Nostalgic
The Gingerbread Christmas Village by Kiley Dunbar is an absolutely charming contemporary Christmas book that makes you feel festive in September.
It is a nostalgic look back on Christmas gone by as well as creating new memories in present day, and also projecting forward to future Christmases’.
This is the essence of Christmas captured in a book. Christmas is not always perfectly presented. There may be unforeseen mishaps but Christmas is a time for love, miracles and people pulling together.
The idea of a gingerbread Christmas village has passed down through a family. Traditionally it is a village activity but seems to be dying off in the modern age until… Read the book and find out what happens.
Love is not just for the young. The lead character is sixty five years young but can still experience weak knees and a heart that flutters.
The novel is set in a village in the Cotswolds but also has a trip to Birmingham included. As this is my home town, locations were familiar such as the Hippodrome, China Town and the German Christmas market. The book came alive for me.
The action is told in the first person, enabling the reader to experience and have empathy for a personal viewpoint. We ‘feel’ the highs and lows of aa character as she immerses herself in the run up to Christmas.
The Gingerbread Christmas Village is a wonderfully warm festive offering which I loved.
I received a free copy for a blog tour via Rachel’s Random Resources. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.
JULIA WILSON
The Gingerbread Christmas Village
Everyone deserves a Christmas treat…
The annual Wheaton gingerbread exhibit (a model village made of gingerbread) and grotto has been an important part of the sleepy Cotswold hamlet’s Christmas celebrations for decades.
For years the gingerbread exhibition drew visitors from across the region and each year the model town grew more elaborate and ambitious but recently, interest has been dwindling. The gingerbread grotto needs to be rehomed or close forever.
Sixty-four-year-old Margi, the event’s founder, has had enough of village life (and its total lack of eligible men) and is planning to sell up and head to Birmingham to live closer to her niece.
She has lost her spark and her Christmas spirit and decides this will be her last gingerbread village, but despairs when she finds her only support is her old friend, Izzy, her niece Lucy from Birmingham, and Fern, the shy young farmer’s daughter. Oh, and Patrick, the gorgeous, reliable school caretaker.
As if this wasn’t enough, Lucy is determined to get her out dating again and persuades her to try some online dating apps but Margi’s had her heart broken too many times and wonders if she has just missed her chance.
Can they save the Gingerbread Grotto and can Margi get her old spark and her Christmas spirit back?
A cosy, totally feelgood seasonal read that will have you smiling. The perfect read to snuggle up and have you feeling festive! Fans of Jenny Colgan and Trisha Ashley will love this book.
Purchase Links
AMZ: https://amzn.to/3pp47uW Apple: https://bit.ly/3nM5iUG Kobo: https://bit.ly/3nKIbdl
Author Bio –
Kiley Dunbar is a Scot living over the border in Northern England where she teaches English and creative writing, devours romance novels, fusses over Amos the Bedlington Terrier, and loves two little Dunbars. She thinks making imaginary people find happiness and fall in hopelessly in love has to be the best job in the world.
Social Media Links –
‘Kiley Dunbar Author Book Page’ on Facebook
website and newsletter: http://www.kileydunbar.co.uk/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI8wM4Fmkbyg4S_XGSnfUCA
https://www.facebook.com/KileyDunbarAuthor/
