Christmas is coming and actress Kirsty Castille seems doomed to play the front part of Nag, the Christmas pantomime horse, when a surprise audition lands her the lead role as Maria in the Sound of Music.
Even better she bonds with a handsome chef over a piece of squid at her local supermarket, although sadly romance is the last thing on Jake Levy’s mind.
He has a Christmas deadline, an ex-wife to mourn and lots of emotional baggage to drag around. He certainly doesn’t have time for romance and even if he did he wouldn’t fall for someone like Kirsty who craves the limelight: been there, done that.
A misunderstanding leads Jake to offer Kirsty a job in his new restaurant and she takes it purely to convince him that she’s the girl of his dreams.
Her charm offensive begins to work but while he’s cooking up a storm she’s secretly sparkling under the spotlight – until her cover is busted.
The fallout is catastrophic, but as they say in Luvvie Land, the show must go on, even if Kirsty is terrified that she’s taken her last curtain call and ruined her chance for love.
Read on and immerse yourself in this delightful winter romance as the snow starts to fall and Christmas day becomes a magical reality.
My Rating:
Favorite Quotes:
Kirsty gave him her Cruella de Vil glare, the one she practised in the mirror for when her big break came and she’d have to fight off autograph hunters and journalists.
She’d discovered in dating agency lingo, that five foot ten, actually meant five foot six, “emotional” was a euphemism for misery guts who just wanted to drone on about the ex-wife’s handbag addiction, and “sporty with a sense of fun,” meant juvenile show off who wanted to blag on about his chronograph diving watch and his knowledge of stupid YouTube videos. At least the one she conversed with did – and he had a rare DeLorean apparently. She’d asked whether he’d had some cream from the doctor’s for it, and he’d ended the conversation abruptly.
‘The men look like they’re already seated,’ Kirsty said with a giggle. ‘I’ve seen taller men on the set of Snow White.’ Allie gulped at her drink and fiddled with the strap of her bag. ‘All the girls are pretty and the men are all pretty ugly. What an unfair world we live in.’ She surveyed the room.
Boring would be the last thing I’d put on your tick sheet. Keeping up with your conversation is harder than trying to understand my grandma without her teeth in.
I was good, you were bad, very bad … you were a wolf in wolf’s clothing.
My Review:
This was a fun yet somewhat challenging read. I enjoyed Ms. Ladbury’s quirky characters, unpredictable and ironic plot twists, and zings of clever levity; although the yo-yo on and off nature of Kirsty’s relationships and Jake’s indecisiveness were rather frustrating. Kirsty led a rich fantasy life, she talked to inanimate objects, inventing lives and families in her head for strangers and names on tombstones, and was prone to break out in dance in the grocery store aisle if the muse hit her. While she wasn’t mentally ill, she was much like a female Walter Mitty, as by her own choice her grasp of reality was often tenuous as she would rather live in her head than face her rather grim and near penniless reality. Most of the main characters had a few screws loose but my patience was well rewarded with this engaging and entertaining read.
For a new addition to my Brit Word List, I spied the unfamiliar munter – which is British informal for an ugly person and a very fun word to mutter or say aloud. 😉
Jackie Ladbury writes heartwarming contemporary and historical women’s fiction that is always guaranteed a happy ever after. From spending many years as an air-stewardess and seeing that it really is love that makes the world go around, she determined to put the same sparkle and emotion into her stories. Her life is no longer as exotic (or chaotic) as it was in those heady days of flying as she now lives a quiet life in Hertfordshire with her family and two cats, spending her days making up stories and finding excuses not to go to the gym.
To find out more about Jackie Ladbury, check out these pages: https://www.facebook.com/jackie.ladbury
https://jackieladbury.com
https://twitter.com/JackieLadbury
https://thewriteromantics.com/
A cute cover. Great review ❤️ I didn’t get warm vibes so not in my TBR. I think I should keep horror in December
This sounds like a lovely Christmas story. Great review.
Glad it was a rewarding read. I have read a bunch more Christmas books and will be writing up reviews this week.
This looks super cute
Great review, the book sounds amazing and looks so wintery too.
Very cute cover but must of your Christmas books have a great cover. I’m going to check this one out. I want to at least read 4 Christmas books this year
I love that you are loving these Christmas reads….. I just don’t know if I could handle that many sweet reads in a row. I need some nitty, gritty. lol
Great review my friend, this is the first time I have seen or heard about this book and it looks and sounds absolutely amazing I’m sorry this book was a little frustrating for you. But I am glad that overall you enjoyed reading this book. Thank you so much for sharing your awesome post and for putting this book on my radar.