A lovely story about romance and the problems that may be experienced and how people cope. Definitely recommended to those readers who enjoy reading this type of book.

Another lovely and well written book by Philippa Ashley. I loved the well developed plot, the great cast of characters and the setting.
It's a compelling and highly entertaining read that I strongly recommend.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I thought this would be a cute Christmas book to get me into the holiday spirit but unfortunately it really fell flat for me. The dialogue was awkward, and the writing in general felt choppy. As for the plot and characters, there was nothing unique or interesting about them to make me want to continue reading. Lottie is an extremely bland person who is apparently devastated after her boyfriend calls off their marriage despite not being that interested in marrying him in the first place. Then she has to deal with planning his extravagant Christmas wedding while falling in love with another really bland character Jay.

Lottie is a bit of a romantic and is swept away by her boyfriend, Connor's proposal... until he breaks up with her the following week. To get a fresh start, she lands her dream job, with on site accommodation next door to the handsome groundskeeper, Jay, at an estate called Firholme. Once she's finally feeling settled in, her boss lets her know that there is going to be a last minute Christmas wedding, and of course, Connor is the groom. Lottie's lingering feelings and the complication of her new feelings for Jay make for an overwhelming situation where she has to keep it together, for Christmas' sake.

Lottie was a very lovable protagonist. She was sweet and lovely but could stand her ground when necessary. I found myself rooting for her all the way through the book. All the family dynamics were interesting and somewhat relatable, because when family is involved things can get a lot messier than they would with anyone else. The setting sounded lovely and was the perfect way to kick off the holiday season. The Christmas theme was carried well through the book and has me looking forward to December 25th!

I highly recommend this book for a sweet and easy holiday read.

Thank you to Avon Books and NetGalley for the eGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

I really enjoyed A Surprise Christmas Wedding by Phillipa Ashley. Well written storyline that hooked me in from the first few pages, I struggled to put it down. I love this time of the year and this Christmas book did not disappoint.

I love this time of year when its time to read a feel good Christmas book! This one appealed to me even more with the mention of a wedding being involved as I love weddings!! My dream job would be a wedding planner so I loved Lottie's charachter & being a wedding planner at Firholme just sounded an absolute dream!

This is a lovely story. It's festive & its joyful, a real good start to my Christmas reads this year! I loved the romance of it! The characters are all brilliant, I loved how Lottie & the grounds keeper's stories played out.

The reason I didnt give it 5 stars is I found it very rushed & sudden at the beginning why Connor walked out on Lottie. I'm not really sure what his unforgivable reason for walking out is as it isn't really explained I didn't think. Other than he just seems an actual vile person 🤣! The book definitely improved though from the start!

I really struggled with this book. I wanted to like it because it's set at Christmas, the most magical time of year & while the christmas scenes do paint a pretty picture the rest just left me cold. It's all over the place, dull & predictable.

A Surprise Christmas Wedding by Phillipa Ashley
Publication Date: October 19, 2020
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Description from NetGalley...
“It’s been a year since Lottie’s fiancé walked out, leaving her heartbroken. But things start to look up when she lands her dream job at a beautiful Lake District estate, with a handsome groundskeeper for a neighbour.
 
So when Lottie is asked to organise a last minute Christmas wedding at Firholme, she can’t wait to get started. Until she meets the couple, and discovers that Connor, the man who broke her heart, is the groom-to-be.
 
As snow falls on the hills, can Lottie put aside her past to organise the perfect winter wedding? And will there be any festive magic left to bring Lottie the perfect Christmas she deserves?”
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Thank you to @NetGalley @avonbooks @avon_books for the digital ARC in return for my honest review.
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My thoughts...
Someone who likes winter and a Canadian (I just had to put that in) I enjoyed reading about the nature and the cozy outdoor feel in this book. There were sub-plots of Lottie’s sister that spoke of sisterly bond and Jay’s issues with his brother that touched on forgiveness. Both were heartwarming themes about familial bonds. Typical of romance/romcom stories, the characters were not perfect and somewhat relatable. But, I do have problems reading about women who knows they need to be stronger but yet they get so wishy-washy about it or prolonged in a story. There was a bit of that in here. I skimmed through those pages. If you’re a Christmas romcom fan, you’ll most likely enjoy the Christmassy romantic feel of this book.

I love a book set at Christmas and I love a book with a wedding, so this was always going to be a hit for me - I then got all excited when the book opened with an engagement Porthmellow and looked forward to revisiting that lovely setting and meeting some old friends there. So I was a little disappointed when the couple returned home. However, they returned home to the Lake District, with its rugged beauty, and the author’s descriptions really brought this area to life.
Great characters, although surely no one is as saintly as Lottie and could organise their ex-fiancé’s wedding only a year after they split?
A good story filled with Christmas-excitement, wedding stress and much deserved romance for wedding co-ordinator, Lottie and estate manager, Jay. I enjoyed reading it.

I liked this book, I really thought for some reason it would be set in the same Cornish seaside places as Phillipa's other novels and was a bit disappointed when it was set in the fells because some of the descriptions I didn't know anything about and was a little confused. The storyline was nice though, I liked Lottie and some of the other characters. I'm so glad things worked out well for Steph (Lottie's sister) and glad Lottie made the right choice in the end!

