A nice, Christmas read in a gorgeous setting with a bit of drama and a lot of secrets and will they / won’t they romance. I enjoyed the guests stories at sunnyside but did find the main two characters lack of spine a bit frustrating at times!

I was so excited to get a digital ARC of ‘Escape for Christmas’, as I am a big Phillipa Ashley fan! I was ready to cosy on down and lose myself in this Christmas novel set in the beautiful Lake District (one of my favourite places to visit) and it did not disappoint!

Broken hearted Sophie moves on from the Christmas themed shop she used to run with her ex, after he cheated on her with her so called best friend! She buys Sunnyside Guest House in the Cumbrian countryside and sets about hosting a festive-free Christmas break.
And what an eventful Christmas it turns out to be! Sophie finds herself juggling all kinds of mishaps with her guests and unexpectedly finds herself falling for the local vet and neighbour Brody.

Such a warm, feel-good, festive read with likeable characters, in an idyllic setting. Another great story from Phillipa! ✨

This is a fun Christmassy read,. It has a lovely Christmas atmosphere, despite the heroine's plan to avoid Christmas and to host an alternative celebration at her newly-acquired guesthouse. Of course it's predictable - you can tell how it's going to end by the about the second chapter, but there's nothing at all wrong with that. My only criticism would be that there's a bit too much "telling" rather than "showing" for my taste, but that really is a minor thing. On the whole, a really good escapist seasonal read.

A cosy read. The descriptions of the guest house, fell top farm, the village and the mountains were very descriptive and really set the picture.

Sophie bought the guest house to start over and try and get away from her past and more importantly Christmas. Things don’t go quite to plan, but it never was a story about being the ‘anti Christmas’ just an alternative as she had painful memories attached to Christmas. I liked Sophie and how she cared so much for everyone around her, how she made her guests feel welcome and seen. Brody however didn’t quite live up to my expectation of the ‘hero’. I could see what a difficult situation he’d got himself into, but I felt he could have spoken up sooner. His ex, Tegan seemed to control him totally no matter how much he protested inside his own head. It didn’t make him come across as a strong character. Once he grew a backbone and stood up for himself, then I liked him much better. He seemed so much happier with Sophie.

It was a nice read, a bit slow for me without the two main characters pulling me along. 3.5 stars as I did still enjoy parts of it.

After her fiancé betrays her with her best friend at Christmas, Sophie moves from her home town and starts a new life running a B&B in the Lake District. Not wanting to face the following Christmas putting on a brave face with her family, she determines to keep the B&B open and host an alternative Spanish themed weekend for those, for whatever reason, not wanting traditional turkey and tinsel. The event does not go according to plan and Sophie has to rely on the help of her neighbour, who she has recently discovered is as bad as her ex, or is he?
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Phillipa Ashley knows how to write a great Christmas book! Sophie used to love Christmas until she was cheated on. She escapes to the Lake District to run a guest house where the mention, let alone the celebration of Christmas, is banned! She decides to run an ‘escape for Christmas’ getaway for those who also don’t want to celebrate. We meet other people who also have their reasons for not celebrating.

A book that has it all - a handsome local vet, a getaway in the Lake District, a non traditional Christmas celebration - definitely worth a read.

A cleverly done Christmassy read complete with snow, surprises and romance. The idea of having a non-Christmas package for a guest house was a genius one!

Sophie loved Christmas, even ran an all year round Christmas shop with her boyfriend, until said boyfriend ruined everything by cheating on her in the stockroom with her best friend on Christmas Eve. Sophie decides to leave her home town and start a new life following her dream of running a guest house in the Lake District. After settling in and making friends in the community, including the handsome vet Brody, she has a thought that like her not everyone might be feeling festive in the run up to Christmas. She comes up with the idea of an “Escape for Christmas” getaway at her guesthouse and is soon fully booked with guests who all have their own reasons to want to get away from a traditional Christmas.

A glorious heartwarming book which keeps you engrossed and not wanting to put it down. I throughly enjoyed this read, in fact there hasn’t been a Phillipa Ashley that I’ve not enjoyed.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free arc. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Sophie is feeling anything but festive, finding her boyfriend sleeping with her best friend last year was enough to dampen her festive spirits.. forever. Sophie is still feeling put out by the idea of Christmas so takes it upon herself to organise a different kind of Christmas at her guest house this year. Despite the town brandishing her idea as the ‘Anti-Christmas’ Sophie is excited to be able to spend the festive period with a fully booked guest house of people also wanting to escape a traditional Christmas.

Brody has had a soft spot for Sophie since she moved to Sunnyside but has kept his distance other than when it comes to his vet duties for her cats.

When Christmas comes around, Sophie’s guest house is full and Brody is spending it with his family and an additional surprise that Sophie didn’t see coming. But when Sophie experiences a power cut. Brody comes to the rescue.

This was such a cute Christmassy romance! I adored that Christmas was a focal point of the book and not just an event that happens. Phillip portrays the harsh and very real truth that Christmas is a wonderful yet difficult time of year for so many and that was really refreshing!

The relationship between Sophie and Brody seemed really intense from the start but I enjoyed how it went. I love that Sophie was such a strong character and made some bold choices in her life when faced with challenge, even though that looked like she was running away.

I really enjoyed this!

Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

This was another book which I found hard to put down.

