Tinsel Tears book review

Emma Smith is a UKYA author I have started reading in 2024 and have quickly discovered that I want to read more from and luckily for me she has a decent sized backlist for me to work my way through.

Tinsel Tears is the first book I picked up from Emma’s backlist with it being December and Tinsel Tears being a festive story set at the North Pole. It was also the first I’ve physically read which was a really positive experience. Tinsel Tears is set across two different periods of time, first off when Abe is 20, first meeting and falling in love with Patrick. And 30 years later after they have grown apart and Abe receives life changing news that makes him wonder if it’s too late to fix his mistakes.

I was invested in Abe and Patrick’s story from early on and really liked getting to see them across the two time periods. This story in many ways was both heartbreaking and heartwarming proving to me just how much Emma can do with her writing.

I loved both our two main characters and seeing the relationship between them develop but also there were many side characters playing a key role in the story and I found myself loving them too along with being invested in their own individual stories that we caught glimpses of again across the two time periods. It was great to see how both Abe and Patrick had lifelong friends supporting them through life in ways that you hope everyone gets a chance to experience in life.

It didn’t feel to me that by having two time periods we got less time to understand the relationship and characters. Instead I think that it worked to the advantage of the story, including how the book was split and the footnotes filling us in on the going ons over the past 30 years. The footnotes answered some of my key questions and I think I would have been lost without them. The way the book was split allowed us to get to know the characters, their relationship and the foundations of their past at 20 but what we got to know 30 years later gave the story the true heartbreaking element. I had tears in my eyes at the end of the book which to me is the sign of a good book.

I loved the subtle Vibbington reference that is only there if you are reading intently and know the ELU. This made me so excited to continue Emma’s backlist and truly had the festive feeling I wanted my books to have over Christmas.

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