Written by Jackie Ladbury⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
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Firstly, I would like to thank Rachel of Rachel's Random Resources for the invitation to join the blog tour for Happy Christmas Eve, and author Jackie Ladbury for a free digital copy of her book to review.
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The blurb:
A heart-warming Christmas story to put you in the mood for the festive season.
All I want for Christmas is you … or you?
Eve Halligan is back in her hometown for Christmas after a whirlwind few years touring with her band, the Molotovs. A lot has changed since she left, but two things have stayed the same. One: Eve is head-over-heels in love with Lucien Malikov, the Molotovs’ bad boy lead singer. Two: Lucien is completely indifferent to her.
Still, Eve dreams that this could be the Christmas where she convinces Lucien that they’re made for each other. But when childhood friend and local caterer Theo Wright comes back into her life bringing with him festive cupcake and sausage roll conundrums, Eve begins to question whether her Christmas dreams have been wasted on the wrong man …
Romantic Comedy
Holiday Fiction
My thoughts:
Well, there's none so blind as those who will not see! Eve Halligan believes herself to be in love with Lucien Malikov. Lucien is only interested in himself and keeps her hanging on, because without her, his career would nose-dive. She was taken on as a singer and writes the songs Lucien sings, but she has become a general dogsbody, looking after Lucien and the band. He claims he writes his own material, giving her no credit, and worse still, no royalties.Eve is in love with a selfish man-child who is incapable of loving anyone other than himself. Until her eyes are fully opened to him, she will be unable to free herself from him and find true love.
Enter love-lorn Theo Wright, who has loved Eve for as long as she has wanted Lucien. Theo is now a successful caterer, and hopes to win Eve over. He knows that he has to wait for Eve to get over her infatuation with Lucien, and see him (Theo) for the man he is. And all this plays out against a Christmas backdrop.
This is a lovely, well-written, Christmasy novella with plausible, well-drawn characters. I was rooting for Theo from the beginning, and desperately wanted Eve to wake up and see that Lucien was merely using her. Lucien is absolutely despicable, wrapped up in himself, and only offers Eve the hope of a relationship with him when he thinks she is about to fall into the arms of another.
I felt very cross with Eve that she could not see what everyone else could about Lucien. She kept making excuses for him, and accepted that he was the authority in all things related to the band. In reality he was keeping her hidden in the background so that the limelight would fall on him alone.
Theo gives her the courage she needs to rectify the situation, and has a couple of friends help along the way.
Of the secondary characters, I particularly liked Maisie, Theo's step-sister. She wants to be an angel with gold wings in the school nativity, despite being given the leading role of Mary. Let's just say she goes a little off-script on the big night, and I found it hilarious.
A lovely cosy Christmas love story.
| Author Bio – Jackie Ladbury |
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 Jackie Ladbury writes heart-warming 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 her social media pages: |
| Social Media Links – | |
| Blog | https://thewriteromantics.wordpress.com/ |
| Web Site | https://jackieladbury.com/ |
| Facebook Author Page | https://www.facebook.com/jackie.ladbury |
| X | https://twitter.com/JackieLadbury |
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