My thanks to Katrina Power for the review e-copy of this book. It’s available in ebook (just 99p at the time of writing) and paperback. You’ll find buying options on the Canelo website here: A Country Village Christmas
About the Author
Can the magic of Christmas and the community of Thorndale bring two lost souls together in love?
About the book
The last thing Olivia expects is for her surprise guest to be the very man who literally ran from her after an evening of mutual flirtation. But Tom has nowhere else to go and Olivia is determined to forget the disappointment she felt at his abandonment and instead help him find his way again.
Suzanne writes contemporary, romantic and uplifting fiction with a strong sense of setting and community connecting the lives of her characters. Previously she worked in financial services and retrained as a horticulturist to plant redesigned gardens. When she’s not writing or spending time with her family, she can usually be found in a garden or looking to the landscape around her for inspiration.
As heavy snow keeps them inside the cottage, will their enforced confinement spark romance once again – or will it push them further apart?
A Country Village Christmas is the fourth in Suzanne Snow’s series set in the village of Thorndale. I’ve read one of them before, A Summer of Second Chances, and very much enjoyed it. You can easily read the books as standalone stories, though if you have read any of the others, you will be pleased to spot familiar faces you have met before. Suzanne recently took part in my #AuthorInTheFestiveSpotlight series and you can find out all about what she does for Christmas in that – click here to read.
I loved the setting of Thorndale, a village which sounds like it’s a place with a great sense of community spirit. It sounded especially lovely to be cut off by the snow, although I’m sure the novelty of that would soon wear off in reality. It certainly created the right conditions for Olivia and Tom to really get to know each other and discover the things in life which are really important.
I really enjoyed this book and liked both the main characters. Olivia really needed to take some time for herself amidst her workaholic lifestyle and I think her lovely dad knew exactly what he was doing when asked her to help clear his house over Christmas time. What he didn’t know of course was that the extra house guest, Tom, as well as being rather famous, was also someone Olivia had previously met and been very attracted to. Since he had literally run away from Olivia at that encounter it set up a very interesting situation with the two being forced to spend time together.
It was good to read about characters not in the first flush of youth though not exactly over the hill! Tom and Olivia didn’t fling themselves impulsively into a passionate affair. Instead they took a more considered approach to friendship, slowly getting to know each other. This might result in a solid foundation for a relationship but at times I just wanted Olivia to live a little, live in the moment and take a risk instead of constantly needing to be so controlled.
I particularly enjoyed the bookshop aspect of the story with the shop Twitter account hashtag recommending classic Christmas books each day. I noticed that one of the books was Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory which the author spoke about in the Festive Spotlight I mentioned at the start. And one of the books inspired the perfect Christmas gift for Tom, bringing a big smile to my face.
A Country Village Christmas is a lovely festive romance to curl up with and I so enjoyed Olivia and Tom’s story. I believe that this might be the final book in the Thorndale series so I will need to go back and catch up with the ones I’ve missed.
Olivia doesn’t have time for Christmas or for romance – she’s got a demanding career and has been burned before when it comes to love. This year, she’s spending the festive season in her dad’s old house, packing it up now that he’s moved out. Her dad failed to mention she wouldn’t be spending her time there alone…
Her first novel in the Thorndale series, The Cottage of New Beginnings, was a contender for the 2021 RNA Joan Hessayon Award and she is currently writing the Love in the Lakes series for Canelo.
My Thoughts
