The Magic of Christmas

This is the first ever Trisha Ashley book I read and bought it purely because it was a on a 2 for £3 deal at the local Tesco about 4 years ago and the glitter strewn cover enticed me. Well, now I have finally caved in and bought it for my beloved Kindle and have thoroughly enjoyed reading it for at least the fourth time. Lizzie Pharamond lives in an estate cottage gifted by her Uncle (by marriage) to her and her husband Tom and son Jasper. Moving in the cottage name was quickly changed to Perseverance Cottage as this was the name of the first marital home of the Pharamonds and also the title of a cult series of books that Lizzie pens. Marriage isn't all it is cracked up to be and Tom is more often away than he is home but this seems to suit Lizzie and her son and gives her plenty of time to grow her fruit and veg, get on with the never-ending pickling, brewing, baking, chutney making and any other food storage technique she can think of to make the most of her bounty. As the book opens, Tom suffers a fatal accident and it looks very much as though the local constabulary believe Lizzie could be complicit as it was her car he was driving when it happened. Much of the book is devoted to Lizzie coping with sudden widowhood by throwing herself into both the Christmas Pudding Circle (making and putting together Christmas Hampers for the local elderly population) and the Middlemoss Mystery Plays. Told from Lizzie's perspective and "in her own words" the story is lively and amusing. No moping and weeping about bemoaning her fate for our Lizzie and with a couple of likely suitors looming on the horizon the hope of romance is there too. Running from Mid-September to the Boxing Day performance of the Middlemoss Mysteries you feel really drawn in to Lizzie's life and the characters leap off the page as fully formed people. One of the things I love about Trisha Ashley books is that her characters are drawn very sparingly but they appear as real people that you would love to get to know, even the decidedly nasty ones. I also like the fact that they are not "soppy" romances with needy, weak women who need a man to complete them. These are heroines that know their own mind and value their independence. The Magic Of Christmas is a warm and cosy romance that is perfect for cold, wet and windy days curled up in front of the fire.

this book is one of my favourites after not being appreciated by her husband I felt kind of bad when he died but then she fell in love again at the end

First book I have read by this author, characters were believable , well told story looking forward to reading more x