I find that there is nothing nicer in the month of December than snuggling down with a good book, especially one with a bit of a Christmassy theme about it! I love a book with a gorgeous Christmas cover as well - I’m a sucker for anything with a bit of snow and a Christmas tree on it if truth be told! I’ve compiled a list of some of my favourite festive reads, old and new, so you can enjoy a Christmas read yourself!
Please do let us know of any you want added to our festive list, and enjoy!
Amy Silver - All I Want for Christmas
“Twelve days and counting… It’s Bea’s first Christmas with her baby son, and this year she’s determined to do everything right. But there is still so much to do: the Christmas menu needs refining; her café, The Honey Pot, needs decorating; and she’s invited the whole neighbourhood to a party on Christmas Day. She really doesn’t have time to get involved in two new people’s lives, let alone fall in love… When Olivia gets knocked over in the street, however, Bea can’t help bringing her into The Honey Pot and getting to know her. Olivia’s life is even more hectic than her own, and with her fiancé’s entire family over from Ireland for Christmas, she shouldn’t be lingering in the cosy warmth of Bea’s café. Chloe, on the other hand, has nowhere else to go. Her affair with a married man has alienated her friends, and left her lonelier than ever. But Christmas is a magical time, and in the fragrant atmosphere of The Honey Pot, anything can happen: new friends can be made, hearts can heal, and romance can finally blossom…”
Annie Sanders - The Xmas Factor
“Meet two women with two totally different approaches to the festive season. Beth: it’s only September and already she has performance anxiety. Not surprising when she has agreed to lay on the annual Christmas Eve village bash - the piece de resistance of her husband’s former wife - not to mention having to host Christmas for his difficult offspring. New to this frenzied build-up to the festivities, Beth begins to lose sight of what it all means. To her the Christmas lights are looking more like the headlamps of an oncoming train. Carol: glamorous magazine editor, who put her aspirational Christmas issue to bed sometime in July and is so involved in finding a scoop to save her ailing magazine that she fails to notice the impending festive rush. Panicked and wracked with guilt, she is determined to make it a picture perfect time for her little boy and, opting for convenience, books a lovely-sounding cottage in a quaint village. Even the best laid plans have a habit of unravelling - and no plan at all is a recipe for disaster. So when these two Christmases collide, it looks like it’s going to be anything but goodwill towards men…”
Kate Harrison - The Secret Shopper Unwrapped
“Christmas is coming, and while the bells are ringing, the tills aren’t. But Sandie - the rising star of the retail spying world - is busier than ever, rooting out the best and worst in festive customer care through her company. The former Charlie’s Shopping Angels are helping out, too. Glamorous widow Grazia is going undercover under the duvet at boutique hotels, in between dating a succession of toyboys and trying to remember which lie she’s told about her age. Meanwhile, not-quite-yummy mummy Emily investigates the child-friendliness of the high street with the help of three-year-old Freddie, when she’s not working flat out with her partner to save their fledging village shop from the un-festive credit crunch. The shoppers are back, but is the happiness they’ve worked so hard for, about to disappear faster than a Louis Vuitton handbag in the Harrod’s sale?”
Ann Pearlman - The Christmas Cookie Club
“What would we do without one another? It was a statement, not a question. Each of us knew the answer for herself. Every year on the first Monday of December, Marnie and her twelve closest girlfriends gather with batches of beautifully wrapped homemade cookies. Everyone has to bring a dish and a bottle of wine and, as they eat, they take turns telling the story of the cookies they have baked. Stories that, somehow, are always emblematic of the year that has just passed. This year, the stories are especially important. Marnie’s oldest daughter has a risky pregnancy. Will she find out tonight how that story will end? Jeannie’s father is having an affair with her best friend. Who else knew about the betrayal? Rosie’s husband doesn’t want children, but can she live with his decision? Each woman, each friend has a story to tell. The Cookie Club is about the passion and hopefulness of a new romance, the betrayal and disillusionment some relationships bring, the joys and fears of motherhood, and above all, it’s a celebration of the friendships between women.”
Trisha Ashley - The Twelve Days of Christmas
“Christmas has always been a sad time for young widow Holly Brown, so when she’s asked to look after a remote house on the Lancashire moors, the opportunity to hide herself away is irresistible – the perfect excuse to forget about the festivities. Sculptor, Jude Martland, is determined that this year there will be no Christmas after his brother runs off with his fiancée and he is keen to avoid the family home. However, he will have to return by the twelfth night of the festivities, when the hamlet of Little Mumming hold their historic festivities and all of his family are required to attend. Meanwhile, Holly is finding that if she wants to avoid Christmas, she has come to the wrong place. When Jude unexpectedly returns on Christmas Eve he is far from delighted to discover that Holly seems to be holding the very family party he had hoped to avoid. Suddenly, the blizzards come out of nowhere and the whole village is snowed in. With no escape, Holly and Jude get much more than they bargained for – it looks like the twelve days of Christmas are going to be very interesting indeed!”
