Christmas at Lilac Cottage by Holly Martin

Penny Meadows loves her home – a cosy cottage decorated with pretty twinkling fairy lights and stunning views over the town of White Cliff Bay. She also loves her job as an ice-carver, creating breathtaking sculptures. Yet her personal life seems frozen. 

When Henry and daughter Daisy arrive at the cottage to rent the annex, Penny is determined to make them feel welcome. But while Daisy is friendly, Henry seems guarded. 

As Penny gets to know Henry, she realises there is more to him than meets the eye. And the connection between them is too strong to ignore … 

While the spirit of the season sprinkles its magic over the seaside town and preparations for the ice sculpting competition and Christmas eve ball are in full swing, can Penny melt the ice and allow love in her heart? And will this finally be the perfect Christmas she’s been dreaming of? 

Like a creamy hot chocolate with marshmallows, you won’t want to put this deliciously heartwarming novel down. 

Spend the perfect Christmas in White Cliff Bay this year. Snowflakes on Silver Cove coming very soon.

Author: Holly Martin
Title: Christmas at Lilac Cottage
Publishers: Bookouture
Publication Date: 25th Sept 2015
Link: Uk: Amazon   US: Amazon

My Review

If you enjoy that warm and fuzzy glow you get from reading a Christmas love story then I suggest you buy this book, it's as Christmassy as a sparkly snowflake on Santa's hat.

It is set in the beautifully sounding White Cliff Bay where our main character Penny has been living alone in a place called Lilac Cottage. She is nervously anticipating the arrival of her new lodgers who will be moving into an annexe of the tiny house with an interconnecting door. Henry and Daisy sound like a nice couple but on meeting them she finds that hunky Henry seems grumpy and thinks the house is too small and wastes no time in telling her that this will be a very temporary arrangement. Daisy is his sixteen year old daughter whom he is fiercely protective of and she loves the place.

Although obviously attracted to each other they can't enter into a relationship as Penny had her heart broken eight years ago and Henry doesn't do relationships as the last woman he went out with broke his daughter's heart by pretending to be nice to her but secretly being horrible.
Therefore Henry only ever meets women secretly for sex.

Life soon becomes very complicated for Penny and Henry and the more they find out about each other the more they want to be together but the odds are very much against them. Penny loves Daisy and the feeling is mutual but Henry's sister is suspicious about Penny's motives towards the sixteen year old as she wonders if she is just using her to get to her dad.

The story has danger, love, friendship, laugh out loud humour, especially the scene in the shop when Penny needs a toothbrush and I loved the way the community came together to prepare Penny for her non date with Henry.

I did feel all warm inside many times throughout the book and it has put me in a lovely christmassy mood. Make sure you are curled up in a slankie by the fire when you are reading it as it does get very chilly in parts and you will wish you had Henry to cuddle up to and keep you warm.

Thanks to Bookouture for the advanced review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Sincerely

Book Angel x

About the Author

Holly lives in sunny Bedfordshire in a house with round windows. She studied media at university which led to a very glitzy career as a hotel receptionist followed by a even more glamorous two years working in a bank. The moment that one of her colleagues received the much coveted carriage clock for fifteen years' service was the moment when she knew she had to escape. She quit her job and returned to university to train to be a teacher. Three years later, she emerged wide eyed and terrified that she now had responsibility for the development of thirty young minds. She taught for four years and then escaped the classroom to teach history workshops, dressing up as a Viking one day and an Egyptian High Priestess the next. But the long journeys around the UK and many hours sat on the M25 gave her a lot of time to plan out her stories and she now writes full time, doing what she loves.

Holly has been writing for 6 years. She was shortlisted for the New Talent Award at the Festival of Romance. Her short story won the Sunlounger competition and was published in the Sunlounger anthology. She won the Carina Valentine's competition at the Festival of Romance 2013 with her novel The Guestbook. She was shortlisted for Best Romantic Read, Best eBook and Innovation in Romantic Fiction at the Festival of Romance 2014. 

Follow her on Twitter @hollymartin00