Format: ebook
Published:
Age: Adult
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Goodreads
Rating: 4/5 Stars
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This book was adorable! We start with Rose, who avoids Christmas best as she can, usually hunkering down and ignoring everyone to get through the holidays. But this year she’s desperate to get out of Dublin, and books a cottage in rural Donegal. Charlie can’t face Christmas this year, his first holiday alone, and needs an escape. A friend suggests a cottage in rural Donegal. And when Charlie arrives with his dog, the place looks perfect – until the woman he helped on the roadside arrives with her dog, and the couple who own the cottage realise they’ve made a huge mistake.
They try to make the best of things, laying down rules for their shared time, so both can still have a solitary Christmas. But the harder they try to avoid each other, the more difficult it becomes, and the more Charlie and Rose grow to realise maybe the answer isn’t to remain totally alone over Christmas.
This book ticks all the boxes for a heartfelt Christmas romance. Yes, okay, there’s only one bed, but Charlie and Rose find a workaround for that problem. There’s the quaint village where they keep bumping into each other, and despite the ‘rules’ designed for them to keep their distance, they find themselves sharing some truly tender, heartfelt moments. Some things in here were a touch clumsily handled, but much more often than not I found myself smiling at the ways the two characters interacted with each other, whether it was over text message or face to face.
The atmosphere is handled really well and there was a lovely supporting cast, and as the book goes on, we see some great character development for both Charlie and Rose, as they overcome their personal obstacles. Some elements felt a touch forced, but, overall, this was a wonderful festive read.
Thank you to Penguin for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley – views remain my own.
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