Sloantate

  A festive read which makes you feel warm and cozy.   Where do you go when your life is crumbling around you? A Norwegian island of course.   What you might not expect is a near-death experience, a chance meeting giant Viking and his cat with more character and attitude than most teenagers, after dark, it would be enough to send most visitors running for the boat but not Holly   Holly has a backbone, but she has been scarred. Tor (never to be called Thor, or you will be in for a lecture) is also licking his wounds, the island’s hermit, and Frøy his faithful, if not constant companion, is a safe haven for him until Holly’s arrival and then things get interesting.   This book at times is hilarious, the line about psychopathic cats led me to message a friend to pre-order the book as this is our kind of humour.    I cannot explain how much I adored this story, and I am so grateful to #Netgalley #OMCReads and @HarperCollinsUK, and especially @NatalieNorman...

  Love and Friendship under the sights and sounds of a Christmas Market   A lovely wee festive read, which transported me to a traditional German market as the descriptions had me imagining the sights and sounds as I walked along with the characters. Visiting for two very different reasons, Connie to meet up with the internet date and her motley crew of OAP’s who wants to (apparently illegally) scatter their recently departed neighbour’s ashes, in a happy place from her childhood.  Whilst Connie takes her dating seriously, being shown the very bright lights and sounds of the new town’s market, the pensioners are drawn in by the dwindling traditional Christmas market, acting out in the live Nativity, singing carols, and flying across the ice, they are almost like children again.    Though I did have issues with everything to do with the neighbouring town, including the love interest, I don’t see this as a negative as it is all part of the reading experience, but ...

  Christmas Wishes by Sue Moorcroft is the perfect Christmas escape, we begin in Stockholm where Hannah Anna Butik is working in her shop, the one which she has dreaming of opening and was finally able to do so with the help of her boyfriend. When she hears the words “How is Rob’s stupid sister?” Even after two decades, Hannah would know that smile everywhere Nico Pettersson, her childhood crush.   A devastating betrayal leads Hannah back to her childhood home, in the arms of her family, who need her more than ever. She starts to rebuild her life only to find that Nico and his daughter have unknowingly followed her home.   Nico’s life is by no means easy, raising not one but soon, two children on his own, working full time he relies on his childminder and cousin to get through the day unscathed. The stress has become too much and when Hannah mistakes him for a homeless person, he knows he needs to face his demons again.   From the snowy streets of Stockholm to the vi...