Liked it, but didn't love it.

One of my fave chick lit authors. A wonderful heartwarming festive read full of the best characters a descriptive writing x

This was a good read.

Lottie and Connor have been dating for years when he proposes on bended knee on a beach in cornwall. Then he chickens out and leaves her.

A year later Lotttie is working at a country estate and Connor turns up at the house wanting to get married there with his new fiancee.

Drama, emotions, a new romance for lottie in the form of jay who looks like kit harrington, it was a good read and i enjoyed it.

I feel that the location of this book should receive a high 5 star rating since it was a very beautiful setting and it would be wonderful to visit this place.

The love story was very predictable and I didn't like that particularly. :/ I love a little bit of mystery even though I enjoy a happy ending.

And I know that life is full of surprises, encounters of fate intervention and similar things but some things were really hard to believe in this story. :/

As far as the Christmas themes go this book is genuinely a warm one, full of hokiday cheer and good feeling.

Another fabulous festive feast well worth a read if you love anything Christmassy 🎄

Set in Firholme we see Lottie starting a new life & career as an events manager, little does she realise her first event (wedding) will be that of the ex that jilted her! 💔

Thankyou to Netgalley for my ARC in return for my honest review.

I gave this book a 5 🌟 rating.

I've read lots of this author's books, but this is the first I've read set in Cumbria one of my favourite places, so I couldn't wait to start reading. This is a story of betrayal, forgiveness and second chances with a surprising festive wedding. Not wanting to give away the plot suffice it to say not all surprises are welcome.

Lottie is working as an event planner at a Cumbrian country house. Planning her first wedding causes conflict in her personal and professional lives, ultimately it makes her realise, some truths about herself and her previous relationship. Jay appears unsocial, but he has trust issues when it comes to relationships, something that stands between his and Lottie's happiness.

The story has some lovely festive touches, and the romance is conflicted, but rewarding. There is also a poignantly relevant sub-plot about Lottie's sister, which shows the importance of their sisterly bond and is a particularly heartwarming part of the story.

The characters are vibrant and wonderfully flawed, but not all are easy to like, particularly Connor and his fiancee Keegan. The story has a good plot with lots of characters.

If you are looking for a festive read that has family and forgiveness at its heart with ripples of romance and humour, this is a perfect read.

I received a copy of this book from Avon Books UK via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book which was quick to read and was pleased with the ending. Thanks to netgalley for the free read.
Lottie thought that life was perfect - her boyfriend had asked her to marry him whilst on the perfect holiday by the seaside. Then all her hopes and dreams were shattered within a matter of days. Before she has the chance to inform her family her fiancee decides he has made the wrong decision and at the same time her sister is diagnosed with cancer. Their parents are abroad so Lottie moves in with her sister to help her care for her twins during treatment.
Lottie has turned her life around and now has a new job as an events/wedding planner but fate intercedes and she is thrown into an impossible situation. whereby she is asked to plan the wedding of a couple just before Christmas with only weeks to go. To add to this she finds out that the groom is her ex..
I am looking forward to the next book by this author.

A festive read when you need it most. Light and christmasy and a wedding to boot. What's not to like.

A Surprise Christmas Wedding is set in the Lake District. A year after being dumped by her fiance, Connor (just days after he proposed, mind you), Lottie is left shocked when he turns up at Firholme, the estate where she's the events manager. To make matters worse, she's tasked with planning his surprise Christmas wedding to his brand new Australian fiancee. The book focuses on the wedding and Lottie's emotional tug-of-war between her ex and her colleague, Jay.

There's a lot happening in this book - you have Lottie's love life, her sister's cancer diagnosis, Jay's fragile relationship with his brother and the wedding. For me, it was a bit too much and I felt like I didn't really connect with the characters or Lottie's struggle when it came to her ex (Connor's behaviour was so over the top and irritating that it was immediately apparent she'd dodged a bullet). Nevertheless, I seem to be in the minority here, so if you're looking for a light festive read, you may enjoy A Surprise Christmas Wedding.

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.

This is the first time I’ve read anything by Phillipa Ashley, and I really don’t know why I’ve never picked her up before. She has the knack of writing really engaging characters, and having several plot lines running at the same time, without them getting confusing or merging into one.

This book is set at the beautiful Firholme house. A village feature, which has recently been renovated from it’s previously rundown state. For me, Firholme is a symbol of the restoration that the main characters, Lottie and Jay need to do in themselves.

“Or a happy beginning. The moment full of optimism, hope, when anything is possible.”

You have the good, the bad and the down right ugly in this book. They are all characters we can see reflected in our own lives too. If you fancy a walk in the wintery lake district, and then coming home to a real fire and a real tree, then this is the book for you.

A pleasant story about a girl, Lottie, who has her heart broken and tries to move on with a new job at a gorgeous stately home. Just when she is getting nicely distracted by the new estate manager, who has troubles in his past to deal with, she walks in to find the wedding she is supposed to organise is for her ex. All the demons from the past raise their heads and our heroes have to wade through the minefield of the past and their conflicting feelings for the future.