I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day | Milly Johnson
REVIEWED BY KAREN BYROM
A sparkling Christmas read for the festive season!
Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without a Milly Johnson novel! The top-selling author knows how to present a festive feast of seasonal cheer mixed up with a stocking full of emotions. It’s the eve of Christmas Eve and six people are making journeys north when heavy snow forces them off their path and into the tiny Yorkshire village of Figgy Hollow, where a deserted inn offers shelter. Obviously the owners and expected guests are stranded elsewhere, so the six travellers settle in to wait out the storm.
There’s Bridge and Luke, once married but now meeting up to sign their divorce papers after several years of bitter wrangling; Charlie and Robin, long term recently-married partners whose planned trip to Aviemore hides a secret heartache, and finally Jack and Mary, the businessman and his PA whose meeting has been scuppered, along with Mary’s hopes of kindling a romance with her adored boss.
Can Christmas work its magic on the six strangers?
Six people holed up in a hotel with no access to the outside world sounds like a recipe for a murder-mystery, Agatha Christie style, but thankfully the strangers bond and when it becomes apparent the storm is here to stay, they set out to plan a perfect Christmas day using the resources of the well-stocked inn. As they work together, they share their hopes, fears and dreams… will each reach resolution before the snow melts and they have to go their separate ways?
Turkey with all the trimmings, a tree and home-made crackers, carol singing and parlour games, stockings and snowman building – every single seasonal element is included in this fun, feel-good read with solid emotions at its heart. Bridge and Luke’s bickering can’t hide the love they still share, while Charlie and Robin’s good-natured banter only reflects their devotion all the more. Mary’s a delightful character who maybe deserves a stronger character than Jack. We can only hope for her sake that he has a hidden passionate side!
It’s not all a rollicking roller-coaster ride to Boxing Day, of course. There are tears amidst the laughter, and Christmas can only work so much magic on the outcomes for our little party. But there’s hope amidst the heartbreak and a true realisation that Christmas is about more than eating, drinking and making merry.
I’d love to go to Figgy Hollow one day – but would I ever find the place that the six travellers so serendipitously stumbled over…? Maybe they couldn’t ever find it again either – but it doesn’t matter because their first visit has brought them true friendship and a brighter future than each could ever have imagined!
I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day is published by Simon & Schuster in hardback, RRP £14.99) and available now from Amazon.
For more reviews from Karen, please visit www.karensbookbag.co.uk. Follow Karen on Instagram and Twitter @karensbookbag.
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Allison Hay
I joined the "My Weekly" team thirteen years ago and, more recently, "The People's Friend". I love the variety of topics we cover both online and in the magazines. I manage the digital content for the brands, sharing features and information on the website, social media and in our digital newsletters.
