What a lovely book this was!! I love this author’s books, but this one has to be my favourite! Set in both Stockholm and the little English village of Middledip, I was treated to an abundance of loveliness featuring the characters of Hannah Anna Goodbody and Nico Petterssen. Hannah bumps into Nico, an old family friend, whilst she is living in Stockholm with her boyfriend, Albin. Her relationship with Albin isn’t going very well and when she sees Nico, she realises why she used to have a crush on him when she was younger. Their paths cross again at a family wedding, and she finds herself becoming attracted to him. Nico, on the other hand has family problems of his own when he finds himself looking after an extra child.

This was such a wonderful book. I loved Hannah’s character and could really connect with her character and storyline! I hated to see her struggling with her business and relationship, and really didn’t like her boyfriend Albin one little bit! When the opportunity to return home to the village of Middledip arose, I really hoped she jumped at it! Whilst Stockholm sounded fabulous, it was obvious Hannah needed to return home! I also loved Nico’s character! An old friend of Hannah’s brother, Nico is carrying a lot of baggage around with him. He lives with his daughter, Josie but is finding that his ex-wife is having trouble coping when Josie is staying with her. He’s comes across as such a caring man, but as the story moved on, I began to wonder if he has bitten off more than he can chew. The one thing that was blatantly obvious was that there was a spark between Nico and Hannah, and I loved their journey to find out if that spark could be reignited!

The other characters all fitted into the storyline perfectly! I loved Nan Heather, and the two young girls Josie and Maria were just so sweet! The locations were also delightful with Stockholm definitely being my favourite!! I’ve never been, but it sounds like somewhere I should go, particularly around Christmas time! Middledip is also quaint little English village, and again with the festivities around Christmas it definitely gave me images of a snowy picture postcard! There were many topics covered within the book, which made the story the perfect all-rounder. Whilst there were some more serious topics of eating disorders, relationship breakdowns and mental health problems, there was also lots of love, laughs and fun. It was a warm-hearted, emotional and joyful storyline which brought tears to my eyes at times and made me laugh out loud at others! I felt like I knew all the characters personally by the end of the book and was genuinely sad to finish it! If you are looking for a beautiful Christmas romance, then look no further! A fabulous read and I would heartily recommend it!

What a fabulous story!
Sue Moorcroft is such a fantastic author, she always manages to capture those really heart-breaking moments in life.
I was totally captivated by this story and went through all the emotions that I am sure other readers experienced too.
Absolutely brilliant, up there with one of the best Christmas books I have read.

I received this book via netgalley and give it my honest opinion.

This book is like a warm snuggle in front of a log fire! I loved it! It was a dream to read, the characters were true to life and I could visualise the scenes. I recommend this read and I personally think it is one of Sue Moorcrofts best books yet!

I wanted to like this book. I really did. But between the British terms and the Scandinavian terms and language, I felt a tiny bit lost. Add in the eating disorder and I just couldn't. It felt too close to home. Clearly a very necessary topic and I know that this touches men and women. I couldn't get past the first few chapters even though I tried.

This was the perfect read to start for the upcoming holiday months! I hadn't heard of Sue Moorcroft before, and now I know I will be looking for her titles for the future!

Christmas Wishes was just a nice feel good love story. Of course, there are some sad moments along the way, and moments when you're just rooting for the characters NOT to mess up, but in the end, everyone got together in a way that I as the reader wanted them to be :)

Hannah is currently living with Albin in Sweden, in his expensive apartment. She runs her own boutique, and one day meets one of her brother's childhood friends, Nico, and they share a meal together. Hannah, judging by his demeanor, thinks he looks unkept and homeless. Turns out, Nico suffered from an eating disorder after his failed marriage with Loren. Both Hannah and Nico agree that their lunch left them with wanting more.

Luckily, Hannah's older brother, Rob, who is also friends with Nico from their ice hockey days, is getting married in a few weeks. Hannah and Nico are in attendance.

However, a wrench is thrown into the plan, when Nico goes to visit his ex-wife Loren, since he has sole custody of their daughter, Josie. Part of the reason why their marriage failed was because Loren cheated on him with another man, and got pregnant with Maria--WHAT?! Crazy! We discover that Loren has a drug and alcohol problem, and Nico ends up taking care of the two girls, and bringing them to the wedding.