Julia Williams - Last Christmas
“It’s the most wonderful time of year. Isn’t it? Discover the true spirit of Christmas with this seasonal treat for fans of Love, Actually and The Holiday. Discover the true spirit of Christmas…Catherine Tinsall is dreading Christmas. As the ‘Happy Homemaker’ she is an online sensation, but the reality couldn’t be more different. With Catherine’s marriage in tatters, her children running wild and her mother increasingly forgetful, seasonal cheer is running low. Husband Noel also hides a secret: he’s facing the axe at work. Until he chances upon the village of Hope Christmas, deep in the Shropshire countryside, which could be the second chance he’s searching for. If he can save it from the developers! In Hope Christmas itself, schoolteacher Marianne Moore is trying to heal her battered heart. But Christmas is a time for families, and memories of what she’s lost haunt her at every turn. Meanwhile, Gabriel North faces a lonely Christmas but hides his sadness for the sake of his son. Will his wife ever come home? Or does love lie elsewhere? All four need a Christmas miracle. And it might just happen - courtesy of a mysterious guardian angel ! Forced to reassess their lives, will Catherine, Noel, Marianne and Gabriel discover what the meaning of Christmas really is? An irresistible gift of a tale that will warm the hearts of Christmas-lovers and Scrooges alike!”
Patricia Scanlan - Coming Home
“Two sisters…two very different lives. Alison’s American dream is in tatters. Her highflying career is on the skids in the financial meltdown. Her Upper East Side apartment is now way beyond her means . But pride prevents her from telling her family back home just how bad things are. Olivia is fraught trying to juggle family, career, preparations for Christmas and organize a surprise party for their mother’s seventieth birthday. How she envies, and sometimes resents, her sister Alison and her life of excitement and affluence in New York. Coming home is the last thing Alison wants to do, especially now that she’s met a rather attractive, sexy, down to earth neighbour who doesn’t believe in ‘non exclusive dating’ unlike her wealthy boyfriend, Jonathan. But family ties are strong. Alison and Olivia sort their differences, the party throws up a few surprises and Christmas brings changes for Alison that she could never have imagined before coming home”
Sheila O’Flanagan - A Season to Remember
In this wonderful collection of interlinked short stories Sheila O’Flanagan brings her own trademark sparkle to Christmas – a time when friends, families and lovers traditionally come together and when every person is hoping their wishes will come true…
Sharon Owens - A Winter’s Wedding
Love in the bleak mid-winter . . . Emily loves Dylan.And Dylan loves Emily.Their relationship is rock solid.Everyone says they are meant to be together, it’s just a matter of when – not if – Dylan’s going to pop the Big Question. There’s just one tiny fly in the ointment: Emily hates weddings. Which is fair enough seeing as she was jilted at the altar years ago by Alex, her supposed soulmate.Still, Dylan isn’t Alex.He’s gorgeous and sexy and scruffy and kind – and more than worth taking a chance on … But what happens when the ghost of Emily’s Christmas past threatens to ruin everything? Can Dylan convince the love of his life he’s different and that their wedding day will be remembered for the right reasons? After all, with a sprinkling of snow and a touch of magic in the air, there’s nothing quite like a winter’s wedding to warm the soul …
Since November 2009
Chick Flick Tuesday highlights the best chick flicks in the movie world as well as bringing you news on upcoming chick flick releases as well as letting you all know about which chick lit books are being made into chick flick movies!
“Alex Fletcher (Hugh Grant) is a cynical and self-deprecating former ’80s pop idol who turns down an offer to appear on a reality TV show for has-beens. Instead, he chooses to play the far more dignified nostalgia circuit, and hires the lovely but deeply insecure Sophie Fisher (Drew Barrymore) to water his plants while he’s away. When Alex is tasked with writing a song for pop starlet Cora (Haley Bennett) in just four days, Sophie reveals herself to be a gifted songwriter and they end up making beautiful music together. Despite this contrived set-up, the film, to its credit, deftly avoids many possible rom-com clichés in favour of organic, character-driven conflicts and comedic situations. As Alex and Sophie fall in love, their relationship begins to mirror the song writing process; they grapple with their creative differences and emotional hang-ups, all the while dealing with the pressures of the music industry.”
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Her debut novel is only out at the end of this month (November), but already Ali McNamara has signed a new book deal with publishers Little, Brown for further books after the release of From Notting Hill with Love… Actually! Leah and I both absolutely adored Ali’s debut novel and we are sure that she is going to become a huge success within the chicklit, she certainly deserves to be! Well done Ali!
Vida is 19 and has never had much of a life. Struggling along with a life-threatening heart condition, her whole life has been one long preparation for death. But suddenly she is presented with a donor heart, and just in time. Now she gets to do something she never imagined she’d have to do: live.
Chick Lit Classics is a regular feature on Chick Lit Reviews where we highlight the books we feel are classics of the chick lit genre. Feel free to discuss our choices in the comments section!
Emma is like every girl in the world. She has a few little secrets. Secrets from her mother: 1.I lost my virginity in the spare bedroom to Danny Nussbaum while Mum and Dad were downstairs watching Ben Hur. …From her boyfriend: 2. I’m a size twelve. Not a size eight, like Connor thinks. 3. I’ve always thought Connor looks a bit like Ken. As in Barbie and Ken. …From her colleagues: 4. When Artemis really annoys me, I feed her plant orange juice. (Which is pretty much every day) 5. It was me who jammed the copier that time. In fact, all the times. …Secrets she wouldn’t share with anyone in the world: 6. My G string is hurting me. 7. I faked my Maths GCSE grade on my CV. 8. I have no idea what NATO stands for. Or even what it is… …until she spills them all to a stranger on a plane. At least, she thought he was a stranger…
