First meeting the people of Shipley in The Beachside Sweet Shop, I couldn’t wait to get back. Now meet Lily, she’s just (on a whim fueled by a relationship loss that spilled over into her work) who has impulse-bought the cottage on Maple Hill that was previously owned by a former model-turned activist who caused no end of strife. Desperate to fit in and become part of the neighborhood, she’s attended the Christmas Decoration and Lighting Committee meeting, and soon finds herself offering up one of her best friend’s famous clients light the tree in a couple of weeks.

Enter Ollie, shamed posh reality bad-boy who happens to be full of flash and not much substance, and his cameraman/best friend Craig. With plenty of charm and even more warnings, Lily is worried about impressions, fitting in, Ollie’s happiness so the lighting will go over well, and withstanding some intriguing moments with Craig. From the return of Doris Day, to her mother’s sharing of Lily’s trauma: a ‘separated’ man who went back to his wife, and wife showing up to berate her in front of a classroom full of 5 year olds, to her subsequent firing, and her nebulous desire to write a ‘novel’ Lily has plenty to deal with. But, suspicions over a neighbor’s infidelity, Ollie’s erratic behavior, her own inability to pen anything more than trite garbage and an offer from the local primary school for a position, she’s truly got plenty to sort out.

Karen Clarke again brings laughter, real situations and some over the top conflict to the story, as she directs us through Shipley and the characters take over. Finding some peace for Lily in her choices, and her finding roots, happiness and a new start are the goals, but along the way she finds more direction, purpose and some solid friends who accept her and the craziness that came with Ollie, and a sense of peace that comes from having a place in this world. A wonderful story in this series, funny, heartfelt and even a bit outrageous (or maybe not so considering some relations) perfect for the holidays!

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at <a href=” http://wp.me/p3OmRo-9q8/”> <a> I am, Indeed </a>

I didnt enjoy this as much as the others. Not sure why. Good story thoigh and enjoyable. Good characters.

I just loved The Beachside Christmas and this instalment of the Beachside Bay series. I can admit to having loved them all but let’s talk about the recent instalment.
We meet Lily who has recently moved into the village and who is trying to make friends with her new neighbours and Ollie ‘a celebrity’ who as a favour to Lily comes to Shipley to turn on the Christmas lights and judge the best house with outside Christmas display.
As you can probably imagine it doesn’t quite go to plan.
Have a read you will love it.
An easy to read book that will cheer you up now that Winter is on its way.

Please don’t hate me but this is the first of Karen Clarke’s books that I have read. I have her other two Beachside books on my ever increasing ‘To Be Read’ pile but I just haven’t got round to reading them. Well I now know just what I have been missing and reading the other two books in the series are one of my top reading priorities.
As I always say I don’t want to write too much about the storylines as I have an unintentional but nasty habit of giving away far too many details about books I have enjoyed. Lily Ambrose suffers a break up in the relationship with her married boyfriend. The break up gets messy and has consequences for Lily. To escape the trauma of the break up and the ensuing drama, Lily decides that she needs to get away and go somewhere for a fresh start. Lily fondly remembers childhood holidays in Shipley, so she decides to move there. Spirits are low in Shipley because the local celebrity who was supposed to switch on the Christmas lights has gone on his holidays instead. In an attempt to ingratiate herself with her new neighbours, Lily calls in a favour from a friend and promises that she will find them a celebrity. The only celebrity that is available is a reality television star called Ollie. Although the people of Shipley are initially thrilled to have secured a real star, opinions soon change. Ollie just seems uncontrollable. He offends everybody, forgets the name of the place and he declare that the lights are tacky. The handsome but stubborn cameraman called Craig tries to help but even he can’t stop Ollie and his determination to stage a romance with Lily. Can Lily bring Ollie back under control? Will Lily have a Christmas kiss under the mistletoe? Will Lily be able to bring back Christmas spirit to the residents of Shipley? Well for the answers to those questions and more you are just going to have to read the book for yourselves as I am not going to tell you.
I have to say that I really took to Lily right from the start of the book. Following the messy break up of her relationship with a married man, Lily has been humiliated in front of the children she teaches, she has lost her teaching career and she has lost the respect of those she worked with. I completely understood the need for her to go somewhere to recover in private and to lick her wounds so to speak. Lily has lost a lot of her self esteem too. I so wanted to jump into the pages to defend Lily in the face of such hostility (mainly from the wife of the married man) and remind people that it takes two to tango. Lily is rather nervous to be starting afresh somewhere where she knows nobody but the people she meets in Shipley soon put her at ease. Lily thinks that she needs to impress her new neighbours which is why she promises to find them a elebrity to switch on the lights. Lily is a friendly lady who is also very funny. More than once, I found myself chuckling along at something that she had done. Lily is keen to leave the world of teaching behind and become an author but I am not sure that her heart is really in writing. By the time the book had finished I felt that Lily was almost real and that I almost considered her to be a friend.
In my opinion ‘The Beachside Christmas’ is beautifully and realistically written. ‘The Beachside Christmas’ came along at the right time for me. I was suffering a flare up in my chronic back pain and I needed a feel good tale, which would make me laugh and which would distract me from the pain I was in. ‘The Beachside Christmas’ certainly ticks those boxes. Reading this book became seriously addictive and I found that I just couldn’t put the book down. It was almost as if the book had glued itself to my hand. The pages were turning that quickly that it was almost as if they were turning themselves and before I knew it I had finished the book, which I was so disappointed about because I wanted the story to continue, as I was enjoying it so much. The story was so well written that I felt I was an invisible bystander to all the action. I wanted to leap into the pages of the book to remonstrate with certain people and to slap certain others around the face with a wet flip flop.
In short and if you haven’t already guessed, I absolutely LOVED ‘The Beachside Christmas’ and I can’t wait to read more books in this series. Whilst waiting for the next instalment, I will just content myself with reading the first two books in the series. To me, this series is a must read series and I can’t recommend it highly enough. I award this book 5* out of 5* but I would have awarded it more stars if I could have because I really enjoyed it that much.

