“What is it?” I asked, following his gaze.
Oh.
Mistletoe.
He leaned in towards me, the smell of him, the size of him, all of it overwhelming considering the only physical contact I’d had with a man was when the Deliveroo guy accidentally brushed my fingertips with his while handing over my most recent Nando’s order.
Get ready for full belly laughs with Lindsey Kelk’s latest novel, The Christmas Wish.
Can a little Christmas magic mend a broken heart?
Newly single lawyer Gwen Baker is hoping that a family Christmas—countryside, a mountain of food and festive films—will salve the sting of her career hanging by a thread and her heart being trampled on. Because everyone else has their life sorted: even Dev, her boy-next-door crush, is now a tall, dark and handsome stranger with a fiancée. She can’t help wishing her future was clearer.
Then Gwen wakes up to discover it’s Christmas day all over again. Like Groundhog Day but with eggnog. And family arguments. On repeat.
As she figures out how to escape her own particular Christmas hell, Dev is the one bright spot. He might be all grown-up but underneath he’s just as kind and funny as she remembers.
Maybe, just maybe, her heart can be mended after all.
But how do you fall in love with someone who can’t remember you from one day to the next?
There is no way around it, Lindsey writes great characters. The entire cast of this book is just terrific. Main character Gwen is very relatable. She’s just doing her best to figure out life, same as the rest of us. We get to watch her grow up quite a lot as she transitions from doing what she thinks she should do, to what she wants to do. Her stern grandmother Nan cracked me up. Cousin Manny is an absolute hoot. Because Gwen’s parents took Manny in after his father died, they were really raised more as siblings than cousins and I loved their close relationship. The banter between Gwen and Manny filled my heart with joy. By contrast, her sister Cerys makes quite the adversary. You will love to hate her. Dev is a suitably dreamy book boyfriend and I enjoyed seeing him in different situations as Gwen relives the same day. I could have had even more of Dev in the book.
The plot is not a new concept. There have been plenty of stories that do a ground hog day style take on the holidays, and did we need another? Not really. To be honest I wasn’t over the moon about the premise just because it has been done so many times before, it’s practically its own genre (and not my favourite one either). If anyone else wrote this book I probably would have skipped it. But because it was Lindsey, I decided to give it a whirl and I’m glad I did. She does somehow manage to chart some new territory here and make this tired trope feel fresh and fun.
OMG this book is funny! Lindsey has quickly become one of my favourite authors, simply for her sense of humour. There were so many times while reading this book that I got strange looks and eye rolls from my family for my guffaws. I just couldn’t help but laugh out loud (and there may have even been a snort or two). The humour is sharp and smart. If you need a giggle, give this one a try.
Thank you, HarperCollins Canada for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
