Published By: Bookouture
Pages: 306
Date Released: 29/09/2021
At Fox Farm, the village has gathered to decorate the ten-foot tree and carol the night away. Robins dart across frosty hedgerows and holly bushes are covered with ruby-red berries. But this year they will need an extra pinch of festive magic to keep Christmas alive…
Living at Fox Farm, with its cosy café, beautiful pottery studio and charming gift shop, is a dream come true for thirty-one-year-old Daisy. The kindly owner, Jean, and the close-knit village feel like the home and family Daisy has never had. She’s been looking forward to her first magical Christmas in the countryside.
When Jean suddenly falls ill, Daisy is the first to lend a hand. She ropes in Alex – Jean’s handsome but stubborn nephew – to help her. When the pair discover the farm is almost bankrupt, it seems like the annual Christmas celebrations will be cancelled. Alex and Daisy need a plan, and quickly, if they are to pull off Christmas against the odds and save Fox Farm.
From the get-go Daisy and Alex cannot agree on anything, from the mince pie recipe to the colour scheme for the tree. Soon, however, in true Christmas spirit, they find themselves coming together in the face of decorating disasters, tripping over each other at the holiday barn dance and tracking down a missing Santa Claus.
But when Daisy discovers the secret Alex is keeping about the future of Jean’s farm, will she run from the only place that has ever felt like home? Or will she find a way to save Christmas and the farm, and open her heart to a new beginning for her and Alex?
*****
Thanks to Bookouture for the advanced copy of this book in return for an honest review.
It’s beginning to look like Christmas, all across Fox Farm.
What I love about reading Christmas books in the summer is it gives me the perfect excuse to listen to carols at the same time and no one can judge me. I spent a whole day ignoring chores to read this as I just couldn’t put it down. It could warm you even on the coldest day of the year.
I’ve read many Christmas books and they all follow the same narrative – but that’s what I love about them; you can always rely on them to perk you up and keep you warm, comforted and entertained.
The main two characters of Alex and Daisy are such human characters with all their flaws, they’re so identifiable. The other secondary characters are all important in their own ways, but the one who stood out for me the most was 70+ year old Jean. She reminded me so much of my dear nan who died 5 years ago. There’s this warmth and love and strength that’s so inspiring.
I don’t need much encouragement to get excited for Christmas 4 months early, but the way Helen described the Christmas Day feast near the end of the book, was one of the best descriptions I’ve read since Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (and for some who collects different editions of A Christmas Carol, that is high praise).
Books By Your Bedside 