Some other exciting things happen in this novel, but I won't spoil the rest of it. In a year that has been so uncertain for everyone, this was a wonderful and light read for me. I cannot wait to see what else Moorcroft has in store for the future!

The story starts in Sweden in mid October. Hannah is living her dream – she lives with her rich boyfriend in a swanky apartment, she has her dream business and she loves living in Sweden. One cold day, an old friend of her brother’s (Nico) breezes into her shop and they rekindle their friendship over lunch. A few weeks later and Hannah is back in the UK for her brother’s wedding, her boyfriend has stayed behind in Sweden and she is questioning the future of her relationship. Upon her return to Sweden, the rug is pulled from under her and she finds herself back in England sooner than she had anticipated. Meanwhile, Nico finds himself trying to juggle being a single dad, working full-time, his expensive mortgage and a difficult situation with his ex-wife and her illegitimate child – he decides to take drastic action!

I really loved watching the story unfold – especially the warm relationship between Hannah and her family and between Nico, his daughter Josie and her sister Maria. The jumps between Sweden and England (sometimes in dialogue and traditions, other times a physical move between the two countries) are fantastic and are really well researched. I found myself putting Stockholm on my list of places to visit once ‘this’ is finally over!! The scenes with Nico’s family are really heartwarming and their acceptance of his unusual circumstances was really well written.

Interestingly, one of my most used pieces of advice appeared in this book: “Put your own oxygen mask on first”. Very sound advice!

This book is a really lovely, Christmassy story – it ticks all the boxes: Snow, family, community, high drama, romance, travel (drug addiction, child neglect, eating disorders….). Definitely a book I will come back to again next year to get me in the mood for Christmas. Now, who’s for a hot chocolate?

I absolutely love Sue Moorcroft's Christmas books, they make me feel so festive and Christmas Wishes was no different. It was a sweet festive read that had me engrossed throughout. This was another wonderful read.

This is only my second visit to Middledip but has made me want to read the other books set there also.

Hannah Anna has everything she has ever dreamt of she owns a gift shop in Stockholm And it is coming to the busiest time of year when everything starts to go wrong and this brings her back to Middledip. At the same time Hannah’s brothers best friend from school Nico is having a hard time with work and his ex wife so when he meets Hannah again at her brothers wedding they reconnect and find an instant attraction but nothing is ever straightforward and there are many hurdles to get over.

With a lovely Christmassy feel and also made me want to visit Sweden at Christmas. Such a lovely festive read

A lovely book featuring Hannah and Nico. It was good to read a book equally written about both characters (male and female).

Hannah and Nico knew each other in childhood and Hannah meets him again when running a shop in Sweden. Nico often travelled to Sweden for work and his relatives live there so Sweden and the traditions if the country etc feature in this book.

Their lives are turned upside down and they both return to the village of Middledip. What will the future bring?

Sue Moorcroft does Christmas reads so well. This story of Hannah and Nico had me rooting for their happy ending, and the wintry Christmas setting was so lovely. I can heartily recommend Sue Moorcroft's books.

This was a really cozy Christmas romance. I loved the small village feeling and the characters. Being Swedish I really appreciated the way the Swedish culture was written, although there were some Swedish sentences that I feel is old fashion as I don’t hear anyone actually say it anymore.

Even though I loved the cozy feelings of the book I wasn’t to keen on the whole instalove. It felt like they went from just meeting each other again to suddenly loving each other.

But overall I really did enjoy it. I might pick up some of Sue Moorcrofts other Christmas novels in the future.

Thank you netgalley for allowing me early access to this. This was the perfect book to snuggle up with and read on a cold day. I loved the story, the characters & everything about this! Definitely a must read! I look forward to reading more from this author as well.

A really lovely heartwarming feelgood festive story. This book will definitely help you get into the festive mood,

This was a very cute story about two people who, amid life's crazy circumstances, manage to reunite after a wedding.

I thought this story was cute. The setting was very charming and quaint. I really enjoyed the village feel. I also enjoyed the characters. Nan Heather was wonderful, and I reminded me of my own grandmother. Nico was so kind and loving and Hannah was so hard working. I adored Maria and Josie! Their enthusiasm was infectious. The only negative for me was, I felt like the beginning was a bit slow, and it didn't start to pick up in pace until about halfway through.