I’m sorry, I just couldn’t get into this book. It just started out too slow. The characters didn’t seem interesting to me.

What a throughly enjoyable Christmas novel. The cover for this book was enough to make me want to read it, well - that and the fact that I really love Karen Clarke's other books! The use of the presents, the Christmas tree and the snowman is beautiful and I just love it. There's something about them that just have the right amount of everything you're looking for.

Humour? Check. Romance? Check. Drama? Check. And in this case, a big lump of Christmas festivities. Check! When I knew this book was going to be set in Shipley like the rest, I was thrilled. I was even more happy to see some familiar faces peep up throughout the book as well. Although this book is set with the same characters as the last two, you do not need to read them before this one. The Beachside Christmas could easily be read as a standalone.

I loved every character - and although Craig comes across as grumpy, I was praying for Lily to notice him the same as everyone else was! I was very happy with the ending (and you probably will be too) and it left me feeling all warm and fuzzy and excited for Christmas! The story involves a Christmas Lights Competition so this story was right up my street - I love Christmas lights!

Overall, a really lovely and lighthearted Christmas story. Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for a chance to read this novel which I have reviewed honestly.

Lily has moved to the small seaside town of Shipley. She had to leave her former position as an elementary teacher when her former lover's wife came into the classroom and had a fit. Being called all kinds of names in front of her class is not a way to teach by example.
Although things were not as they appeared, Lily decided to start her life over. She chose Shipley because of the wonderful memories of family visits there when she was a child.
She has purchased a small cottage and even met some neighbors.
The neighbors believe in two things. First, they need a celebrity who can turn on the lights on the town's Christmas tree. Second, the Christmas lighting contest is one of the most important things at this time of year. And the intense competition to win means that no holds are barred. Whoever lights the town's tree will also select the winner of the lighting contest. The town wants a celebrity who can do double duty.
Lily's best friend is an agent representing various celebrities. So, Lily volunteers to find a celebrity. How difficult could it be?
Since no money will change hands, it is not easy to find a celebrity willing to show up and turn on the tree lights.
But, then things all work out. Lily can have Ollie. He was on a reality show, but he got kicked off. He hit someone. He wants to show the world what he can do about starring in a new reality show. Ollie and his cameraman, Craig, will spend some time going around the village speaking to people and showing how very well loved Ollie is.
Lily is a funny woman. She has never really gotten over the death of her father and Shipley brings back memories of all his wonderful qualities. She has determined she will give up teaching permanently and start to write a novel. She has no idea how to do that. And she loved teaching. When she meets her new neighbors, she wants to fit in, so she goes along with nearly everything that anyone says. Only rarely does she actually speak up and say what she really thinks. But, when she does it is impressive.
When Ollie and Craig show up early, they find Lily half naked and very drunk. And things go down hill from there. They are staying at Lily's home although she does not even have an extra bed.
On the surface, Ollie seems to be a very handsome ego attached to a lovely body. But, things are not always as they seem. He goes off on tangents and says things that should never be voiced out loud. His sense of style seemed to have died a violent death a long time ago. But, he is generous and kind and very loyal. He simply gets easily carried away.
Craig is an unknown factor. He is a good friend to Ollie. He is a talented cameraman and able to build a fire. He also cooks. He seems to be the only person capable of pointing Ollie in the right direction when needed.
Ms Clarke has created another funny story in Shipley.
