Deck the Halles

by Stephanie Dagg

Amazon US / UK / AU / Universal

It’s next Christmas at the little French llama farm.

Last Christmas infamous Australian author Nick bought the farm, that was meant to be furnished and without llamas. The reverse proved to be the case. Noelle had been sent to pet sit the llamas until his arrival. After a decidedly frosty start, Nick and Noelle’s relationship warmed up rapidly and they’re now happily living together, with an ever-growing assortment of animals.

They’re looking forward to a quiet, romantic Christmas together but at the last moment, Noelle is called on to find a venue for the annual national llama show. The local agricultural halles are free so she books them, thinking that’s all she’ll have to do to help. She couldn’t be more wrong! On top of that, various relatives start turning up on her doorstep unexpectedly, as the result of assorted crises. The farmhouse is about to burst at the seams. Add in a few other events, such as playing the part of a pixie at a Christmas fête, organizing Nick’s book launch and training a non-cooperative llama for the agility class in the show, and Noelle is pushed ever closer to the end of her tether. Can she hold it together and stay as calm as a llama? Or will she be the next member of her family to make a bolt for pastures new?      

This festive, feel-good and fun novel is the sequel to ‘Fa-La-Llama-La: Christmas at the Little French Llama Farm’ but can be read as a standalone.  

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

There were just two very elderly women in the café with us, both of whom looked totally terrifying with their heavy makeup and over-coiffed, thin hair. Each clutched a quivering toy dog of the same remarkably ugly breed. But fair dos to them, they weren’t growing old gracefully. There were fighting it, crowned tooth and lacquered nail.

 

The word ‘mademoiselle’ may have been banned from all official documents in 2012, but here in rural France any woman who appeared too young or too ugly to be married was automatically one. I hoped I came into the former category.

 

… so when the dust has settled in a day or so, why not reopen negotiations and say something like you appreciate the financial help they want to give you, but you’d rather they put some money into a trust fund for Charlie so that when he’s eighteen, he can use the money to pay for university, or set up a hamster sanctuary, or a betting shop, or finance a Guinness World Record attempt to hop round the world backwards, or whatever else he wants to do.

 

The dog had a rakish, attractive air about him with his wiry grey hair at all angles. He was the size of a spaniel but that was as far as the resemblance went. He was 100% mongrel, possibly a badger crossed with a toilet brush, plus a dollop of genetic input from a hay bale.

 

My Review:

 

I have thoroughly enjoyed Stephanie Dagg’s French Llama series as well as her delightfully crisp, cleverly amusing and unique writing style. Her characters throughout both books were endearingly quirky and knowable, while her prose was agile and engaging and conjured vivid and comical visuals with her vibrant and clever word choices. The storylines were lively, engaging, and observantly detailed and laced with nimble wit and cunning levity.

This was my third time picking up one of her books and I daresay she has collected a rabid fangirl to add to her menagerie of exotic pets.   And an added bonus for me was picking up a trio of fun new words and phrases for my Brit Word List with sarnies – sandwiches, get some kip – sleep, and my favorite with send away with a flea in their ear – angrily banish and forbid to return.

 

Author Bio 

I’m an English expat living in France, having moved here with my family in 2006 after fourteen years as an expat in Ireland. I now consider myself a European rather than ‘belonging’ to any particular country. The last ten years have been interesting, to put it mildly. Taking on seventy-five acres with three lakes, two hovels and one cathedral-sized barn, not to mention an ever-increasing menagerie, makes for exciting times. The current array of animals includes alpacas, llamas, huarizos (alpaca-llama crossbreds, unintended in our case and all of them thanks to one very determined alpaca male), sheep, goats, pigs, ducks, geese, chickens and turkeys, not forgetting our pets of dogs, cats, zebra finches, budgies , canaries, lovebirds and Chinese quail. Before we came to France all we had was a dog and two chickens, so it’s been a steep learning curve. I recount these experiences in my book Heads Above Water: Staying Afloat in France and the sequel to that, Total Immersion: Ten Years in France. I also blog regularly at www.bloginfrance.com.

I’m married to Chris and we have three bilingual TCKs (third culture kids) who are resilient and resourceful and generally wonderful.     

I’m a traditionally-published author of many children’s books and am now self-publishing too. I have worked part-time as a freelance editor for thirty years after starting out as a desk editor for Hodder & Stoughton. Find me at www.editing.zone. The rest of the time I’m running carp fishing lakes with Chris and inevitably cleaning up some or other animal’s poop.   

 

Social Media Links –

@llamamum

www.facebook.com/StephanieDaggBooks/

www.bloginfrance.com