THE MOST PERFECT CHRISTMAS FEEL-GOOD READ!
'Every time you discover a new Milly book, it’s like finding a pot of gold' Heat
Eve Glace - co-owner of the theme park Winterworld - is having a baby and her due date is a perfectly timed 25th December. And she’s decided that she and her husband Jacques should renew their wedding vows with all the pomp that was missing the first time. But growing problems at Winterworld keep distracting them …
Annie Pandoro and her husband Joe own a small Christmas cracker factory, are well set up and happy together despite life never blessing them with a much-wanted child. But when Annie finds that the changes happening to her body aren’t typical of the menopause but pregnancy, her joy is uncontainable.
Palma Collins has agreed to act as a surrogate, hoping the money will get her out of the gutter in which she finds herself. But when the couple she is helping split up, is she going to be left carrying a baby she never intended to keep?
Annie, Palma and Eve all meet at the ‘Christmas Pudding Club’, a new directive started by a forward-thinking young doctor to help mums-to-be mingle and share their pregnancy journeys. Will this group help each other to find love, contentment and peace as Christmas approaches?
The brand new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Perfectly Imperfect Woman; a gorgeous read full of love, life, laughter - and crackers!
Title: The Mother of all Christmases
Author: Milly Johnson
Published By: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: 15th November
Our Review
Heartbreaking with a beautiful silver lining.
Firstly I would just like to point out that this is not a shmaltzy fairy tale kind of Christmas book and is quite a lot darker than Milly’s other books but it is a cracker of a read that I guarantee will break your heart.
Although it does have its own Winter Wonderland with fake snow and reindeer, this is a hard hitting novel describing the grittiness of life for one of the characters called Palma who has hit her rock bottom and is trying to climb back up into a decent life.
When she becomes pregnant she joins the Christmas Pudding club which has been set up by her doctor to allow mums-to-be to meet up and who can then support each other through their pregnancies.
Through this club she meets Annie who’s the owner of a Christmas cracker factory and Annie and the other employees provide the light hearted and fun element of the story through their hilarious banter, especially Iris and Gill. I loved the parts were Gill was FaceTiming from Spain because it’s such a real thing we do in this age of technology we can still very much stay in contact with our friends and loved ones.
Palma is a very flawed character but mostly born out of survival skills that she had to develop to see her through the rough patch that was her life. Whilst it’s easy to judge Palma for some of the actions she took, at the time she just thought it was the right thing to do and I found I understood her reasoning and quickly warmed to her.
Although she often felt very much the outsider in the group the others all clucked around her like mummy ducks protecting their young and I think this was special for Palma because she had never had any self worth.
There is a heartbreaking tragedy which puts everything into perspective for many of the characters but the lovely thing that shines through from this story, apart from the strong bonds of friendship between women which Milly's books are renowned for, is the love that grows between a mother and her unborn child and the same with the man that she chooses to be a father to that child.
There were some very touching scenes involving a lovely man called Tommy which truly brought a tear to my eye. His story was so uplifting and just shows that when someone really believes in you then you can achieve anything you put your mind to and the fact that he wanted to provide that chance for other children was inspiring.
The book although quite dark at times has a beautiful silver lining and ends with a really lovely positive glow.
Many of the wide range of characters from Milly’s previous books feature in this one, including Cariad and Effin from The Barn on Half Moon Hill which Milly wrote to raise money for her friend who lost her sons in the most horrendous way. All proceeds from that novella go to the Care for Claire charity which is such a worthy cause.
To buy please click here. Their stories were all very cleverly intertwined and it was lovely to see how they were doing and especially lovely to visit the Sunflower Cafe once again.
I cried again when reading the acknowledgments because Milly talks about her own rollercoaster of a ride with motherhood which I can totally relate to as our children are approaching University age and it becomes obvious right there how much love and passion has gone into writing this book.
I've loved all of Milly's books and devour them whole, I really can't wait for the next one.
