This is a lovely festive follow up to Rachel’s Pudding Pantry which was released earlier in the year.
Rachel is still at Primrose Farm and her Pudding Pantry has survived the busy summer period but as autumn sets in and Christmas looms, she is starting to worry that the money from the diversification is not going to see them through the winter months.
With some very quiet days to add to her worry there is also the fact that her ex seems to be more involved with someone new who happens to have a child, and interest in their little girl Maisie perhaps takes a back seat. Her romance with neighbouring farmer Tom seems to be going one step backwards rather than forwards and when someone from the past turns up it seems to put everything in jeopardy.
Of course nothing is going to be easy but an idea of starting a ‘Pudding Club’ to diversify and bring people together over a love of puddings and making friends makes the run up to Christmas less of a problem. With a Christmas Fayre, nativities and plenty of festive baking to fit in between running the farm she has perhaps taken on more than she can cope with.
When the weather takes a turn and her livestock are threatened she has to muster all the strength to not just save them but everything she loves as well.
It was lovely to return to the farm and see how Rachel and her family were moving on from the past and creating a rather different future. Rachel realises that time moves on and with it so do people and perhaps she needs to accept the change that his happening around her – it can only be for the good.
This is a great festive read and with the recipes punctuated throughout the novel it definitely sets you taste buds going. Makes you want to sit in front of a roaring fire and demolish a mince pie or two!
Thank you to the publisher via netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.
Christmas at Rachel’s Pudding Pantry is published on 31 October.
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