phillipa ashley – Book Dust Magic

Christmas in March: A Surprise Christmas Wedding by Phillipa Ashley #booklovers #BookBloggers #Christmas

A Surprise Christmas Wedding by Phillipa Ashley book cover

GIFTED / I know, I know. It’s March and I am reviewing a Christmas book. Well, it is a book that I have recently read, and since I am two years behind with my reviews, there will be Christmas stories reviewed on Book Dust Magic during whole year. I don’t mind it really (because Christmas stories are my favourite), and I hope neither are you.

I received this book via Netgalley, and I want to say thank you to the publisher, Avon Books UK.
A Surprise Christmas Wedding was published on November 26th 2020 and it has 400 pages.

About the book:

FROM GOODREADS / It’s been a year since Lottie’s fiancé walked out, leaving her heartbroken. But things start to look up when she lands her dream job at a beautiful Lake District estate, with a handsome groundskeeper for a neighbour.

So when Lottie is asked to organise a last minute Christmas wedding at Firholme, she can’t wait to get started. Until she meets the couple, and discovers that Connor, the man who broke her heart, is the groom-to-be.

As snow falls on the hills, can Lottie put aside her past to organise the perfect winter wedding? And will there be any festive magic left to bring Lottie the perfect Christmas she deserves?

Review:

Guys… This book was such a ride! The author didn’t shy away when it comes to put our main character, Lottie, in a difficult situation.

Just imagine working in a wedding residency, having to organize the wedding of an ex who’s cuts still hurt? Yeah, that is the fire Phillipa Ashley had put our Lottie in.

Apart from having to suffer along with her, I also had a lovely time reading about the place and of course, all the other characters, and witnessing love development between her and her (new) love interest, in this heartwarming story.

However, this is not just a light read, because it makes you think. It challenges you to consider how would you act, what would you say, what could you forgive, and what would you choose to forget, if you were in the character’s shoes.

The writing style was good and easy to follow, and it is obvious how the character has numeorus number of books written previously.

All the Christmas elements present in the story make it appropriate festive read (but if you’re like me, you can enyoj it any time of the year).

Overall, a really good book that I would deffinitely recommend.

Sunday Post (Weekly Wrap Up October 28th – November 3rd) #SundayPost #Blogging #WrapUp #Reading

Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

This meme was created for bloggers to spotlight posts they published in the week, as well as to talk about what they plan to write in the week that’s coming.

Sunday post is also great opportunity to showcase books we got in the week behind us.

Hi Guys,

It has been a while since I participated in Sunday Post meme. I’ve been lacking as a blogger for some time now, so I wanted to get back on track, and Sunday posts always make me stick to my schedule.

I know November only started, but I am already getting into Christmas mood. I signed up for HoHoHoRAT that starts this week (on Friday). I had so much fun participating last year so I didn’t want to miss it for the world!

I also signed up for the Secret Santa project on Twitter, #baublesandbooks .

As for my private life, I am mostly at home, enjoying books, The Hunting of Hill House, the Netflix show and playing with GiGi ( my cat).
I am 23 weeks pregnant now and I can feel the baby moving inside me, which is an experience!!

Last Week on Book Dust Magic:

I only had two blog posts.

Friday: I reviewed A Perfect Cornish Christmas by Phillipa Ashley
Saturday: I talked about books I read in October

Next Week on Book Dust Magic:

Upcoming reviews:

I will also talk about my plans for HoHoHo readathon, talk about products I use to prevent stretch marks and reveal gender of my baby.

Currently reading:

I am so happy to have an opportunity to read this new novel by Josie Silver, an author who wrote One Day in December. I only started it so it’s too early for me to say is it good or not, but my hopes are pretty high.
The book comes out next year, but I just couldn’t wait any longer.

That is it!
Let me know what’s been going on with you, what you’ve been reading or watching this week and feel free to leave your links so I can visit you.
Have a lovely Sunday!

The one about family… and love: A Perfect Cornish Christmas by Phillipa Ashley #Christmas #WomensFiction #BookLovers #Cornwall

GIFTED / Today I want to talk about one beautiful Christmas novel that I have read some time ago. It was actually my first Christmas read of the year, but I had to wait with my review so I could post it around it’s release day.
A Perfect Cornish Christmas was published yesterday (October 31st 2019) by Avon, and it has 400 pages.
I I have read an eARC I received via Netgalley in an exchange for an honest review.

About the book:

FROM GOODREADS / Christmas in Cornwall is just around the corner…

But after last Christmas revealed a shocking family secret, Scarlett’s hardly feeling merry and bright. All she wants this Christmas is to know who her real father is.
So Scarlett heads to the little Cornish town of Porthmellow, where she believes the truth of her birth is hidden. She just didn’t bargain on being drawn into the Christmas festival preparations – or meeting Jude Penberth, whose charm threatens to complicate life further.
Everything will come to a head at Porthmellow’s Christmas Festival … But can Scarlett have the perfect Christmas this year, or are there more surprises on the way?

Review:

Phillipa Ashley was on my to-be-read list of authors for some time, so I am so glad that A Perfect Cornish Christmas was the first novel by her that I have read, because I really enjoyed it.

If you know me, you know Christmas stories are my absolutely favourite, and I can proudly say that I am happy that I have opened the season with this one.

Going into A Perfect Cornish Christmas I had no idea if it was a standalone or part of the series. It definitely read as a standalone, but then again, I know that Ashley has another book called A Perfect Cornish Summer so I believe they are companion novels (someone should update it to Goodreads, so we’d know!).

This story follows two sisters; Scarlett and Ellie. Since the story centres mostly around Scarlett, I would say she is our main character, but because we do get to follow the story from Ellie’s perspective as well, I’d say she is our second main character.
The story is written in third person.

When it comes to genres, I’d say that A Perfect Cornish Christmas is women’s fiction, or even general fiction with romance in it.
In the first place the story talks about family, and complicated relationships between people. It covers some serious topics that are result of people choices, and how they effect other’s lives.
It also talks about belonging and how it impacts us as beings, how it defines who we really are.

Romance is also part of this book and we get to follow two romance developments, one for each sister.

The third important part of the story, in my opinion, is Christmas itself. The setting, food, snow… basically everything that happens around Christmas time, and in this novel, there is a Christmas festival that takes place and is also nice addition to the fable.

I liked most of the characters, and disliked some that were negative ones.
The only character I simply couldn’t understand was Scarlett and Ellie’s mother. I don’t understand how could she kept quiet about everything even after the truth came to light.
I also had hard time understanding their father and his choice to stay with her in the same house while she was acting that way.

The only downside of the novel is that there are lots of repetitions and I felt like I was reading a 500 pages long book, when in reality it has 400 pages.

Overall, I think A Perfect Cornish Christmas is the one to curl up with during winter, so I recommend it to women’s fiction lovers.

Books I read in September (Monthly Reading Wrap Up) #BookBloggers #BookLovers #Reading #September

Hi Guys,

I had pretty awesome month in September, reading wise. I got slumpish closer to the end, but I am still happy with the amount of books that I have read.
I managed to finish 12 books, and three of them were chapter books. Nine were novels.

So here are the books I read:
(Click on the covers to read my reviews)