Sunday 5 July 2015

Reviewed: Cold Feet at Christmas by Debbie Johnson.







Cold Feet at Christmas was published by HarperImpulse on November 6, 2014.


Thanks to the publisher for auto-approving me a copy of this book on Netgalley.



Cold Feet at Christmas was one of 2014’s most talked about Christmas books and so I couldn’t wait to read it myself and see what all the fuss was about. I have to start off by saying that yes, this isn’t the most realistic storyline in the world. Chances are, if you’ve just ran away on your wedding day from your cheating fiancĂ©, you’re probably not going to sleep with a stranger so soon afterwards and almost forget about any of the hurt and pain and upset. Leah is certainly one of a kind. But this is fiction. It’s a Christmas book. Who doesn’t love a touch of the too-good-to-be true, a bit of escapism? And I can’t say this book would have had the same appeal if Leah was going to spend half of it moping around when she discovers her boyfriend is being less than faithful. Cold Feet at Christmas was such a fun book! It was a quick, easy read and a story a little different to the rest – I loved that Debbie Johnson tried a plotline which was fresh and original, and not the traditional kind of romance you’d expect from a lot of books out there.

I loved how Debbie set the scene. We meet Leah on Christmas Eve, in her no-longer-soon-to-be-husband’s car battling the snow in the middle of the Scottish countryside as she escapes before their wedding. She’s stuck, she’s freezing cold and she needs help, help which turns out to be in the shape of Rob, who’s staying in the lone cottage nearby. So early on, Debbie has built up a vivid picture of the location, the scenario and both Leah and Rob’s appearances and character. The tone was set for the rest of the book and after a funny turn of events, the chemistry between Leah and Rob was hotting up my Kindle. I adored the first chapter to Cold Feet at Christmas – it was witty, flirty and a bit mad and it hooked me straight into the story, which turned out to be a one-sitting kind of read.

For me, this was a book of two halves. It was part steamy, slightly erotic romance, to part serious romance where both love interests’ pasts play a part and there’s a will-they, won’t-they feel to it. I really enjoyed this book but I did enjoy the first half more. I loved the sizzling attraction between Leah and Rob, how they weren’t really thinking too sensibly about what they were doing, how they let their attraction take over. Come on, it’s Christmas, you’ve both had a rough time of it – I wanted to see them live a little and they sure had a lot of fun (to put it mildly). They were both feisty characters who knew what they wanted. Rob’s career is based in Chicago and just a couple of days after Christmas, he invites Leah to join him. There’s a job on offer for her but only if she’s aware he’s no longer interested in the physical side to their relationship. Boo! Ok, I accepted this with only a few complaints – I mean, I was pretty sure Leah could break down anyone with her snark and persuasion. But Rob was so damn stubborn! I liked learning more about Rob as a character, and not just a hottie, but I kind of liked flirtatious Rob more. And as much as I enjoyed the story, I thought the lighter tone disappeared a tad when it became a bit more argumentative. Normally I’m all for the serious side to a romance, I’d probably complain if it wasn’t there, but I did like the Leah and Rob who couldn’t keep their hands off of each other.

Cold Feet at Christmas was fast-paced, amusing and full of one-liners that had me giggling away. Christmas is in the title so of course it’s known as a Christmas book, but it isn’t that festive if I’m honest. It does begin on Christmas Eve but a lot of time passes afterwards. If Christmas wasn’t in the title, you could probably pick it up at any stage of the year and read it without thinking anything of it, which isn’t actually a complaint, since I read and loved it in May. I smiled, I swooned, I was entertained. I choked laughing at some of the stuff Leah came out with and I mentally banged her and Rob’s heads together so they could see sense and realise they shouldn’t be letting that chemistry go to waste!! Cold Feet at Christmas is one of the most memorable romantic-comedies I've ever read.


Witty, steamy and tons of fun!







2 comments:

  1. Great review, I felt the same way about this book :).

    ReplyDelete

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