If you plan to move to Shipley, be prepared to deal with unusual people. The secondary characters are wonderful. Everyone has their own personal agenda. Some much more unusual than others. And all of them believe strongly in how the Christmas light contest should be handled. The longer I read moving to Shipley seemed like a really good idea.
There are moments when the reader will snicker or giggle or absolutely laugh out loud. Ms Clarke seems to be able to create moments that are so ridiculous there is no other option but to laugh.
Although this is part of a series, it easily stands alone. The plot is fun to follow, the characters are amusing and interesting. In short this is a fun read and just right for the Christmas season.
I received this book from the publisher through NetGalley. I am voluntarily writing this review. All opinions are my own.

An absolute joy to read; uplifting, engaging and with hilarious characters to guarantee a smile on your face throughout.
This book, though set with some of the same characters and setting as the previous Beachside books, can be read as a stand alone novel without any confusion.
There were perhaps, at the beginning of the book, the odd conflicting/confusing sequence issues that I think could have done with better editing but the second half of the book especially was spot on romcom magic.
A fun, uplifting festive read!

Lily needs a fresh start and she buys a house in Shipley, a town where she spent many happy holidays as a child, with her family. How do you get to know your neighbours? Get involved with as many activities as you can, including volunteering to find someone to turn on the Christmas lights.

Next thing we know, Ollie and his cameraman Craig turn up, thanks to Lily's friend Erin who is his agent (and Ollie has done a few dodgy things in the public sphere and needs some good publicity, pronto). Ollie is like an overenthusiastic puppy - he is just clueless, and Craig spends all his time trying to steer him in the right direction. The interactions between all of these characters, as well as the secondary ones, are funny, poignant sometimes and just spot on. I like that the author refers back to characters from her other books which are also set in Shipley, which is lovely when you have read them (although this book is definitely a standalone).

All in all, this novel is a fantastic light read which will make you laugh out loud and will give you you hours of reading pleasure.

I give it 4.5 stars, highly recommended :)

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture.

How I love this series as my jaw literally aches from laughing, not chuckling but proper laugh out, make my eyes run laughing. I listen to my books while I walk to work so now I have gone from being the book lady to the one that looks like she has lost the plot! I couldn’t help it and I couldn’t control it or hold it back. What looks I got. The bonus was it is the first time that I got a table to myself in the canteen.
This is a feel good Christmas story and the seaside town of Shipley is buzzing. It isn’t just the children that are excited, each year the people of Maple Hill have a competition for the best decorated house and let me tell you from the seriousness of these competitors I am sure that Shipley would be able to be seen from any orbiting space ship. But for every competition it requires a judge, not an easy task with so many keen participants that are eager to win. Hence the departure of last year’s judge as he makes a swift exit on a slow boat to anywhere that heads away from the maddening crowd as quickly as possible.
Enter new resident Lily Ambrose desperate to make a good impression on her new neighbours so quickly uses her connections to acquire someone famous to judge the competition.  I loved Lily from the start especially as she was often the direct cause of a lot of my laughing. Being accepted into this community means such a lot to the emotionally battered 30-year-old Lily. Just loved the writing scenes by Lily, Just brilliant.
Karen Clarke has created a series that literally keeps you going through from spring to summer to winter, a book for most of the seasons and I hope that a fourth can just fill that niche. It was lovely to find some of the characters crossing over between the other books too. Brilliant story and one that happens in many towns at christmas time with characters that remind you of people you know. There are some lovely visual scenes described that just stick round in your mind way after you finish reading too. Loved it!

