A Merry Little Christmas book review


 A Merry Little Christmas is the third book in Cathy Bramley’s Christmas series following Merry, who we have followed in all three books, and her best friend Nell who we have known since book 1. This year Merry is preparing for her new baby while also feeling terrified of being a mother and Nell is struggling with infertility and doesn’t know what to do after discovering something about her husband’s past that could change everything. I would recommend checking out the trigger warnings as infertility, death of a parent and pregnancy are all widely discussed throughout the story. 

I would say that as the series has gone on the tone of the books has stayed consistently festive however the stories have gradually moved from fully romance, to part romance, part contemporary, to in this one a fully contemporary story. I have continued to enjoy them however my favourite is definitely book 1 and if it is a series you are considering becoming invested in I would bear in mind. 

There were things I loved about this book both new and familiar but also unfortunately it is also the book in the series that had the most things I didn't enjoy reading.

Starting with the positives, I loved seeing how Merry and Emily’s relationship has developed over the year. It often feels very special to read and it is great to see how close they have become. In fact some of the bonds characters have with others make up some of my favourite parts of these books. This includes Cole’s sister Hester and how she just adds to every scene she is in and Fred, Cole’s dad, who has to be one of my top characters. I have also really enjoyed seeing more of Max, Nell’s stepson, in this book as we have previously met him but didn’t really know him. 

Following the same couple for 3 books each with different stories also really lets you get to know the couple and I have really enjoyed rereading the series to watch Merry and Cole’s relationship develop book by book. 

As I already mentioned I did have a few things I didn’t fully enjoy about this book and the main one of those was how it felt like we were always in the middle of tension and conflict. Some of this makes sense for the plot and most of it I can see why it was added in, none of it felt like it was there for the sake of it, however I do think some of it could have been stripped back and built to the same character development with less overall conflict because at times I felt like it took away from the festive feeling, and I didn’t enjoy reading so much conflict for so long, a little bit less would’ve been a nice amount and worked for the story. 

There were still festive vibes though among some really special scenes among friends and family which shared some messages that also feel important around Christmas time. It was overall a really solid Christmas book that I would recommend. I really enjoyed curling up with this and a hot drink as we started December and am really glad I bought it when it was released. 

Thank you to Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Comments

Post a Comment

My Most Read Reviews

As Good As Dead short review

Image
  This is the third book in the A Good Girls Guide to Murder series and I was very excited to see what was going to happen and where it was going to go. This book also didn't disappoint, I didn't expect it to take the direction it did and there were some bits that terrified me but I did still rate it 5 stars.  I had so many feelings when reading this, I loved some bits and how the characters have evolved, terrified about what was going on and then heartbroken by parts of the ending. The characters have grown and evolved so much in this series and I love how much they have grown, I also hope they get a break after everything that they've been through.  This book took a dark turn and I can't say I didn't like it. I don't know if it was my favourite when it first happened, but the way it continued on and led to the ending I loved. I also loved how all of Pip's friends stepped up to help even if they didn't completely know what was going on.  That ending too...
Read more

The Girl in Question book review

Image
  The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe is a YA thriller that I read a few years back now and really enjoyed, it was fast paced, had me hooked and characters that were easy to root for so when I heard this book was coming I knew I would need to pick it up.  The Girl in Question again follows Nora, Wes and Iris who we know from the bank robbery from the previous book but instead this time after graduating high school they are going on a backpacking trip in the woods when Wes’s new girlfriend gets kidnapped dure to a borrowed flannel. Most of this book takes place over about a week while the characters are in the forest but there are flashbacks to weeks and years previous.  This is a series I would recommending checking out the content warnings for as there are a lot of things discussed and it’s better to be safe.  I really like how this book is written, it’s not something I find in a lot of the books I read but I don’t think the story would work without it. Unlike the pr...
Read more

The Gossip Games book review

Image
This book took me by major surprise and I am so glad that I chose to read it because boy, was it good. I fell in love with this book, the story, the characters, the romance and nearly everything else that was included in it. The Gossip Games follows Gracie who has recently had rumours about her start-up after Dean, her best friend's brother, carried her up to bed and she’s not best pleased. This starts up a competition of sorts between the two to see who can one up the other in a game of flirting and fake dating. This book is a contemporary young adult romance following characters who are in their later teenage years at a private boarding school. The main characters in The Gossip Games are Gracie and Dean, as well as Zara, Dean’s twin sister and Gracie’s best friend, Jesse and Theo, who are Zara and Dean’s cousins, though there are a couple of other characters who feature regularly. I liked nearly all the cast of characters and if I didn’t originally like a character quite often I ...
Read more