All in all, this was a charming and heartwarming story that will get you in the Christmas spirit.

A lovely, charming book for those longer, wintry nights.
See full blurb and review below.
Thanks to Ellie Pilcher at Avon Books for accepting my request to review.

Review

This is a charming story that takes readers into the brother and sister relationship of Rob and Hannah. Hannah runs a shop and within it one day, is reunited with Nico, originally from Sweden, whom she had met in their teenage years in Cambridge, nearly 20 years ago with quite the high achieving family, yet time has perhaps not been so kind to him. Rob is getting married and so Nico found Hannah on Rob's request as Hannah is having boyfriend troubles with her partner - Albin. There's an interesting tension and romance that emerges between Hannah, Albin and Nico in this book that is set between Scandanavian countries and the UK, including to Middledip.

There are health issues that Loren is medicated for and life seems complicated between her, Josie and Maria and life isn't always easy and there are decisions to be made. This, however is still a book that readers can still easily relax into and while away the time and forget the outside world for a bit. There's the happy, excitement to the build-up to Christmas and secreting presents away from potential prying eyes. There's the humour of Hannah's 90 year old nan thinking other people are the old folk. I find it particularly humorous anyway, as an old relative of mine used to think like this. There's the lightness, warmth, traditions and buzz around getting prepared for Christmas as well as that bit of bite about the complexities of life and its emotions and it  all sits rather well together in this rather delightful Christmas story.

A quick, light and pleasant Christmas read, emotional and well written, great characters you connect with. Beautiful story and very Christmassy

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

The story is exciting, has emotion, and is a lot of fun to read. I could connect with the characters and enjoy with them.

Sue Moorcroft has written this wonderful novel so well and it has been a real pleasure to read and enjoy. this book. Very well researched as usual but the detail in this book shows how well it has been done. This is worth far more than the 5 stars that I am able to give and can't wait for Sues next novel to be released. I highly recommend you read and enjoy Christmas Wishes.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ATC in return for an honest review.

This enjoyable story set at Christmastime features Hannah, a British ex-pat living in Stockholm, running her own chic little boutique, but saddled with a nasty, piece of work boyfriend, and Nico, a Swedish ex-pat living in London, weighed down by the demands of both his high-powered job and his status as the custodial parent of his adorable 8 yr. old daughter. Hannah and Nico were acquainted in high school, when he moved to Britain with his hockey coach father and became best friends with her older brother, Rob, but they lost touch years before. When Nico reconnects with Rob, he asks Nico to drop in on Hannah on one of his many business trips to Stockholm as Rob is worried about her. Hannah and Nico's initial meeting sparks a connection between them that continues to grow through various personal and professional challenges, as they both find themselves back in Middledip, the small English village where Hannah grew up.

In the course of the book, both Hannah and Nico are faced with restructuring their personal and professional lives. Hannah, although competent and strong in her professional life, unfortunately, isn't the best at picking her partners, and has her lovely little shop in Stockholm basically stolen from her by her now ex-boyfriend. Cut adrift from her life in Stockholm, she moves back to Middledip to help her 90 YO granny. Meanwhile, Nico, who has struggled for much of his life with an eating disorder, takes responsibility for his ex-wife's 2 YO daughter in addition to their shared 8 YO as he's a stand-up kind of man who cannot turn his back on a child in need. When he finds that he can't manage single parent duties on top of his job, he unhesitatingly quits the job and moves to Middledip to concentrate on his little family's needs.

Hannah and Nico were well-matched in that both were kind, responsible, and unselfish. They didn't hesitate to do their best for others, even at their own expense. Their romance moved forward in fits and starts, based on a firm foundation of friendship. I loved the wintry, snowy feel of the book as well as the scenes set in Stockholm, and the Swedish holiday customs included. I also appreciated that the book dealt with Nico's struggle with his eating disorder in a factual but kind fashion.

Hannah and her brothers friend Nico reconnect in Sweden after many years, and their friendship develops.

When they both find themselves living in the same village back in England the friendship grows into something more.

This book deals with so many issues, addiction, eating disorder, the nuance of family connection. It was emotional and beautiful.

After all this craziness is over I’m off to Sweden to find my own Nico.