Even though I am super happy to be back in Shipley, I am also quite sad that Karen Clarke's series has come to an end. I'll fully admit that I wasn't too sure on the series to begin with when it started with 'The Beachside Sweet Shop', but when the second book 'The Beachside Flower Stall' was released, I found myself falling head over heels in love with the magic of Shipley. Whilst all three books in this series can be read as standalone novels, I would recommend reading all of them in order, purely so that you don't miss out on any of Shipley's magic. Each storyline has its own central character which you may recognise from previous storylines and, luckily for us,  all three books are interlinked in some way or another which, in my opinion, makes the community spirit shout loud and proud. 

Lily is determined to create a new life for herself in Shipley after her old life went disastrously wrong. The only downside to her new beginning is that she doesn't know anyone, and all of her neighbours are extremely close-knit and involved in neighbourly duties. Will Lily be able to become 'one of them'? Lily is determined to make her new neighbours like her, so she decides to go above and beyond for her new village. Little does she know how much of a fine line she will be walking on, just to make the residents happy. As long as her gesture doesn't blow up in her face.....right?

I absolutely LOVED Ollie. I could tell from a mile off that when Lily's friend recommended Ollie to her, that the entire scenario wasn't going to be at all plain sailing and, as weird as this sounds, I was super excited to find out what trouble Ollie would bring to the village of Shipley. Put it this way, that man is absolutely bonkers! I found Ollie's friend (and cameraman), Craig, to be such a dark horse and, whilst Ollie seemed to steal the show as it were, I found myself leaning more towards Craig. It was though he kept his cards close to his chest. What was he hiding?

As the storyline unfolded, Lily's personality shined like a beacon, making her grow into herself and take charge of her life. I really did love how we were able to grow with the main character during the story, it was as though Lily became even more relatable as time went on. 

'The Beachside Christmas' wasn't just the Ollie show, the neighbours each had their own parts to play in this story, and my goodness what memorable characters they are! Such unique and fun individuals, there really is a neighbour who ticks every single box.

Even though Ollie wants to shine bright like a diamond and overpower everyone else, he had me in hysterics more times than I could count due to his antics! Hats off to Karen Clarke for being able to include so many vibrant and different characters in one book. I was surprised (in a good way) that the romance involved in this novel was gradual and more natural, as opposed to being straight away and unrealistic. Absolutely brilliant.


Karen Clarke's series, in my eyes, has gotten better with each book. 'The Beachside Christmas' has got to be my most favourite story from the series due to its relatable, loveable, and utterly bonkers nature which was destined to make me laugh from page one. 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading 'The Beachside Christmas'. So many heart-warming, humorous, and loveable moments under one book cover. What more could you want? Personally, Karen Clarke's latest novel ticked every single box and I feel blessed to have been able to read such a huggable, festive treat. Just like the Christmas lights on all of Lily's neighbours houses, 'The Beachside Christmas' will forever light up my heart. Thank you for the memories, Shipley! It's been an absolutely pleasure.

Heart-warming, cosy, festive and utterly divine, 'The Beachside Christmas' is perfect for getting you in the Christmas spirit...even in September.

Thanks Bookouture.

This is the third book in a series, I read and loved the first two, The Beachside Sweetshop and The Beachside Flower Stall and while you can easily read them each as standalones, I wouldn’t recommend doing so. Each book is set in Shipley and features new central characters but every book is such a fun, feel good read that you would be seriously missing out!

This one focuses on Lily, a new resident to town who is so excited to be moving somewhere new until she realizes that the town isn’t quite as welcoming as she had hoped and she somehow finds herself offering to let a reality star and his cameraman stay with her. Things quickly get out of hand as Ollie is almost as quirky as her new neighbors and she realizes her new simple life will be anything but.

One of my favorite things about this series is that though each book features new characters you still get to check in on the ones from previous books which is always fun and a bit like catching up with old friends. Two of my old favorites, Jane and Doris Day are back and both are as hilarious as ever. These books are laugh out loud funny, there are countless hilarious scenarios that make me giggle just thinking about them now.

Lily was a lovely lady and just as relatable and lovable as all of the characters that Clarke creates. Once again, I felt like I took a mini vacation to Shipley, one full of plenty of laughs and heartwarming moments. There was definitely romance here as well, but none of that annoying instant love, it was gradual and felt so realistic and genuine. I just love Christmas books and as the weather here is finally cooling down it was the perfect read to get me thinking about the holidays, I’m like a little kid I get so excited just planning for Christmas!

