Published By: Canelo Hera
Pages: 320
Released On: 31/08/2023
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?
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Hera for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
Yes I am reading this in July when the rest of Europe is melting under 40+ temperatures and I’ve got a fan on because I’m too warm. So what a perfect time to read a Christmas book!
I could practically smell the gingerbread from the page. I love baking (even though I don’t do it as much now), and especially Christmas baking, so this was a major hit for me. The very idea of a small village at Christmas time, with the waft of freshly baked gingerbread…oh it’s just idyllic.
What I love is there’s space for every age group in this book. Margi isn’t old by any means – 60s – but we have people her age, people older, and people younger. It is a community where everyone is valued. And you don’t get many books that gives equal billing across characters like that. There’s also an underlying romance between a man in his 40s and a woman in her 60s and I loved that. If it was the other way round – and we frequently see that – no one would bat an eyelid. So it’s refreshing to see it the other way round and it be normal.
The whole cast of characters – Margi, Izz, Patrick, Fern, Lucy, Leo, Sully, Shell, and many more, are all fabulous. They’re diverse and they all go through their own transformations in this book, whilst still working perfectly around Margi’s main story.
This isn’t a one size fits all love story. There’s romantic love, both heterosexual and homosexual, friendship love, parental/guardian love, and a general love for yourself.
Kiley deals with potentially complex topics in society, such as older people and loneliness, relationships, breakups, age gaps, same-sex relationships, budgeting concerns, community breakdowns etc. in a sensitive way where they make sense in the story, but still seem appropriate for the reader. There just isn’t a scene or character or word out of place. Kiley is definitely one of my go-to authors for a warming happily ever after book.
I read it in a matter of hours. Once it grabs hold of you, you don’t want to leave until you’ve reached the end. My first Christmas book of the season (if you can count July as the start of the season) and it sets it up very nicely.
I don’t know if this is a standalone novel or if she’s thinking of expanding it into a n ew series. I can understand why it could be a one-off as it’s a satisfying and comforting ending. But equally, I would be more than happy to visit this village year after year.
Kiley’s books are so uplifting and this is no different. Whether you read it in the height of summer like I did, or save it for a cold winter’s night, it will wrap you up in a cozy hug and make you have a smile on your face constantly.
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