Festive Book Review: Christmas on Primrose Hill by Karen Swan

PURCHASE |GOODREADS 


My Synopsis 

Imagine This: You have an ordinary job that has become mundane. You live with your dad. You still have the old friends you used to play with since your wee ages—and that's not a good thing!

One accident. And you are an internet sensation! Retweets, favourites, and of course a little dislikes on YouTube by the always embittered and unsuccessful. And oh, a follow from an international star!

Except your boss and your colleagues want you to keep up with this accident to raise donations for a charity organisation for testicular cancer awareness.

You think they are crazy. You wouldn't possibly make an attempt once more to off yourself... even for charity... even for a popstar who would probably unfollow you realizing how boring you really are.

Until he DMs you. Suddenly you'd do anything for charity! Twelve days of Christmas. Twelve dares of Christmas. 

Include finding your missing mother who just upped and left four years ago, and you've got yourself one heck of a holiday season to get it (your life—professional, love and life) all together. 

Hold up, readers! It's going to be a very Nettie Christmas! 

My REVIEW. 

I loved this book!

The storyline is good! After one tragic accident in which Girl comes out in one piece, she's all over London, doing stunts behind a laughable costume and gaining the interest of one popstar who's practically chasing her all over London. Cue in the mystery of her missing mother and you have an engaging formula!── ★

Nettie is so cool. When in her costume. And a pretty normal girl-next-door stereotype when she's out of it. But she makes a lovely lead whose story you want to see through till the end!── ★★

Other characters need to be celebrated too. There's Jules, the crazy, albeit one-dimensional friend who loves to party and likes guys with hot-bods. There's Caro, the tech, gum-chewing colleague who can't stand the presence of a guy a few seconds acting normal. There's also Mike, the boss who's having a hard time controlling all the women, that is, all his employees. You'd also love Jamie, the popstar who's always following our lead but making it look so normal you wouldn't call him a stalker. A star!── ★★★

Plus, there's also the two's romance! A feature I kept looking out for.── ★★★★

Though I immensely enjoyed this read (thanks to the romance), I couldn't really shake off the feeling that it wasn't as great as Swan's previous festive-not-quite-festive title, Christmas in the Snow. Karen's novels are known for their sweep-you-off-your-feet romantic plots with an engaging sub-plot of mystery. But this title's sub-plot wasn't engaging enough—as compared to her previous title's, I should add. Judging it as a standalone, like it is, I enjoyed it. But doing a comparative analysis I'm not sure I can give it all the stars it deserves.

So my rating: Four stars (judged with Christmas in the Snow!) but definitely a Five-star read when considered as a standalone.

Christmas on Primrose Hill is available on Amazon. Go get it along with Christmas in the Snow if you haven't read that one too.

I recommend this book to anyone who's a fan of festive novels that are not excuses for authors to just get in a Christmas tree and some mistletoe and just add a bit of a storyline. A book that can be read anytime of the year despite it being a festive read! You should also get it if you are a fan of Karen Swan (or not!)


My work not done here. Off to post my reviews on both Amazon and Goodreads. 

Festive Book Review: Christmas In The Snow by Karen Swan

MY SYNOPSIS

Imagine This: You are in your thirties––and as one rival puts it, single, lonely, bitter. You are the only female president in a male-dominated environment. You are a workaholic. The only home you know is your office. It’s always jetting to have a meeting in Zurich, having lunch with some potential investors in Paris, and reading the Financial Times on a flight to Vienna. All in one day.

At the peak of your fast-paced career as a hedgie, you are about to make it to the board––the peak that blunts all other peaks, and standing in your way is just this one account you’d have to secure. Except these clients are Chinese and traditional, so although they see, your brilliant pitches and you nursing the strains in your neck every time you curtsy, they are not moved the slightest.

So when on a flight to meet with these clients at Zurich, you encounter a devastatingly handsome guy who you would love to ram against a wall and do all sorts of dirty to. Yet all you can think of is, I can’t afford to be distracted.

Zurich was good. Fun. The meeting with the clients went well. You’re back in London, thinking what happens in Switzerland, stays in Switzerland.

Until a work crisis leaves you haunted by your immediate past. And suddenly all you have worked so hard to achieve is about to fall into the hands of this immediate past. But there’s no way you are going to allow Immediate Past to shatter all you have worked for, you are never going down without a fight. Only the universe can’t think of a right timing for you to receive a call from Swiss police…

And suddenly, you have more skeletons (meant literally) to deal with this Christmas than a one-night-stand turned messy.

Allegra Fisher’s dilemma summed up for your enthralment.  

MY REVIEW

I have never really been a fan of festive holiday reads. I am terrified to open them because if I do end up not liking them so much it would put a damper on my festive mood.  But… but who am I kidding? You sensed a ‘but’ even before I started this review…

I loved, loved, loved, loved, loved this book so, so, so much! So you know in my review I’d be yelling at you to go tell the nearest Barnes and Nobles shop that if they do not have it they should contact their insurance company since they rarely do(because you would be slamming your head against the glass windows)!

