Friday 20 October 2017

Blog Tour Review | Christmas at Hope Cottage ~ Lily Graham

Today is my spot on the blog tour for the latest novel from Lily Graham - Christmas at Hope Cottage and I'm delighted to be sharing my review with you.


Christmas at Hope Cottage
Lily Graham
Bookouture
October 2017
Rating 4/5


               
In the little village of Whistling, with its butterscotch cottages and rolling green hills, snow is beginning to fall. Christmas is coming, and Emma Halloway is on her way home.
Emma Halloway gets dumped then knocked off her bike, she’s broken in more ways than one, and returns to her family’s cosy cottage in the Yorkshire Dales. Emma hasn’t been back in some time, running from her crazy relatives and her childhood sweetheart, Jack Allen.
Sandro, doesn’t believe anyone should have to choose between love and family. With a little bit of Christmas magic, can Emma and Jack find a way to be together, or will Emma find herself heartbroken once more?

               

Christmas at hope cottage is a lovely story about family and love, although there wasn't a huge amount of Christmas in it so could easily be classed as a wintery read - so grab a blanket, a mug of hot chocolate and settle down for a bit of magic! 

Emma has returned home to Hope Cottage so that her grandmother Evie can help her recover after a nasty accident.
Along with Evies sisters, Dot and Aggie, the three embark of nursing Emma back to health - easier said than done when your senses are in a complete muddle -
Things that should feel hot like a shower, feel painful and tingly, her vision is doubled and her taste buds are disengaged.

Over time we learn more about the Halloway family and their secret recipe book, one that is thought to have magic linked to it.
I don't want to give too much away about this as you really need to read the story to get a feel for the history and the way the recipes work, but what I will say is that things don't always work out as planned and this has caused a long feud between the Halloways, Allen's and Leas over the years.

This is all well and good except Emma's first love, Jack, Is an Allen and over the years his family have made things difficult for the pair.

Emma coming home encourages Jack to come to Hope Cottage and he tells her he was a fool to believe everything that was said and that he wasn't going to listen anymore.

Ofcourse nothing runs smoothly, especially with Jacks jealously coming into play around Sandro... the handsome Spanish lodger also at hope cottage! 

I enjoyed reading Christmas at hope cottage - this is the first book from lily Graham that I've read  - although I did find the first half a bit of a slow go, this is purely because the novel starts in the present day and we go back into the past a few times, this is is just a personal reading preference and nothing against the story, but I also felt that there could have been a little more spark or 'moments' between Emma  and Sandro which for me, would have made the ending slightly more believable.
Nevertheless I'm not put off and planning another book by Lilly soon!

           


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