Imperfectly Perfect
Christmas At The Board Game Café by Jennifer Page is a most delightful Christmas contemporary novel that will warm your heart and leave you smiling. It is the fourth book in The Board Game Café series but can be read as a stand-alone.
This is the perfect book to read in the lead up to Christmas. It will get you in the mood for the festive season. This really is Christmas in a book.
Two Yorkshire villages are the delightful setting. As summer has given way to autumn, the tourists have dropped off. Something needs to be done to attract the visitors back again – enter the Advent Calendar Trail. What is it? Read the book and immerse yourself in the action. It educates, it stirs memories and it is downright hilarious. The scene with the baubles makes me snigger even now!
All the characters were well drawn, likable and believable. They offer a warm welcome to all, including the reader.
We see how the loneliest place can be amongst friends who are all couples, when you are single. It feels like being on the outside looking in. Christmas is a time that some people dread.
A character has struggled with loneliness for years. “Staying busy… keeping the loneliness at bay.” Sooner or later the busyness has to stop or we risk burn-out. Being single has been a way of protecting a heart from hurt but it is a heart that isn’t cherished due to the walls that have been erected around it.
We see how even into adulthood a character has been trying to be perfect because “I wanted to make her [mother] love me.” As a child we never really know just how our parents feel as they try to shield us. A narrative that a character made up as a teen has been forever believed by her – but it was never the truth. “People often go through life believing the stories they tell themselves, often without questioning whether these stories are actually true.” What is the truth? Could now be a good time to find out?
There is much love within the story. Love doesn’t just happen at Christmas it blossoms all year around. Love is not just found within couples but between families and friends too.
I absolutely adored Christmas At The Board Game Café. It is a festive hug in a book that you do not want to miss.
I received a free copy from Rachel’s Random Resources for a blog tour. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.
JULIA WILSON
Christmas at the Board Game Café
Kate seems to have it all – wonderful friends, a successful career and an idyllic life in the quirky Yorkshire town of Essendale. But under the surface Kate’s lonely, and she longs to feel part of a family – especially during Christmas.
With the holiday season fast approaching, and the town desperate to attract more visitors, Kate conceives a brilliant plan: an enchanting living Advent calendar. Each December evening, a captivating window display will be unveiled across town. With local businesses struggling, including her best friend’s board game café, she’s feeling the pressure.
But Kate’s picture-perfect plans take an unexpected turn when her ex-boyfriend arrives in Yorkshire, insisting on creating the Christmas Eve display. Can Kate trust him to deliver a show-stopping window? And can she finally put the past behind her and embrace the future she’s always dreamed of?
Purchase Link – https://amzn.eu/d/gNiOWja
Author Bio –
Jennifer Page wrote her first novel – a book about ponies – when she was eight. These days she prefers to write romance. When she isn’t writing, Jennifer can usually be found playing board games which are the inspiration for her first novel. She has worked as a television producer, a music teacher and has even run a children’s opera company. She now lives near Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire with her husband and his large collection of games.
Social Media Links –
https://www.facebook.com/JenniferPagewrites
https://www.instagram.com/jenniferpagewrites
