The Beachside Christmas
Karen Clarke
Rating: 5 stars
Amazon UK (K £0.99 / P £9.99)
Synopsis:
Snow is falling and there's romance in the air. Curl up for a cosy Christmas by the fire at Seaview Cottage...
When thirty-year-old Lily Ambrose's latest relationship ends in disaster, she remembers happy childhood holidays in the seaside town of Shipley and decides it's the perfect place for a fresh start.
But when Lily arrives, the town's spirits are as low as her own: the local celebrity due to turn on the Christmas lights has hone on a cruise instead. Keen to prove to herself, she calls in a favour and secures gorgeous reality star Ollie.
Lily's neighbours are initially thrilled but Ollie is as uncontrollable as he is good-looking. He can't remember the town's name, calls the Christmas decorations tacky, and manages to offend everyone. And whilst handsome but stubborn cameraman Craig tries to help, even he can't stop Ollie's madcap plans to stage a romance with Lily...
Will Lily be able to keep Ollie under control and bring the Christmas cheer back to Shipley - and find herself a real kiss under the mistletoe?
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What a throughly enjoyable Christmas novel. The cover for this book was enough to make me want to read it, well - that and the fact that I really love Karen Clarke's other books! The use of the presents, the Christmas tree and the snowman is beautiful and I just love it. There's something about them that just have the right amount of everything you're looking for.
Humour? Check. Romance? Check. Drama? Check. And in this case, a big lump of Christmas festivities. Check! When I knew this book was going to be set in Shipley like the rest, I was thrilled. I was even more happy to see some familiar faces peep up throughout the book as well. Although this book is set with the same characters as the last two, you do not need to read them before this one. The Beachside Christmas could easily be read as a standalone.
This particular Shipley novel follows Lily when she moves away to where she used to spend her childhood holidays after a really bad breakup and embarrassing moment with her ex's wife in her classroom... However, soon after she moves in she finds herself a part of The Christmas Lights Society and trying to find a celebrity to switch on the Christmas lights, as is tradition.
Lily soon finds reality TV star Ollie but thinks she's bit of more than she can chew when Ollie turns out to be a bit of a handful. As the days go on and Ollie unintentionally upsets more of Lily's neighbours, she fears that she'll have to move on again to a somewhere different as she thinks she's royally messed this up. However, Lily soon finds that everything around her is coming together and she starts falling in love with not just where she lives...
I loved every character - and although Craig comes across as grumpy, I was praying for Lily to notice him the same as everyone else was! I was very happy with the ending (and you probably will be too) and it left me feeling all warm and fuzzy and excited for Christmas! The story involves a Christmas Lights Competition so this story was right up my street - I love Christmas lights!
Overall, a really lovely and lighthearted Christmas story. Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for a chance to read this novel which I have reviewed honestly.
Humour? Check. Romance? Check. Drama? Check. And in this case, a big lump of Christmas festivities. Check! When I knew this book was going to be set in Shipley like the rest, I was thrilled. I was even more happy to see some familiar faces peep up throughout the book as well. Although this book is set with the same characters as the last two, you do not need to read them before this one. The Beachside Christmas could easily be read as a standalone.
This particular Shipley novel follows Lily when she moves away to where she used to spend her childhood holidays after a really bad breakup and embarrassing moment with her ex's wife in her classroom... However, soon after she moves in she finds herself a part of The Christmas Lights Society and trying to find a celebrity to switch on the Christmas lights, as is tradition.
Lily soon finds reality TV star Ollie but thinks she's bit of more than she can chew when Ollie turns out to be a bit of a handful. As the days go on and Ollie unintentionally upsets more of Lily's neighbours, she fears that she'll have to move on again to a somewhere different as she thinks she's royally messed this up. However, Lily soon finds that everything around her is coming together and she starts falling in love with not just where she lives...
I loved every character - and although Craig comes across as grumpy, I was praying for Lily to notice him the same as everyone else was! I was very happy with the ending (and you probably will be too) and it left me feeling all warm and fuzzy and excited for Christmas! The story involves a Christmas Lights Competition so this story was right up my street - I love Christmas lights!
Overall, a really lovely and lighthearted Christmas story. Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for a chance to read this novel which I have reviewed honestly.
This sounds perfect for Christmas, and such a bargain at only 99p! Definitely going on my festive TBR. Fantastic review!
ReplyDeleteCora ❤ http://www.teapartyprincess.co.uk/
Thanks Cora! It is such a bargain, get it for 99p whilst you still can I say! :) SR x
DeleteThank you for the lovely review, Stacey, I'm so glad you enjoyed it x
ReplyDelete