The Xmas Factor by Annie Sanders; Orion
Page Count (e-book) – 324
The Blurb:
Meet two women with two totally different approaches to the festive season.
Beth: it’s only September, and already she has performance anxiety. Not surprising when she has agreed to lay on the annual Christmas Eve village bash – the piece de resistance of her husband’s former wife – not to mention having to host Christmas for his difficult offspring. New to this frenzied build-up to the festivities, Beth begins to lose sight of what it all means. To her the Christmas lights are looking more like the headlamps of an oncoming train.
Carol: glamorous magazine editor, who put her aspirational Christmas issue to bed sometime in July and is so involved in finding a scoop to save her ailing magazine that she fails to notice the impending festive rush. Panicked and wracked with guilt, she is determined to make it a picture-perfect time for her little boy and, opting for convenience, books a lovely-sounding cottage in a quaint village.
Even the best-laid plans have a habit of unravelling – and no plan at all is a recipe for disaster. So when these two Christmases collide, it looks like it’s going to be anything but goodwill towards men…
My Review:
This book is a particular favourite of mine and is read every other year so I was over the moon to have a darn good reason to read it again for this little venture.
Beth and Carol could not be more different – one is a wife, university lecturer and step-mother to two adult children. The other is a single mother to a young son and a ladies magazine editor. Beth is used to being in control within her life of academia, Carol is used to being surrounded by the glamour and glitz of running a top-selling, glossy, mag. This Christmas, however, they find themselves in situations outside of their comfort zones and that is the theme throughout the book. Chuck in a stroppy, adult-brat by the name of Holly and you have all the makings of a fabulous read.
The story line flits between the three women and flows beautifully, all the while highlighting the pressure and stress so many women (and maybe some modern-day men) put upon themselves at this time of year – often forgetting that Christmas is supposed to be about love and family, not perfection. This book often brings to mind Christmas’s from my own childhood. My mum was always the perfectionist, aiming for everything to be ‘just so’, yet the Christmases that remain in my memory are the ones which were not. Such as the time we got snowed in and my mum couldn’t get the car out so my best mate and I had to walk two miles to the butchers and back, dragging a sixteen-pound turkey behind us on a sledge! These are kind of moments which memories are made of.
There are many moments of laughter through this book, it has a wonderful ending and I always have a large smile on my face when I turn the last page.
Available in e-book and paperback on Amazon
This sounds like a lot of festive fun. I’m also impressed by your turkey on a sledge tale. Hope you sneak that into a book one day! Xx
30 It’s not outside the realms of possibility! 😉 😀 xx