Book review of The Christmas Holiday by Sophie Claire

The Christmas Holiday by Sophie Claire

My review today is for The Christmas Holiday by Sophie Claire.

This is a book of many layers; emotional, cosy and comforting, as well as romantic and feel-good too.

We meet Evie, trampled on by her ex and her parents, but bubbly, bright and full of positive cheer, even when things are difficult. Happy in her colourful world of fabric and quilting, she is determined to see the best in everything as she tries to make a success of her craft shop, the Button Hole. Homemade curtains may not excite her creatively, but they do help to pay the bills, and it’s while at a client’s house she meets newcomer to the village, Jake. Grief-stricken, angry with life and full of guilt, Jake doesn’t want to mix with anyone, especially around the anniversary of his wife’s death and over Christmas. Evie is everything he is trying to avoid, although Smoke, his beloved dog, who has helped him through the darkest of days, seems to disagree.

Living in a small village makes it difficult to hide away, so when the opportunity arises for an escape to a villa in the south of France, where Christmas celebrations can be forgotten completely, it seems the perfect solution for everyone. Can two lost and troubled souls, thrown together and seemingly very different on the outside, find something in each other that they didn’t know they were looking for? 

Sophie’s writing is beautiful, and she makes it easy to feel what her characters are going through. This book is like a hug, full of emotion, warmth and love. Despite the characters doing their best to ignore the festivities, getting into the Christmas spirit was easy within the pages of this book and I didn’t want it to end.

I can’t wait for more from Sophie, and luckily, I don’t have to. A Forget-me-not Summer (previously published as Her Forget-me-not Ex) will be released by Hodder and Stoughton early next year. Links to Amazon can be found below.

Blog Tour The Christmas Holiday by Sophie Claire