Kiltie’s Advent Book Calendar – 19th Dec

A Mistletoe Miracle by Emma Jackson; Orion

Page Count (e-book) – 258

The Blurb:

At the Everdene Hotel, snowflakes, romance and mayhem are in the air…

A cosy hotel in a sleepy, snow-covered village should be the perfect setting for a Christmas to remember… But for Beth, returning to her childhood home after a disastrous break-up looks more like a festive fiasco.

With her mum stranded in a blizzard and most of the hotel staff off sick, Beth is forced to take the reins, impress a mystery hotel reviewer, and somehow find a way to work with Nick, the very grumpy – and very gorgeous – pilot who is staying for the holidays.

Between mince pie emergencies, deadly decorations, and two dozen disgruntled guests, Beth might just find a miracle under the mistletoe this Christmas…

My Review:

I liked this book! It had everything you would expect from a Christmas novel and quite a bit more. The story begins two weeks after Beth has returned home to her mother’s hotel after finding out her lying scumbag boyfriend has been bedding her Zumba instructor and your first impression of Beth is that she hovers on the side of being a bit ditsy! I wasn’t sure, at this point, if I was going to enjoy the story as I do find dithering ladies to be more annoying than amusing.  As we get to know Beth, however we learn that her tendency towards vagueness is actually the result of her lack of self-confidence and self-belief. And this sets the backbone of the story.

Like the blurb states, Beth finds herself stranded on her own, running the hotel. He mother has dashed off on a mission of mercy and the snow came down before she could return. Unfortunately, there are twenty-two guests in residence – one of whom is the mysterious Hotel Hopper, a major influencer on social media – and they’re all looking forward to a lovely, traditional Christmas. Suddenly Beth finds herself trying to hold everything together with no staff and no confidence to help her along.

Among the guests are two brothers, Nick and Stephen, who have joined their Grandmother for the festive season. Prior to booking into the hotel, Beth and Nick had already run into each other. Literally! And Nick had certainly left an impression as they both walked away in the opposite direction. So, when you add the handsome heart-throb into the mix, you have all the ingredients for a pretty standard, run-of-the-mill, Christmas romance.

Except…

It wasn’t ordinary or standard! By the third’ish chapter, I had put together some expectations of how this story was going to roll out but I am delighted to say I was completely wrong. While the reader may be expecting something quite predictable, they don’t get it! This is a story of ups and downs with twists and turns and being not really sure what’s going to come next. I loved that Ms Jackson was prepared to step away from the path of certainty and give us something unanticipated. There are funny moments, OMG moments and occasions where you are turning the pages faster than the speed of light to find out what is coming next. Of equal importance, of course, is how it ends as you may have noticed, if you’ve been reading my other reviews, I am quite fussy when it comes to those last few pages and how I’m going to feel when I hit the last full stop. Well, I am delighted to say the ending was quite perfect. It worked well and left this reader fully satisfied that everything had turned out just how I wanted it.

Available in e-book on Amazon