It may be April as I read this delightful book but in my heart it's Christmas...a delicious premise of two damaged strangers ,desperately trying to avoid Christmas ,with all it's emotions and memories, thrown together by circumstances and forced to share a secluded cottage in Donegal. I feel wrapped in a warm glow after finishing this charming read. I love the story, the adorable characters both human and canine and highly recommend this book to anyone in need of a feel good read. I guarantee you'll end it with a smile on your face .

I enjoyed This Christmas by Emma Heatherington. It's an easy, quick read which provides light escapism and a happy ever after. I liked the way Charlie and Emma met and then only communicated in writing in the beginning - but there is a lot of internal monologues, which as a single parent I could empathise with Charlie to a degree. I think the things that happened to the characters previously mean as a reader you're wishing for that happy ever after and Emma Heatherington provides, as expected. I'd recommend to my reader friends for a relaxing read.

This Christmas by Emma Heatherington has an easy way about it. The writing flows along sweeping the reader with it. For me, I'd be happy with less (much less) internal monologue and more direct speech. Added to the plot device of Charlie and Rose only communicating in writing, the internal monologue made the narrative heavy. But I enjoyed the book which was not too appallingly twee in its presentation of Christmas. But enough with the dogs! I, for one, feel they add nothing to my enjoyment of a novel.

I wanted to love this book. I love a romance novel, and it had all the hallmarks of a great one, but it missed the mark in a couple of places for me. The major one being [spoiler alert], who the hell takes their brand new girlfriend who they barely know with them to meet their seven year old child who’s been taken to live abroad?! This is terrible parenting, and given that Charlie’s entire personality seems to be how much he loves his daughter, I wasn’t convinced he’d do that. This is a 3.5 stars from me, rounded up to 4.

Honestly I can't believe I have started reading Christmas books already, but what a start. Great characters, misunderstandings, laughter and reuniting a lost soul. Absolutely fantastic, a warm hug in book form.

This Christmas is exactly what you expect it to be. A sweet G-rated story about two people solo and struggling at Christmastime who come together, fall in love, and make their lives just a bit better. Which is both comforting and frustrating at the same time. The book is fine, if that's all you're wanting. It hits all the sweet spots of wintertime and Christmas activities, and it's refreshing to have a male lead therapist in touch with his emotions, even if his life isn't figure out. Plus, dogs.

What bugged me, though, is that I strongly suspect Emma Heatherington is a better writer than this book. The characters are a bit stock (Rose is a CEO of a digital marketing company in Dublin - the 2020's equivalent of a magazine writer or baker in 90's rom-coms), the plot holes huge (Apparently there no Enterprise Car Rental in County Donegal? Why did Charlie not just file an injunction to stop Rebecca from being moved abroad?), and things are tied up too neatly (ahem, Marian and Rusty, and Evelyn). Heatherington has forgotten the rule about showing, not telling, when it comes to her characters' emotional states.

That said, Heatherington has some really nice insights and paints some lovely scenes. For example, love isn't measured in time, it's measured in transformation, "when you're feeling all at sea, don't ever underestimate the power of simple things," etc. I'm now very ready to sneak over the border to Donegal on my next trip to Northern Ireland. Forget about Rose trying to arrange a stay in Granny Molly's cottage - real estate in Donegal is cheap enough that anyone with a townhouse in Dublin could afford a 2 bedroom cottage.

So yeah, if you want a nice and simple, non-smutty Christmas HEA, this is your book. But my challenge to Heatherington would be to push the limit in writing. I suspect if she's capable of going for the emotional jugular a la Mhairi McFarlane, if she wanted to. She's got the tools, now she just needs the ambition.

From the minute I started reading This Christmas I couldn’t put it down and I loved every part of it. I liked the fact it was told from both Charlie and Roses perspectives and it didn’t give away too much information about their lives too soon so it kept me guessing. It was such a Christmassy, feel good love story and for the last few chapters I couldn’t read for tears. I would definitely recommend this book for a fantastic feel good, romantic Christmas treat.
Thanks to NetGalley, Random House UK Cornerstone and Emma Heatherington for an advanced copy in exchange for an unbiased and honest review.

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 NetGalley and the publishers for giving me a coplementary digital copy of this ebook. In exchange for a full, crank and honest review. All opined expressed are form are

I absolutely loved this book. Warm, cosy, romance, grief, change, family, all wrapped up in Christmas 🎄 it's a wonderful read. Full of loveliness. A 5 star read. 🌟 a beautiful slow building love story. Set in a beautiful place

Love reading a Christmas story in April! Loved all the warm feeling the boom gave whilst reading it.

Charlie and Rose are, respectively, seeking absolute solitude over Christmas. They each book a remote cottage in Donegal. Regrettably it emerges that the cottage has been double booked and circumstance conspires to make it necessary they share the cottage, at least for the first night.
Emma Heatherington undoubtedly has written a feel good novel which is a great promotion for Donegal as the place to go to enjoy the simple life, cheery music in warm pubs, long walks on wind-blasted beaches and colourful local characters. Also it seems it's the place to go to mend broken hearts. Don't expect great writing and high drama rather just settle back and enjoy a warm Christmas read.