I absolutely LOVED this book!!  I am a massive fan of Karen's books and an even bigger fan of Christmas so combine the two together and this was always going to be a hit with me!  I flew through the book immersing myself in this fun and light-hearted tale -it had me giggling and tittering away from the start!  The characters were great and worked so well together, the writing style was spot on as I expected and I am now feeling more than ready for Christmas - but I do feel inspired to maybe get a few more lights!!
This is billed as a heart-warming and uplifting read about friendship, romance, and Christmas spirit. Perfect for fans of Phillipa Ashley, Cathy Bramley, and Debbie Johnson and it has a fantastically festive five shiny stars from me - loved it! You can grab your copy on the links below - definitely recommending this one!

The Beachside Christmas is a pleasant little festive read. Lily Ambrose needs a fresh start and after remember happy family times in the seaside town of Shipley, she buys a small cottage there and tries to settle in with the locals.

Wanting to make new friends, she offers to find a celebrity to turn on the towns Christmas lights, but when Ollie and his cameraman Craig arrive, things don't go to plan. Can Lily bring the festive cheer back to Shipley?

I read this book over a couple of days and found it to be well written and enjoyable. I liked the way the main characters interacted and how the story unfolded. I would give this book 3.5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and the author for the chance to review.

Thank you to Bookouture for my copy of this book via Netgalley. I have really come to love Shipley so I couldn't think of a better place to spend Christmas. This is the third book in the series but can be read as a standalone.

Lilly fled to Shipley after her relationship with ended badly. Her neighbours are hosting their annual Christmas lights competition the only problem is they don't have a judge. Lilly offers to find a celebrity judge for them.

Ollie is a whole bunch of trouble but he brings Craig the cameraman with him. Craig is pretty closed off at first but after a few days Lilly helps to break down those walls.

Lilly's mum was quite a character I found her very entertaining.

This is a feel good book but does discuss some important issues which is a theme I have noticed in Karen's books. I like that there is a serious element to her stories.

Karen has written a festive hug of a book filled with laughter and warmth. It was great to be back in Shipley again and  I look forward to seeing what else Karen brings us in the future.

This is a happy light read that combines two wonderful things- Dorset and Christmas. Lily has arrived in Shipley, which is her happy place, after some tough times. She volunteers to help with the Christmas celebration and, much to her surprise, finds herself dealing with Ollie, who is a bit over the top reality star. Is Ollie going to be her true love? What about James, the cameraman? Hmmmm. There really weren't any surprises for me here but I enjoyed it. I kept remembering that my most recent "experience" with Dorset had been Broadchurch! So much more fun this is... Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. You'll like it for the romance and the cheer.

Having read book 1 and book 2 to the Beachside Bay series, and enjoyed both of them immensely, and then hearing that book 3 was going to be a Christmas themed one, well I just knew that I had to read it. I absolutely adore Christmas books, always full of Christmas traditions, and festive things and this one certainly didn’t disappoint.

It was a truly delightful and enjoyable read from start to finish, there were a fair few funny moments throughout the story which had me giggling out loud, especially the scene where Lily and Ollie meet for the first time and also the various antics that little Marmite got up too, he is certainly a unique character.

I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know all of the characters, but especially seeing how Lily dealt with the changes and obstacles that she had to contend with and how she developed as a character throughout the story.

This can be read as a standalone book, so no worries if you haven’t read book 1 or book 2 if you happen to pick this one up first, which is truly perfect as a Christmas read. However with that said, don’t forget to read books 1 and 2 at some point as they are wonderful reads in their own very special way and you wouldn’t want to miss out, trust me on that.

Do you love Christmas? The Beach? A funny story that will warm your heart and leave your belly hurting from laughter? This is the story of clean starts, holiday cheer, and romance. I enjoyed Ollie, Craig, and Lily, the angst as well as the developing romance/friendship gives way to a heartfelt message of the season. Very nice!

Despite the name I didn't think this book is overly Christmas so perfect for reading any time of year.
I loved the main character Lily and she is the kind of person who you can't help warming too. Well written, witty and easy to read.

Looking forward to reading the other books set in this seaside town.