AWRW Book Review: Coming Home for Christmas, by Julia Williams

 “A time to be with those you love….”

These three friends are dreading Christmas …

Cat needs to get off the ‘has-been’ heap and rescue her flagging TV career but the demands of her extended family are reaching fever pitch and she barely has time to breathe. Meanwhile, Pippa has got too many balls to juggle as a struggling single mum trying to hang on to her family farm. And Marianne’s marriage is looking distinctly rocky now her beloved husband’s ex is back on the scene.

Happy Christmas? Forget it.

But Christmas is a time for miracles, and when the villagers learn they must fight for what they love, it becomes clear that there is festive magic in the air.

Suddenly for Cat, Pippa and Marianne, it’s looking like it might just be a Christmas to remember …

The perfect festive treat for fans of The Archers, Carole Matthews and Veronica Henry.

Paperback, 400 pages

Published November 6th 2014 by Avon (first published September 25th 2014)

Genre: Contemporary, Women’s Fiction/Chick Lit, Holiday

“Pippa didn’t want to be the one who threw in the towel. She had to save her heritage. Whatever it cost…”

Coming Home for Christmas, by Julia Williams, is a story about three women with very real struggles, who could all use a Christmas miracle. They live in a picturesque village, called Hope Christmas.

To add to their problems, L.K. Holdings has plans to come in and build a luxury hotel complex right on top of them. Hope Christmas will never be the same again…

Pippa’s farm is her past, her present, and her children’s future. She will do anything to save her farm… Unfortunately, being newly divorced, she may not have the finances to keep her farm. But, she refuses to be bought out by L.K. Holdings! She has to find a way!

And find a way she does… She rallies the village to protest, which significantly delays any progress on the part of L.K. Holdings. Meanwhile, she comes up with ideas to save her farm by hosting Halloween and winter themed events. All while raising her children, including one with special needs, all by herself. Her husband who suffered a brain injury, and hasn’t been the same ever since, walked out on her, and left her to handle things on her own. She appears to have everything under control… but will it be enough?

Marianne feels depressed. She isn’t cut out to be a farmer’s wife, like her good friend Pippa. But her twins, and step-son keep her plenty busy.

When Marianne gets a phone call and learns that her husband’s mentally ill ex-wife has nowhere to go and needs a temporary home, her immediate thought is NO WAY… but her husband reluctantly agrees to have her, in their house. Much to Marianne’s dismay.

And then there is Cat… wife, mother, and grandmother to baby Lou Lou, with an unexpected career as a TV chef. Bogged down by child care, Cat wonders, when will life ever get easy?

These three women have one thing in common, they want to save the woods, the woodland creatures, and their village itself from being mowed down by a luxury hotel development. Together, they fight the great fight, and hope for a Christmas miracle!

I would like to thank Avon Books UK, and Olivia Wilson of LightBrigade PR for providing me with a complimentary copy of Coming Home For Christmas in exchange for a fair, thoughtful and honest book review.

Coming Home For Christmas wasn’t the light Holiday read that I was expecting to read. Throughout the pages you will find real struggle, and anguish from these three women who are facing real-life problems, and the strife within the community to save their village.

Coming Home For Christmas is a festive, Holiday read for women. I really did enjoy this story, and was happy to see all the loose strings pulled nicely together in the end.

I really enjoyed Marianne’s character, and adding the ex-wife into the mix added a much needed dosage of comedy to lighten the story up. Marianne should have known upon Eve walking in that they were in for a wild ride, when their lamb gets loose and tears through the house like a runaway train!

Overall, I am giving this novel 4 stars.

Purchase Coming Home For Christmas, by Julia Williams, here.

More Books by Julia Williams

http://www.juliawilliamsauthor.com/

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