Tag Archive | Harper Collins

All Together For Christmas by Sarah Morgan

Oct23

An Imperfectly Perfect Christmas

All Together For Christmas by Sarah Morgan is her perfectly wonderful festive offering that I adored.

This is a book about family. Family can be messy. Family can be complicated. And it is also love that is the glue that holds the family together. The family in the book, meet together at the parent’s house for Christmas. It is a multi-generational household as there are elderly parents and grown-up siblings, and a dog. Everyone is battling problems, and everyone receives love.

Newly married Jamie’s wife, Hayley, has never had a family Christmas, and therefore his mum is determined to give her a Hallmark Christmas to remember. Hayley fears being an outsider but nothing is further from the truth.

Love has never been in short supply. “He’d never been without love in his life. And he’d never had to earn that love.” Love has been given unconditionally. This is strengthened by his sister’s thoughts on family. “Her family home. She felt a sense of security. It was nothing to do with the building… but the people. Her wonderful parents… Whatever had gone wrong in her life they’d been there to cushion the blow.” The parents provided a firm foundation of love for their children.

It is hard being a parent to adult children. “As a parent your job to let go, even when your instinct is to hold on.” Our children need to be given wigs to fly.

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The Second Chance Cinema Club by Thea Weiss

Oct23

Absolutely Charming

The Second Chance Cinema by Thea Weiss is an absolutely delightful contemporary book about love, memories and second chances. I read the book in just one sitting and am sad that it has ended.

The plotline is unique and extremely well executed. It is a bout looking into the past at edited highlights, sharing memories with your present partner, and being honest with each other. Lives cannot be built on lies. Where there is truth, lives will prosper.

Family is important. “My family didn’t have a lot of money, but… they knew how to make things special.” Family and the bonds of love which they share are beautiful to witness. There is a family whose foundation is love. Another character has lost her way, building her life on wealth and connections.

We see how a family is fractured following a tragic loss. Each family member has retreated into their own grief bubble. The grief journey never goes away. “People always say the grief fades, but I find it just evolves.”

Guilt goes hand in hand with grief. “I just can’t shake the guilt from all the tiny decisions that led to what happened.” Guilt is a part of grief with nowhere to go. It is destructive. A character needs to forgive herself for actions that were not her fault. “You need to give yourself permission to move on.” Moving on does not mean forgetting, but it is part of life.

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The Women Of Wild Hill by Kirsten Miller

Oct23

Entertaining

The Women Of Wild Hill by Kirsten Miller is a contemporary fantasy novel that I enjoyed. It is a departure from my usual genre but I found it very entertaining.

Kristen Miller has constructed a comprehensive plotline that is well executed.

As we follow the women of Wild Hill, we learn of their desire to protect women and to preserve the planet. There have been sacrifices in the past in order to enable the three to work together to save the planet – what this looks like no-one knows, not even the women.

For over four hundred years the women in the family have each received a gift. Some are happy with their gift, others are not. They are told “your two greatest gifts are exactly the same. The family and each other.” It is family first.

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Christmas At The Second Chance Supper Club by Caroline Roberts

Oct18

Love, Care & Community

Christmas At The Second Chance Supper Club by Caroline Roberts is a very charming contemporary Christmas novel that I loved. It is the second book in The Second Chance Supper Club series but can be read as a stand-alone. I recommend reading the books in order for character development and for timeline continuity as book two begins where book one ended.

Once more the reader returns to a small Northumberland village with familiar faces. Romance is still in the air but is complicated by strong, emotional ties to a late spouse. Grief isn’t a linear journey. There are peaks and troughs as a character looks backwards. He gives himself this advice. “Just to learn to be kind to himself. To see that he deserved a life after his loss.” Just as he is beginning to suppress his guilt and dip his toe in the waters of dating, grown up daughters’ step in to muddy the waters. I found a powerful scene that was reminiscent of the movie All That Heaven Allows where the grown-up children buy their mother (played by Jane Wyman) a television to keep her company, after they objected to her dating the handy man (played by Rock Hudson), whilst the children go about their lives. Grown children have the selfish gene, making it all about them, and their feelings, whilst never considering their father’s feelings.

In contrast, the son of a divorcee encourages his mother to have her own life but he still drives a six hour round trip to see his mother so she doesn’t wake alone on Christmas Day.

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