(I actually snorted when I read the blurb, then flipped the book to see Karen Swan’s name big and red on it, then I knew I was going to fucking like the way Karen presented an old storyline) I mean, who hasn’t read a book blurb about dark, family secrets and voiced teasingly, “Ooh, spooky.”? But the way Karen wrote this was off the hook! Dark, family secrets my arse! This book was way more than something old. It was something old made refreshingly new and leaving the reader to free-fall into uneasiness and wonder, ‘Oh, when do I break my spine yet?”. Amazing old storyline with so many twists and turns (most reviewers use these two words lightly but I do not) you are marvelled all the way through. And isn’t it amazing a book about dark, family secrets isn’t all about (not-so) dark family secrets? A star! ── ★

(I watched the second instalment to that Spartan movie and I have always fantasized about rough sex––I am human I have needs too!––with cold-blooded ice-princess women) I loved, loved Allegra Fisher. Never have I wanted a character to pick me so badly since watching Angelina Jolie in Mr. and Mrs. Smith. There’s something so sexy about women who have it all under control and are fiercely independent and won’t settle for less (or even settle at all!)… but sometimes I find that majority of my audience are women and do not understand a thing I am saying at all(?) You would love her! Love how she’s a die-hard feminist and wouldn’t stand for the slightest discrimination at her workplace or anywhere (much like you!). Love her whiplash attitude and how brutally blunt she is. Even if you do not, you would understand her reasons for being who she is and show some show sympathy towards her (as I show some sympathy towards you). It’s just so fun that you realize everything she does is what someone who is totally like her would do and no action of hers is really out-of-place. You would realize Karen Swan really did her What Would Allegra Fisher Do? Homework well. A star to the characterization. ── ★★

I love that this book is out of the norm of festive reads. You know, I pictured Karen Swan sitting in that Festive Reads conventional train with her laptop and jumping out when that train was always going there (––no stress on the word, you would have noted the difference if I meant, ‘there’). And I was thrilled she jumped out of that train to produce something totally different! A star to being a nonconformist and succeeding at that! ── ★★★

Oh, the other characters in this book? You might give up thinking there can be no perfect book! (But if you already think there is a perfect book why don’t you pick this title and rate it again when Karen releases another?) All the characters played roles in synchrony to help this title achieve a solid, unifying plot! You would love Isobel, the sister who criticizes Allegra for not owning a toaster and not being homely. You would love Cinzy, the personal stylist who always silently tells Allegra to dress like a woman (with ruffles and feathers––Allegra’s worst fears) with her (Cinzy’s) choices for her. You would love Maasi, the billionaire Italian who went to Harvard yet makes millions out of a shocking trade and gives salient advice from the words spilling out of his mouth at rate of a thousand per minute. There’s also Pasha who’s as thick-headed as the bottle blonde wife of a millionaire would be. Pierre, who reminds you of the boss you admire so much. Lots and lots of characters I really wished I could go on and on about. (But if you corner me too much I would… thanks for your persistence) Julia, Allegra’s Alzheimer’s mum. Barry, Julia’s nurse. And other characters you would love to hate like Sam*. A star to all the characters. ── ★★★★

Humor––sometimes laugh-out-loud, most times find-what-you-should-laugh-out-loud-about. This book isn’t what I’d tag a downright laugh-out-loud read (and you know how particular I am about humour in a title). But I can tell you it’s a downright suspenseful book. I really did take a slight hatred to Karen for this feature. I mean, what’s a book that could give you coronary thrombosis when such disorder isn’t genetic in your family? I don’t quite understand why an author would put so much effort in making your heart stop beating when she needs you to revere the ending of her novel to pieces. It’s not how Karen drops an OMG Moment in this title. It’s how she presents the OMG Moment that makes the OMG Moment actually say an OMG to its OMG Moment. A star! ── ★★★★★

Yet if I do give this book a four/five star-rating you would be so shocked. Because it’s a six/five star-read (and please I have had enough education to assure you this grading oversight is an emphasis of how phenomenal this book is!)

Karen Swan’s latest, Christmas in the Snow is available on amazon. (And you know I am only providing the link just in case B&N in your area runs out of copies AND YOU DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH FUEL TO DRIVE TO ANOTHER STATE TO GET IT).

I recommend this book to anyone who loves not only a good book (because that would be the biggest understatement of the year for this title) but a goooood, goooood book. Anyone who wants something adrenalin-pumping should grab this title too. And just anyone, anyone who wants to read a book about dark family secrets that actually have dark family secrets alongside a sub-plot that brutally competes with a main plot to thrill the reader. Plus if you are ski demon this is your perfect book.