Sophie always loved Christmas, Scot so many years, she had a Christmas shop that was open every day of the year, loving the start of the festive season.

But then, everything changed, having to let the shop go and start again, but this time she opened a hotel in the beautiful Lake District.

With Christmas not far off, and after what happened, Sophie makes a decision to make people aware that the hotel will not be at all festive, which she hopes will suit those that want time away from all the festivities.

After Sophie has made the changes she needs, and even though the hotel is a Christmas free zone, her rooms are booked.

When the snow comes, it’s a lot and she has visitors that haven’t booked, which changes everything that she had planned.

Will Sophie really be able to not feel Christmassy or will she have a change of heart?

I loved the characters, the setting. It will definitely leave you feeling festive.

I highly recommend this book.

Sophie gets jilted by her fiancé on Christmas Eve, now the once Christmas loving Sophie begins to detest the holiday. She ups sticks and moves to Cumbria to buy Sunnyside hotel which she markets as a Christmas free hotel, for those who do not wishes to celebrate.

Sophie starts to build a relationship with the local vet, Brody and as expected it does not go smoothly and as her guests start to arrive more chaos ensues.

This is a cosy read, which would be good on winter days, when you are ready to escape reality and suspend some belief, with characters full of depth and complications, who all bring something new to the story, but some inconsistencies throughout and Brody, the love interest, not really hitting the mark for me.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC.

This was a beautiful festive story that was almost centred around escaping and avoiding Christmas traditions. However, plans never really work out how they are supposed to so there are many nods to traditions and even one to the story that started the whole celebration!
The many characters we meet in this book are mostly likeable. Some though, while not being bad or evil, are less likeable for a variety of reasons but many of them do sort their issues out and are happier by the last we see of them!
The storyline of this book sounded so simple from the synopsis and that was a very interesting read seeing Sophie and Brody get to know each other. Far more interesting were the other stories happening around that which all together made for a wonderful read and kept me wondering what was going to happen next.
I thoroughly enjoyed this read, it was a lot of fun and had a great deal of heart spread through it’s pages, it’s a fabulous festive read!

What a wonderful story. Sophie runs a Guest house in the Lake District and wanted to host an alternative Christmas because she'd been badly hurt the previous year. The guests were wonderful and survived the bad weather, a power cut and a baby making an early appearance. Among all this, Sophie was falling for her neighbour, Brody, the local vet and the New Year starts with a lovely relationship for them both, together

A cute, cosy feel good read. I did want to shake Brody at times though and sometimes it was a little predictable.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

What an enjoyable story. I absolutely loved Sophie's little hotel in the Lakes, Sunnyside. And I especially loved her idea of offering an Escape for Christmas that isn't your typical Christmas break - she was offering Paella, Flamenco and no turkey!

After all not everyone is a fan of Christmas, but she has her reasons for wanting to not be festive this year. But yet fate has other plans for her.

The entire break with the guests was brilliant, I loved getting to know the various guests both paying and completely unexpected. To say things didn't go quite according to plan, would be an understatement. And just about everything made me smile.

I also really enjoyed her neighbour Brody who really is s knight in shining armour on multiple occasions and I had a real soft spot for Jingle, Belle and Harold - some of our four legged friends in the story.

The setting is gorgeous and I really hope the author will return there in a future book as all the characters wee meet are fabulous.

This was just really entertaining, and I definitely enjoyed my time between the pages of this book.

Thank you to Penguin and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

A cute festive rom-com. I really enjoyed this story about Sophie - who isn’t a fan of Christmas and is hosting a non festive Christmas getaway at her guest house - and amiable vet Brody, who would be perfect if it wasn’t for his fiancée.

There are a host of fabulous characters (even the four legged ones) and lots of humorous sub plots to keep the reader entertained.

The story was fairly predictable, but this is typical of the genre and didn’t affect my enjoyment.

Thank you for my arc.

Another absorbing, delightful novel from Phillipa. A warm, touching story with wonderful characters and romance. Sophie has distanced herself from her ex fiancé and bought a Cumbrian guesthouse. She plans to have an alternative Christmas for guests- quite different from the Christmas shop she used to have.

Philippa Ashley really is the Queen of Christmas fiction and this book was no exception. The novel follows the story of Sophie who has many reasons not to like Christmas, who offers an alternative getaway to the festivities at her new guesthouse. Expect fun, frivolity and lots of warm festive feelings in a book that's perfect for cold, cosy, dark evenings.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK/Cornerstone for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Sophie used to love Christmas, even running a Christmas themed shop with partner, Ben, until she caught him cheating with her best friend. After selling the shop, she started over buying a guesthouse in the Lake District. As her first Christmas comes round she hosts an escape for Christmas themed holiday for guests which is snapped up. What could possibly go wrong?
Her nearest neighbour is vet, Brodie, who Sophie soon regards as a good friend but is still feeling bruised by Ben's behaviour.
Philippines Ashley has another winner. Her stories always ha e relatable characters and well researched storylines.

this book is about sophie who loved the joys of christmas until her fiance ben ruined it for her so she now starts a new life in the lakes in her guest house she advertises guest to join her to escape from christmas and o what a christmas they have by not giving too much away this book is a joy to read as you dont know whats going to happen from one page to next but after turmoil everthing turns out to be a merry christmas