Kiltie’s Advent Book Calendar – 6th Dec

One Christmas Kiss in Notting Hill by Mandy Baggot: Ebury Press

Page Count (e-book): 448

The Blurb:

Imagine the perfect Christmas Kiss…
His strong arms around her waist, her hands on his face, the snow slowly starts to fall…
It’s enough to make Isla Winters cringe! While her sister can’t get enough of this – increasingly common – sight on the streets of London, Isla’s too busy trying to stop Hannah’s wheelchair from slipping on the ice, and making sure she’s not too late to her dream job at Breekers International.

But everything changes with the arrival of Chase Bryan, fresh from the New York office. He’s eager to learn everything about Isla’s beloved Notting Hill, but as the nights get colder, will cosying up to him come at a price?

My Review:

The great thing about opening a ‘Mandy Baggot’ book is that you know you are guaranteed a darn good story and I am delighted to say that ‘A Christmas Kiss in Notting Hill’ doesn’t fail to meet the expected remit.

Isla Winters is great – she’s a strong woman who’s made a good career for herself in the face of adversity. Her younger sister, Hannah, lacks a mouth filter and provides a lot of the laughter within the story with some of her antics. Life has dealt them both a shoddy hand of cards but they’ve done a pretty decent job of making lemonade from the lemons. This, however, could all be about to change when they find their beloved little corner of Notting Hill is under threat. I’ll be honest, I did find ‘that’ concept (no spoilers) a teensy-weensy bit unlikely due to the love and affection this part of London is holds in the hearts of so many but that’s not to say that some big foreign conglomerate wouldn’t come up with some such suggestion.

Chase Bryan, the love interest, is, in every possible way, a thoroughly modern man! He’s completely in touch with how things should be done in the 21st century but with the advantage of being drop-dead-delicious to boot! Well, we’re allowed extra candy at Christmas and the descriptions of this piece of eye-candy worked for me.

The meet cute in this story is exceptional and I was both cringing and laughing at the same time. It is certainly one way to make an impression although it’s not one I would be inclined to recommend. There are also plenty of additional characters who round out this lovely tale and add in the seasoning which makes this book so delightful. 

The tale is another classic ‘will they / won’t they’ and, once again, I’m not going to give the game away. It’s a great read, highly entertaining, flows beautifully and ticks all the right boxes for helping to get you into a jolly, Christmassy frame of mind.

Available in e-book and paperback on Amazon