Review: Joe and Clara's Christmas Countdown by Katey Lovell

This Christmas she’ll give her heart to someone special…

As Christmas approaches Joe Smith knows he should be celebrating with friends and family, making the most of the season. But for Joe, Christmas only holds painful memories. Ones he can feel crushing his heart, a reminder of a time he can never forget.

Clara O'Connell loves Christmas. For her it is the most magical time of the year. And she's determined to make Joe love it too! She knows he's hurting, but maybe she can help to ease his pain. Her plan: One special gift every day to remind Joe just how loved he is.

But the clock is ticking. Will the Christmas magic wear off at midnight or will Clara's Christmas countdown be the perfect gift to heal Joe's broken heart? And in doing so, maybe she will get a gift in return…Joe's love for Christmas and forever…?

Review: Oh this was just a big christmas hug wrapped up in a book! I love reading books about real people at christmas time. People who have families to support, people who have to keep working throughout the holiday season, people who work hard but play hard. And so I loved reading this book. Clara works hard and Joe provides the perfect excuse for her to start enjoying life outside of work as well and I just loved this mix. 

Of course a Christmas book should make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but this book just feels like that extra tight squeeze as you're reading it because these characters are just so lovely. Not only are they trying to support each other in the run up to christmas, but they are also supporting their other friends and the local community too and I just think it is important to highlight how rarely we get to see this in a book, I loved that aspect! 

The storyline surrounds these characters giving each other gifts and taking each other on outings in the run up to christmas and i am sure that this author had so much fun thinking of the gifts they were going to give and the things they were going to do. I won't spoil anything but there are some really amusing gifts as well as some really really touching ones and so each new chapter brought he promise of a new gift for me as a reader, as well as for these characters. 

Obviously, from what I've already said, I loved these characters and they were a great vehicle for this story. I defy anyone not to fancy Joe and Clara is just so easy to identify with. I spent the whole book championing both of them and really wishing that they would get the happy ending that they deserved. This book is about more than Christmas and I think it would be great to read at any time of year, but if you can be reading it close to the countdown days, as the book progresses, then I would really recommend doing that. I loved this read and it is definitely one that should be added to you festive TBR immediately!

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK 

Review: The Great Village Show by Alexandra Brown

Tindledale is in a titter. The Village Show competition is coming around again and after last year’s spectacular failure, the villagers are determined to win. Meg, teacher at the local school, is keen to help and to impose some much-needed order.

After a terse encounter with a newcomer to the village, Meg discovers that it is celebrity chef and culinary bad boy, Dan Wright. Meg thinks he is arrogant and rude but rumour has it that Dan is opening a new restaurant in the village which could really put Tindledale on the map!

As things come together, villagers old and new all start to come out of the woodwork, including new arrival Jessie, who seems to have it all. But first impressions can be deceptive and Meg discovers that when it comes to Tindledale – and Dan – nothing is ever quite as it seems… 

Review: ok so I have to state firstly that I didn't realise this was a sequel to The Great Christmas Knit-Off, which I love and secondly, I really didn't enjoy this one as much as the first book. I loved resisting Tindledale and catching up with all the characters, I was pleased to find out that the village spirit was still strong, but I just felt like there wasn't as much happening to excite me in this novel.

Character-wise, I love that fact that the main protagonist in this sorry was a head teacher, I could really tell that, either Alexandra Brown has worked as a teacher herself, or else she has done some very good research because all of the teaching details are accurate. There was one tiny detail that only a teacher could pick up on and that was the fact that the head teacher of a school took her cross-stitch into school incase she had a any time at lunch time to do it, this seriously wouldn't happen. I knowi haven't worked in this particular tiny school with only 49 pupils, but headteachers just don't have time for lunch let alone cross stich at lunch, but it was nice reading about somebody that was so relatable to myself and to a lot of other readers, I'm sure as she has a grown up son who has gone off to uni leaving an empty nest! 

The idea of the village show was a lovely one and I really enjoyed finding out about the history of the village show in Tindledale, because of course many of the residents there will remember the village show in its hay day and so I thought this part was very well written and interesting too. But aside from some dramas with food and with protestors, I didn't feel that a lot really happened. Of course there is a love story too, but again, I felt that this wasn't as much as I was expecting it to be. 

Overall this was an enjoyable read, one that I actually listened to on audiobook in one sitting and lovely story for summer, but I would have loved a little more to happen and Tindledale to be the buzz of excitement that it was during the knit-off!