Thursday 2 July 2015

Reviewed: The Perfect Christmas by Kate Forster.







The Perfect Christmas was published by Mira on September 29, 2014.


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



The Perfect Christmas is a short story packed with tons of festive goodness and oozing with addictive Christmas spirt. It’s light-hearted, it’s fun and it involves a lovely little Christmas fairytale – the perfect quick read to help you lose some of the stress the festive seasons brings with it. Movie star Maggie is used to spending Christmas with her husband Will and his son, Elliot, but things are not great in their relationship and much to Maggie’s upset, Will has chosen to spend Christmas in Mexico with Elliot and she’s not invited! Instead, Maggie turns to her best friend and manager Zoe in the hope they can escape their dreary Christmases in LA together. Maggie’s been struggling as her stepson is poorly and on the donor list for a new heart. Zoe is working herself far too hard, constantly attached to her phone or laptop. But they’re soon on their way to spending Christmas in London and Maggie is super excited to have new plans for Christmas – ones which involve lots of shopping and lots of fun.

I really loved Kate Forster’s writing style – it was fresh, witty and she sure knew how to set a scene. The description of London at Christmas time was made to sound beautiful and as Maggie and Zoe go on a shopping spree, the chaotic madness of Christmas shopping in the overflowing city of London was represented to be realistically, extremely manic. The friendship between Maggie and Zoe was really entertaining to read and I loved both characters. There was a lot of humour and the dynamics between them worked really well – with Zoe trying to persuade Maggie to not worry about losing weight this Christmas and eat the food she wants to eat – and Maggie trying to get Zoe to take a break from work because it’s Christmas and she’s on holiday, business can wait. I thought their friendship was great fun to read and two characters you feel you could have a laugh with.

In London, Maggie and Zoe meet their concierge, Holly, who is sweet and very helpful and so easy to like. Holly has got more than a little crush on one of her colleagues and Maggie picks up on that virtually straight away. Much to Zoe’s bemusement, Maggie sets out to play Cupid. Just because she can’t have the perfect Christmas doesn’t mean she shouldn’t help somebody else have the perfect Christmas, right? The humour of this book came through Maggie and Zoe’s meddling and Maggie’s pure desperation to bring Holly her fairytale Christmas. Neither Maggie or Zoe really appeared to be the stereotypical well-off women, celebrities even, they seemed more down-to-earth than that and far more generous with their time but it was refreshing to read and I wondered how things were going to play out for all three ladies.

At the end of this short story, there’s a lengthy extract of Picture Perfect, the full-length follow up novel to The Perfect Christmas. I was sold on this right away and I will read it because this short story leaves a lot left to be discovered about the characters of Maggie and Zoe and they’re own lives back in LA. I’d love to know more about Maggie’s story and about her poorly stepson Elliot, about why her relationship with Will appeared to be so damaged. The Perfect Christmas worked wonderfully as a prequel short story because it has got me completely interested in these characters and eager to read more from them. It’s a fun-filled, feel-good holiday read which is ideal just to put a big smile on your face this Christmas time.


Beautifully drawn festivities in London with entertaining characters and a magical story.







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