude and a penchant for classical music, an unexpectedly heavy snowfall, an off-duty policeman only too happy to whip out his bagpipes when the occasion demands it, all those wonderful Christmassy touches, a shared love of Mariah Carey, a dog who steals socks and a gang of pensioners who hope to help save the day – yes, I still have that smile on my face a few weeks after reading, and this was a book I absolutely loved. And as for that romance that could have been over before it really started – particularly slow-burn, but honestly everything I’d hoped it might be. As I said, totally delightful, and most definitely one of my Christmas books of the year – you will add it to your reading pile too, won’t you?
About the author
Bella Osborne has been jotting down stories as far back as she can remember but decided that 2013 would be the year that she finished a full length novel. In 2016, her debut novel, It Started At Sunset Cottage, was shortlisted for the Contemporary Romantic Novel of the Year and RNA Joan Hessayon New Writers Award.
Bella’s stories are about friendship, love and coping with what life throws at you. She likes to find the humour in the darker moments of life and weaves these into her stories. Bella believes that writing your own story really is the best fun ever, closely followed by talking, eating chocolate, drinking fizz and planning holidays.
She lives in the Midlands, UK with her lovely husband and wonderful daughter, who thankfully, both accept her as she is (with mad morning hair and a penchant for skipping).
For more about Bella, visit her website or follow her on social media:
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok
I really wish that I could have fitted this one in. So pleased that you enjoyed it x
You’d really love it – I do hope you’ll be able to squeeze in the reading before Christmas! x
I’m certainly going to try x
Another great interview, Anne. Sounds like another best seller from, Bella. Congratulations Bella.