Fear not...Your eyes aren't deceiving you. I am reviewing a Christmas book outside of the confines of November/December. The truth is I am a terrible human being who has a desire to read ALL the books. Therefore I am slightly behind with some of my reading and I finished this lovely little gem from Katie Fforde two months late in true bad-book-blogger style.
However, the fact that the decorations are long packed away in the loft, and the only remaining Quality Street are the coconut eclairs (DOES anyone actually like these? Please feel free to take them off my hands, if so...) is irrelevant and didn't hinder my enjoyment of these wonderfully warm and feel-good stories one teeny, tiny bit.

Katie Fforde releasing a Christmas book has fast become a tradition in my world and it's one of the things I enjoy most about the festive season (along with the food, the presents and the Only Fools and Horses re-runs.) I was extremely excited to get my mitts on this collection of festive-themed short stories and they certainly didn't disappoint.
There are six stories within the collection, but bear in mind that two of them (Candlelight at Christmas and A Christmas in Disguise) were already published as ebooks, so they may sound familiar...Being the mahooosive fan of Katie Fforde that I am, I naturally had read these two stories before, but this in no way hinder my enjoyment. It was a while ago when I read these stories originally so I couldn't really remember what happened, but at the same time I love Katie's writing so much, she is an author I can happily re-read, and the stories were so good I felt as though they made a nice addition to the collection anyway.

I thoroughly enjoyed all of the stories, the only one I perhaps didn't love as much as the rest was The Christmas Stocking, purely because I found elements of it a teeny bit hard to believe, but maybe that's just me being cynical - after all, it's Christmas! Anything can happen! The story was still brilliantly written, I just questioned certain aspects of it. The other stories were classic Katie Fforde. And by that I mean, warm, romantic, funny & feel-good. If you're a big fan of Katie's novels then you will recognise some of the characters from previous books too, which was a lovely touch.
If I had to choose my favourite it would be The Christmas Fairy. Brilliantly executed and based on such a good idea, this was a wonderful story to finish the collection with.

This is the perfect companion to Christmas, it will put you in a festive mood within seconds. It's also great to read over Christmas because usually there is so much going on (or Selection Boxes to be eaten) that you just find yourself looking for a light, easy-going read to fit in between watching Mary Poppins. Or if, like me, you're reading this book out of season, you'll still enjoy these stories for what they are - fun, sweet, heart-warming and full of romance.

I am now even more excited to get hold of a copy of A Country Escape, which was released on the 22nd Feb. After all, the more Katie Fforde the better...

A sweet read that definitely gets you in the Christmas spirit

Wow this was a massive disappointment. I have never read a Katie Fforde book before so I thought this short story would be a great way in but after this I am not sure if I will read one of her books again.

I didn't like anything about this. I thought the story was ridiculous, totally unbelievable and lazy. There were loads of irritating little things about it. Like when the main character has a drink she doesn't worry about having to drive because she has a non drinking friend who will come and pick her up. That would be fine except it is Christmas day and this person has had no fore warning of having to leave their family in order to pick up their selfish friend. The whole thing was silly.

The characters were boring, plain, lacking in any characteristic. I didn't like any of them. I didn't like anything.

I am so sad that this is my reaction to this book because Katie Fforde is such a popular author and I had looked forward to reading her work. I hope that if I come across one of her novels again I will get on with it better.