A lovely festive read, a book you want to keep reading, yet never want to reach the end. Another easy to read novel from Celia Anderson.

An all round good Christmas story. Love the children, Will and Desi. I feel it was a bit formulaic but did not detract from the story.

A tangled family struggling with loss, with careers jsut starting to reach for the stars and with old friendships perilously close to ruin, Mistletoe cottage brings a wealth of lovely characters together from very young to more mature but all trying their best to rub along and make a merry Christmas.
Centred around a family recipe book the story unfolds via baking, friendship and a warm kitchen and affirms that romance is not just for the nubile 20 somethings!
read with hot chocolate and a mince pie or two!

This was a very enjoyable book, a tale told of the lives, loves, losses and friendships of several generations of a family both past and present on the lead up to Christmas. The story develops round the cooking and preparations for Christmas and as a bonus, many of the delicious recipes cooked and baked as the story develops are added to the end of the book. A perfect happy read for the Christmas time of year. I’ll now go and try some of the recipes.

What a fantastic Christmas book.
We are welcomed onto mistletoe cottage and into Magda’s life. It’s very heartwarming to see how her live evolves over the weeks leading up to Christmas. And what a Christmas it turns out to be!
Also fabulous recipes at the end of the book which look delicious and easy to make so looking forward to trying those.
Well written and cosy

I liked the way the story unfolded with the flashbacks to Christmases past. It was a very honest book that explores the grief of losing a parent, and the guilt of being a parent. It was also very heartwarming to learn how Magda would find comfort in her Mum's recipes. Having recently lost a parent it was very thought provoking and made me reminisce about my own circumstances.

Overall it was a delightful, heartwarming and positive story, and it's even inspired me to attempt some of the recipes. Thanks to Net Galley for giving me the opportunity to review this book.

I love how this book was centred around Hope's recipe book and how this, as well as baking together, is central to the character's healing. The story flittered back and forth, filling in the gaps of Magda's past and how she struggled to bring up her son as a single parent, but I loved the friendship between Magda and Fliss, and her growing friendship with Den - particularly how the age gap was the other way and that it was pointed out that this does not matter, because it shouldn't!
There was something magical about the idea that the recipe book was speaking to Magda and I loved how she could smell all the different scents - it's made me want to write my own and do more baking with my own 5 year old twins!
A lovely, festive story that gives you all the feels!

**Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read an advanced e-copy of this book. All opinions are my own **

I love Celia Anderson books and this one is no exception. Full to the bring with heart, warmth, Christmas joy, sparkle, love and happiness. Perfect reading for this time of year.

My review will be posted on Amazon on 31/10 (ctmps), Goodreads on 31/10 and Instagram (kindle_and_crossstitch ; cat_temps)

A lovely, easy, Christmassy read, perfect for getting into the festive spirit.

60 year old Magda isn’t looking forward to Christmas this year; her beloved mum has passed away, her best friend isn’t talking to her and her son and his wife are leaving their two young twins with her whilst they go to New York. Can her mum’s old recipe book help to turn her fortunes around?

Magda was a refreshing main character - slight grumpy tendencies but a heart of gold underneath.

I also loved that some recipes were included at the back of the book as an extra little treat,

Many thanks to HarpercollinsUk and NetGalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review - Coming Home to Mistletoe Cottage is out now!

This is my first Celia Anderson read and I really wanted to love it more than I did. I’m sure there will be loads of fans that completely disagree with me, but here goes anyway ..

‘Coming Home to Mistletoe Cottage’ starts off well, Magda, newly retired, is a bit curmudgeonly, she’s not a great daughter, friend, Mother, Grandmother and a positively rubbish cook. She’s spikey, a bit selfish and a lot unhappy. There are reasons for all of this, reasons that unfold over the course of the book. Things change for Magda when she is forced into looking after her two 5 year old Grandchildren over Christmas, the twins are struggling without their parents at this most special time of year, they are getting in trouble at school and Magda cannot seem to communicate with them. Eventually, common ground is found through Baking, she finds her Mother’s old handwritten recipe book which has hints and notes which help her overcome her fear of cooking and opens the door for her to reconnect with her recently passed Mum and allow a smidge of romance to enter her life.

A great premise and I really loved the recipes at the back of the book but with this type of ‘cosy’ book I look for that ‘feel good factor’, the charm that singles it out and makes it special, I didn’t find that here, it felt flat and I tend to think that’s because of the health issues the author was dealing with while she wrote it.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book got me into the christmas spirit so much I instantly wanted to turn my house into a santas grotto. It is a cure read that just sparkles the whole way through with cosiness but also had drama which I loved it worked really well in the novel. I loved it and can't wait to read more by the author

In the community of Periwinkle Bay, it's the run up to Christmas, there are gifts to buy and decorations to hang but also longtime relationships that need repairing, new friendships to be carved, grief to overcome, and the hopes and dreams of two young twins.