Lovely book. Rose hasn't celebrated Christmas for a few years because of a tragedy. Charlie is on his own as his daughter has been taken to Tenerife. Due to a double booking they end up sharing a cottage together

Free courtesy of Netgalley. I really enjoyed this book, it was all about loss and love and how to deal with both.

Rose can no longer face Christmas and believes she has no right to be happy, or spend time with her loved ones, after the accident that killed her boyfriend.

Charlie is also having a difficult time after his divorce, he misses his daughter and can't face Christmas this year.

The both book Sea view cottage over the Christmas period to be isolated and alone until the whole thing is over. But they booked the cottage separately with the owners. (One with the wife and one with the husband), who are having their own issues and nobody realises until they both arrive on the same day.

Will Rose and Charlie, share the space and get on or are they both too damaged by their experiences?

I would recommend this book, it really makes you think of how we deal with our issues and how we control the narrative.

I am a huge fan of Christmas and everything that comes with it but am acutely aware that it very often isn't the happiest time of the year and the hype doesnt always match reality.
We meet Rose and Charlie, Rose was always a massive fan of Christmas....until she wasn't and Charlie is having a tough time and facing his first Christmas alone. Both expecting to have Christmas alone are shocked when they realise their holiday getaway booking in Donegal has mistakenly been double booked and they are now facing spending Christmas together.
The story explores loss and grief and definitely pulled at my heart strings. I enjoyed the book and the way the back story was crafted in but thought the ending perhaps crept up a little too quickly.

Following a tragedy one Christmas, Rose is spending the holiday alone for the third year in a row. She decides to visit her gran's old cottage which is now an airbnb. When she gets there though, it is already taken, by Charlie who has his own troubles. After some to-ing and fro-ing, they agree to share.

This is a pleasant story which explore issues of loss and grief to give it some depth. I enjoyed it on the whole but there were some things which niggled a little for me, mainly the rather rushed ending especially the solving of one couple's problems which seemed to come out of nowhere. Having said that, there will be plenty of people who love this. Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for the ARC.

Oh dear, I’m on floods of tears! What a lovely, warm hearted story, perfect for any time of year. Real characters going through a really painful time with a “will they, won’t they?” Theme running throughout. Obviously a gloriously happy ending as every Christmas story should have. It’s a big cosy Christmas hug in a book - enjoy!

Thank you to Netgalley the author and publishers for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review

I absolutely loved this book and the two main characters, Rose and Charlie. Both want to spend Christmas alone but there is a double booking at Seaview Cottage and they reluctantly end up staying there together. The backstories of Rose and Charlie weren’t immediately obvious which really got me wondering why they so desperately wanted to be alone at such a magical time of year. This was quite a slow burn of a read to start with but kept me engaged, wanting to know how it was all going to turn out. Heartbreaking at times but also heartwarming and the main location beautifully described. A fabulous read that was more than a Christmas romance but one that had some quite thought provoking moments. Thank you to Random House, Cornerstone and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Such a cosy, fun Christmas rom-com. There are some deeper elements involved, but I felt this added so much to the story and gave another level of connection to the characters. This really reminded me of The Holiday and gave all those feel-good heart-warming finds you want in a festive read and gets you in the mood for the holidays. You can't go wrong with this it has everything you would want and I highly recommend.

What’s not to love, a Christmas romcom that could come straight from the pages of a Richard Curtis film, one to while away the dreary winter evenings

Second chance ✔️
Dual POV ✔️
Single dad ✔️
Christmas ✔️
Small town ✔️q

This Christmas is a wonderful story where ‘The Holiday’ meets ‘The Flat Share’ and you’re left wanting to stay at Granny Molly’s cottage for Christmas yourself.

Upon a simple mistake of double booking, Charlie and Rose come face to face of having to share the cottage together, but how do you share a cottage and avoid one another for a set amount of days? Is it really that easy, or are Rose and Charlie kidding themselves?

This story is something fairly different to what I read, and it is an EXTREME slow burn which at times did put me off due to the pace of how things were progressing. Rose is someone who allows grief to consume her daily while masking it when she’s surrounded by people. Charlie is a single dad who’s experiencing Christmas alone for the first time and dealing with the heartbreak of not having his daughter near, and in unlikely circumstances, these two slowly join together and realise they have more in common than they realise.

I loved the characters and loved how independent they both were, however I felt that Charlie was quite rude at first and needed a good kick up the ass, or for the stick to be taken out of his ass. While I understand why he reacted the way he did at first, I found him to very impolite. As for Rose, I think she’s a sweetheart and was way too hard on herself, I truthfully think she deserved to be happy a long time ago.

Despite the things that I loved, the stories pacing was way too slow for me and off putting, I often felt as if I was waiting for the other shoe to drop and things to progress massively where as they never did, and when things DID progress, it self as though the ending was rushed and things that took place between Charlie and Rose weren’t realistic enough compared to the rest of the story.

Emma Heatherington is incredibly talented and I think she’s wrote a wonderful book, but I think it’s suited better for those aged over 30.

Thank you NetGalley for approving me to read this.