Christmas at Bay Tree Cottage by Linn B. Halton #BlogTour #Review @LinnBHalton @BrookCottagebks #Extract #Giveaway

I'm delighted to be one of the stops opening the blog tour for the wonderful Christmas at Bay Tree Cottage by Linn B. Halton. Today you can catch my review along with an extract and a giveaway! First of all let's take a look at the description for the book...

Genre: Romance/women’s contemporary/holidays
Release Date: 3 Nov 2017
Publisher: Harper Impulse

The countdown to Christmas is usually a magical time, but Elana James is fed up with living on a building site! The renovations on her beautiful cottage – like her heart – have been frozen in limbo ever since she was unexpectedly widowed.

Elana calls in a professional, Luke Stevenson, to help finish the cottage, so her little girl can send letters to Santa up the newly-repaired chimney. Luke’s kind, capable and sexy – but he’s also ten years younger than Elana. So why has her heart decided it’s finally time for a thaw?

The perfect read to curl up by the fire with … for fans of Rebecca Boxall.

Buy Links

Amazon UK

Amazon US

I can't tell you how easy it was to be pulled into this story there is a lovely warm and comforting feel to it. My heart went out to Elana and Maya's situation with Elana trying to be strong and make their home as perfect as she can. The way Elana and her husband envisioned it before it all went so horribly wrong. I loved the idea of the chimney and trying to get the notes to Santa it really made this story extra special. It reminded me of my own little traditions involving Christmas and Santa.

This book was definitely more rounded hearing the story from both Elana and Luke's perspectives. They were both sweet and engaging characters who for different reasons will be having a difficult Christmas. Both characters have been hurt so there is a vulnerability there too. In a way they are both lost and looking for a happy future and I loved the hopeful way that this story progresses. Their friendship was so sweet, it felt natural and in no way rushed. The story developed at a steady pace giving the reader time to get to know them.

It's a slightly deeper read than I was necessarily expecting but this just gave it an extra edge and made everything even more heart warming. I have to admit that the last part of the story left me with tears in my eyes, it was such a lovely touch.

Christmas at Bay Tree Cottage has some wonderful themes including family, love, new beginnings but most important of all hope!

With thanks to Brook Cottage Books for my copy. This is my honest and unbiased opinion.

EXTRACT

 ‘Mum, can we light the log fire tonight?’ Maya looks up at me with eager eyes.

‘I think we should wait until the weekend, darling. There isn’t really time to appreciate it on a school night, is there? Besides, I’m not even sure whether there are any logs left in the store. I promise to get it sorted as soon as I can.’

It was Niall’s job, sorting the fire. He would have booked the chimney sweep in early autumn and had the logs all ready and waiting, stacked neatly against the back wall of the garage. Ironically, last year I was much more organised. I suppose it was one of my coping mechanisms during those raw, early weeks and months. Keep going; keep doing something – anything, so I didn’t have to listen to what was in my head. But I feel bad. Maya will remember that this time last year we spent every evening huddled together on the sofa in front of the fire, reading. Hour upon hour we escaped into alternative worlds inspired by some wonderful authors. Roald Dahl’s Matilda, E. B. White’s Charlotte’s Web, and Maya’s favourite, Jill Murphy’s The Worst Witch, a story of tenderness and triumph.

It was the very worst of times, but I focused on getting us through it one day at a time. My gut instinct, immediately after the accident, had been to sell the cottage just to escape that prevailing sense that something was missing. Niall was no longer here and it would never, ever be the same again. But soon realisation dawned that Maya needed a sense of continuity; the memories trapped within these walls were a lifeline for her, although a cruelly painful reminder for me. In a way she feels her dad is still here and I can’t take that away from her.

Bristol-born Linn lives in the Forest of Dean, in the UK. She resides there with her lovely husband and cat, Ziggy. She has been writing novels since 2009 and has written short stories for a number of magazines. She is also known for her series of ‘Home by Design’ articles wearing her former interior designer hat.

"I'm a hopeless romantic, self-confessed chocaholic, and lover of coffee. For me, life is about family, friends, and writing. Oh, and the occasional glass of White Grenache ..."

An Amazon UK Top 100 best-selling author with A Cottage in the Country in November 2015, Under The Stars also became a best-selling novel in November 2016. Linn's novels have been short-listed in the UK's Festival of Romance and the eFestival of Words Book Awards. Linn won the 2013 UK Festival of Romance: Innovation in Romantic Fiction award.

Linn writes chick lit, romantic comedy, women's contemporary fiction and psychic romance. Publishers include Harper Impulse, Choc Lit and Endeavour Press.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/LinnBHaltonAuthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LinnBHalton
Goodreads Author Page: http://ow.ly/mk3H30atV5h
Website:  http://linnbhalton.co.uk/

COMPETITION – No purchase necessary

A pamper kit

(UK only)

 

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