This is a charming and festive feel-good read. It has everything you want from a Yule time novel, it's cosy and comforting but with real-life relatable drama. A beautiful recipe of family and friendship brought together with festive traditions and a sprinkling of magic.

All this is centered around a little recipe book that might hold more than just ingredients for delicious dishes.

I highly recommend this wonderful Christmas read.

a heartwarming and festive story about family, relationships, moving on and mending fences.
Magda and Fliss are two interesting characters and liked their relationship. The characters are fleshed out and the plot flows.
It made me smile and I enjoyed it.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

Coming Home to Mistletoe Cottage by Celia Anderson

I received an advance review copy for free thanks to Harper Fiction and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Blurb

Could a sprinkling of magic save Christmas this year?

Amid the salt marshes and rolling fields of Periwinkle Bay, Magda Conway is enjoying her retirement in ivy-clad Mistletoe Cottage.

Yet with three weeks to go until Christmas, as the fairy lights twinkle and the trees go up around the village, her peace is disrupted when she’s left in sole charge of her two mischievous grandchildren.

Before long, she’s at her wit’s end – but high on a kitchen shelf lies her mother’s handwritten recipe book. And as she turns to it for advice, she finds more than just recipes between its tattered covers: there’s a pinch of magic too, and maybe even a sprinkling of love.

My Opinion

This was a lovely, easy to read festive novel. Magda is looking forward to spending Christmas with her family, but dreading the fact that this will be her first Christmas without her mother. She unexpectedly finds herself looking after her two grandchildren whilst their parents are out of the country.

To pass the time, Magda fancies baking with her grandchildren using some of her mother's recipes. Do not read this book on an empty stomach as the baking will leave you hungry although Celia does make up for this by providing some recipes at the end of the book.

This is a lovely book about family, mending fences, friendship and Christmas traditions - best enjoyed with a blanket and festive treats.

Rating: 4/5

I love Celia’s books and this one was so Christmassy and warm. The recipes were interesting at the end of the book which added to the story. I found the characters likeable on the whole and it made me feel very satisfied. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Totally love this authors writing, the characters in this book are a bit at odds with themselves really trying to repair damage from the past, Hope's old cook book plays a huge part in the bringing together of these lost souls, lTotally loved this book for its warmth and joviality which comes from the children an excellent read and can highly recommend ❤️

Magda is worried that Christmas won’t be the same without her mother, who died recently.

However things change when her son and his wife announce they won’t be in the country for Christmas due to work, but will be leaving her with their young twins, Will and Desi.

Overall an easy festive read with a bit of a difference. Lots of cooking and recipes at that end. Unfortunately I didn’t really warm to Magda or her best friend Fliss and I thought her son and daughter-in-law were awful leaving their children.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers Harper Collins for this ARC

Thank you to Susanna Peden of Harper Fiction for the invitation to join the blog tour for Coming Home to Mistletoe Cottage by Celia Anderson (I read and enjoyed 59 Memory Lane by Celia before I started my book blog and Bookstagram page).

Magda is looking forward to spending Christmas with her family and friends without her work as a midwife taking her away from them now she has retired. She is worried that Christmas won’t be the same without her mother, who died recently.

However everything changes suddenly when her son and his wife announce they won’t be in the country for Christmas due to work, but will be leaving her in sole charge of their young twins, Will and Desi.

Magda finds herself struggling with being a sole grandparent initially, but with help with the local headteacher, a dog called Blondie and her mother’s recipe book, she finds herself enjoying spending time baking with her grandchildren.

Magda also needs to spend time ‘mending fences’ with her best friend Fliss, who is in need of support after years of helping Magda. Can seeing Christmas through the eyes of the young children help Magda and Fliss create a new and improved friendship?

This is a fabulous festive read with a lovely mix of family, friendship, self reflection, baking, magic and Christmas traditions. Celia has included some of the recipes at the end of the book and I’m keen to try them. Happy to recommend this beautiful book which should be enjoyed with a mug of hot chocolate and a mince pie (or other festive food).

This is a perfect, feel-good, cosy up with the fire and Christmas tree lit behind you kind of book. Perfect Christmas read, simple and easy! This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

3.5/5.

A lovely story of family, friendship, relationships and how the dynamics can change. Really enjoyable.