Hurrah (I find this more bourgeois-irritating than ‘hurray’)! I am so glad this book ended 2014 for me. My work not done here. Off to post my review on goodreads.

Festive Book Review: It Must Have Been The Mistletoe by Judy Astley

My Synopsis

Imagine this: You are looking up to Christmas this year with your amazing boyfriend. Until he ditches you, then you are not so sure you are in a festive mood to celebrate. But at least, you do have your family, and there’s reason to be thankful?

But not until your mum and dad, after years of marriage, decide to finalize their separation. Christmas would be a major screw up this year, you think to yourself. Then your parents decide there could be one last holiday taken as a family before the year ends. Now something to look up to.

But the family vacation doesn’t go as planned. You are being pursued by someone who you assume is gay. Your sister is really losing her nerve to hold it together amongst her aloof husband and boisterous kids. Your mum might have mistakenly invited her younger lover over. And your dad’s girlfriend hops into the picture to further complicate the sleeping arrangements.

Is everyone in need of a Christmas miracle or what?

Because whatever happens, chip in a snowstorm and extreme weather conditions and you are foreseeing a disaster.

Thea’s life summed up for your delight.

My Review

I liked this book.

Great storyline. I was a sucker for the whole plot. Who knew Christmas could get this disastrous? Girl thinks she’s crazy for not warding off the advances of a gay man. Girl struggles to keep herself in a celebratory spirit after being dumped by her boyfriend. Girl wishes her family would just suck it up and not fall apart this Christmas season because they might be the only cause for her to be happy. A star to the storyline.── ★

Thea is much like your everyday self or friend or sister who has no kids and always get snubbed off by mums who tell her she has no idea what being a mother entails when she’s a teacher whose job is to control hyperactive six-year olds. Very relatable when you consider that very moment you are dumped by a guy who you thought could be that happily-ever-after one so you cut your hair, dye up some strands pink, (record heart-breaking solos with your guitar), and not bother whether you care not. A star to her.── ★★

Other supporting characters––like Anna, the (grand) mum in constant thought of whether her family would approve of her boyfriend; Mike, the (grand) dad battling with keeping her over the top girlfriend under control; Emily, the sister who wouldn’t just suck it up and enjoy the holidays because she’s in constant fear of what her husband’s ignorance might get her kids into; Mr. Over The Road who can’t keep his tongue out of throats that aren’t his wife’s when given a little drink. A star to these characters.── ★★★

I liked this book. But I really, really wish I could have loved, loved it. It had such a funky blurb I was expecting so much more. The humour could have been revved up, the pace could have been quicker, the suspense could have been more engaging.

My rating: 3/5 stars.

Judy Astley’s latest is available on amazon.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants a festive title this holiday season. Anyone who could do with a little miracle could also pick this title.

My work not done here. Off to post my review on Goodreads.

Festive Book Review: Merry Chicklit-an Anthology: Christmas Lights By Sarah Hitchcock

Another post inspired by the festive season.

Blurb: In the spirit of giving, six chick-lit authors "present" a charming collection of seasonal shorts sure to inspire holiday cheer-plus love and hope throughout the year, with all proceeds donated to Rocking the Road for a Cure! Featured authors & stories include:

Sarah Hitchcock In "The Christmas Lights," one competition pits two families against each other...who will win this war?

This is amazing! Incredibly short, cute, story!

It's Christmas, all the neighbors are competing for the best Lights. Anabel Walker loves it during this time of the year, she loves it when her family is together—the holidays do that, make everyone happy. But what with this neighborhood war? What with all this competition? What with the Walker family being an enemy to the Taylor's? What with Anabel keeping a secret? What with the most romantic wedding proposal?

Sarah Hitchcock wowed me! Everything about this book was a surprise! I love surprises and nothing like a good surprise during the holidays —★

Romance? This book runneth over! —★★ I actually cooed (which I am ashamed I do a lot lately).

Suspense? Who knew short stories were really abundant in those? The whole references to wars got me squinting. Very strange anachronism, yes. Who would think there to be a war on Christmas? —★★★

I loved the ending. The joke was really on me! I just kept shaking my head in disbelief at how beautiful this was —★★★★

Now, about my other stars (there are many). I think I'd share it to all the other stuff I've mentioned.

My rating: FIVE STARS.

I will be looking forward to a lot of Sarah Hitchcock! If her short stories are this good, I guess I'd have plenty to gush about for the long ones.

Christmas Lights is part of Merry Chicklit's anthology of six sassy shorts available on Amazon.

I recommend anyone looking for a great gasp! Anyone looking for something delightfully short.

Rush for it. Remember, the cause, breast cancer. Please donate for a good cause this festive season! There's nothing annoying than a male sexist doctor screaming, "Off with her boobs!" I purchased this to help the cause, you should too.

Reviewing all six sassy shorts in Merry Chicklit. Stay tuned for Francine Lasala's.

Another post inspired by the festive season.