Lottie thought all her dreams had come true, when on a beach in Cornwall her boyfriend Connor, gets down on one knee and proposes it seems the happy ending she has always wanted. And that is only the start of the book…..
Suddenly miles away in the Lake District, Lottie is on her own and having started a new job at Firholme, a beautiful estate in the Lake District and in the run up to Christmas she thinks she has finally found somewhere to settle.
With it’s own cottage and hunky but slightly grumpy, Jay her new neighbour and new colleague as at the estate, this Christmas might be slightly better than the last.
When the chance to organise a wedding before Christmas to put Firholme on the map seems too good an opportunity to miss, it is all hands the estate to provide the happy couple the wedding of their dreams,
That is until Lottie finds out that one half of the happy couple is in fact Connor, the man that twelve months previous had proposed to her.
Can she remain professional and organise the wedding or will she always be distracted by what might have been?
It is not just Lottie who needs to move on, Jay also needs to come to terms with the past and stop hiding amongst the Christmas trees on the estate with his dog Trevor.
Will these two lost souls find solace in each other’s company or are their pasts destined to always influence the future.
In a move from her normal setting Phillipa Ashley has taken us to the Lake District (more please say I) and added into the mix, a big dollop of snow, nativities, excited children, plenty of sweets and some moments just to keep us all grounded and remind us of what other’s might be suffering despite what we think of as our own plight.
If you want a well rounded Christmas story with characters to love and hate and laugh and cry with then this book is for.
Feel good festive and a good example of Phillipa’s work.
Thank you to the publisher via netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.
A Surprise Christmas Wedding is out now.
The Book Jotter 