Milly Johnson was born, raised and still lives in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. As well as being an author of 15 published novels, 2 short story books and 2 novellas, she is also a copywriter for the greetings card industry, a joke-writer, a columnist, after dinner speaker, poet, BBC newspaper reviewer, and a sometimes BBC radio presenter.
She won the RoNA for Best Romantic Comedy Novel of 2014 and 2016 and the Yorkshire Society award for Arts and Culture 2015.
She writes about love, life, friendships and that little bit of the magic that sometimes crops up in real life. She likes owls, cats, meringues, handbags and literary gifts - but hates marzipan. She is very short.
Milly's website is www.millyjohnson.co.uk. She is on Twitter @millyjohnson and has a Facebook page (just google Book Page of Milly Johnson). She also has a monthly newsletter www.millyjohnson.co.uk/newsletter with exclusive, news, offers and competitions.
Heartbreaking with a beautiful silver lining.
Firstly I would just like to point out that this is not a shmaltzy fairy tale kind of Christmas book and is quite a lot darker than Milly’s other books but it is a cracker of a read that I guarantee will break your heart.
Although it does have its own Winter Wonderland with fake snow and reindeer, this is a hard hitting novel describing the grittiness of life for one of the characters called Palma who has hit her rock bottom and is trying to climb back up into a decent life.
When she becomes pregnant she joins the Christmas Pudding club which has been set up by her doctor to allow mums-to-be to meet up and who can then support each other through their pregnancies.
Through this club she meets Annie who’s the owner of a Christmas cracker factory and Annie and the other employees provide the light hearted and fun element of the story through their hilarious banter, especially Iris and Gill. I loved the parts were Gill was FaceTiming from Spain because it’s such a real thing we do in this age of technology we can still very much stay in contact with our friends and loved ones.
Palma is a very flawed character but mostly born out of survival skills that she had to develop to see her through the rough patch that was her life. Whilst it’s easy to judge Palma for some of the actions she took, at the time she just thought it was the right thing to do and I found I understood her reasoning and quickly warmed to her.
Although she often felt very much the outsider in the group the others all clucked around her like mummy ducks protecting their young and I think this was special for Palma because she had never had any self worth.
There is a heartbreaking tragedy which puts everything into perspective for many of the characters but the lovely thing that shines through from this story, apart from the strong bonds of friendship between women which Milly's books are renowned for, is the love that grows between a mother and her unborn child and the same with the man that she chooses to be a father to that child.
There were some very touching scenes involving a lovely man called Tommy which truly brought a tear to my eye. His story was so uplifting and just shows that when someone really believes in you then you can achieve anything you put your mind to and the fact that he wanted to provide that chance for other children was inspiring.
The book although quite dark at times has a beautiful silver lining and ends with a really lovely positive glow.
Many of the wide range of characters from Milly’s previous books feature in this one, including Cariad and Effin from The Barn on Half Moon Hill which Milly wrote to raise money for her friend who lost her sons in the most horrendous way. All proceeds from that novella go to the Care for Claire charity which is such a worthy cause.
I cried again when reading the acknowledgments because Milly talks about her own rollercoaster of a ride with motherhood which I can totally relate to as our children are approaching University age and it becomes obvious right there how much love and passion has gone into writing this book.
I've loved all of Milly's books and devour them whole, I really can't wait for the next one.
Sincerely
Book Angel x
About the Author
She won the RoNA for Best Romantic Comedy Novel of 2014 and 2016 and the Yorkshire Society award for Arts and Culture 2015.
She writes about love, life, friendships and that little bit of the magic that sometimes crops up in real life. She likes owls, cats, meringues, handbags and literary gifts - but hates marzipan. She is very short.
Milly's website is www.millyjohnson.co.uk. She is on Twitter @millyjohnson and has a Facebook page (just google Book Page of Milly Johnson). She also has a monthly newsletter www.millyjohnson.co.uk/newsletter with exclusive, news, offers and competitions.
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