A great read.

Carmen has moved in with her sister in Edinburgh to take a job in a book shop, not knowing that she actually has to help turn around the failing business.
She has always felt unsuccessful compared to her sister, so is now her chance to prove otherwise, as she makes in the difference to the lives of those around her.

Reading one of Jenny’s books is like falling into a great big hug. I love all of her stories and characters and adore how her worlds collide, with people from different books popping up unexpectedly but in a very welcome way.
Carmen is a bit of a disaster zone and nothing like her married, mother of three and pregnant with another, lawyer by trade, older sister Sofia. But when Sofia finds out that a client is about to lose everything, she realises that Carmen could be the answer to his prayers….and find a way to sort out her own life at the same time.
Loved this book, thank you Jenny and NetGalley!

Full Of Frivolous, Festive Feels….
Full of frivolous festive feels, the latest Jenny Colgan Christmas offering is a sheer delight. When Carmen grabs an opportunity too good to turn down she finds herself in a snow drenched Edinburgh and in a bookshop that needs just a little miracle. Charming and engaging, a Christmastime treat to devour in a cosy book nook with a favourite throw and a mug of hot chocolate.

I am a big fan of Jenny's and all of her books I have loved. This one has to be my favourite at the moment. I had to re-read it just because it is such a feel good story. When Carmen's job comes to an end she considers moving to Edinburgh which is closer to her sister and the job is at bookshop. But what Carmen finds is not what she was expecting, is this job too much for her? she needs to help the owner turn it around and if she can it will be a miracle. The place is in rack and ruin and really needs a good clean, Carmen is determined to help and turn the bookshop around and what she does with the place is incredible. The best thing she does are the window displays it really warmed my heart. It was a wonderful read and I love how Carmen evolves as a person, all she does for everyone else too. This book is the perfect escapism but also give you the Christmas vibes too. It is a magical story that I will not forget in a hurry and one that got me more excited about Christmas.

Having read the majority of Jenny Colgan’s books, it is obvious that she loves books and loves Scotland and this book reflects those things very strongly. Also loving Scotland and Jenny’s books, this book was an absolute delight for me to read. The story was well written and moved at a good pace, weaving the stories of individual characters as it went. The slow burning, good clean romance intertwined kept everything together very nicely. A definite winner and perfect for reading in the run up to Christmas.

This was a lovely warm read with a brilliantly struggling main character in Carmen who has always resented her successful elder sister Sofia so rather than compete with her she just never tries and lives a small life. Faced with having to move in with Sofia and her family, the nieces and nephew Carmen has had little to do with, so she can work in a failing struggling Edinburgh bookshop Carmen is frustrated with her family and lost as to how she can turn the cramped and disorganised bookshop around.

I really enjoyed her interactions with her nephew and nieces especially the youngest but the nanny was just too perfect and I felt for the kids who just wanted to be kids. Carmen also had some great interactions with the bookshop owner and customers and I loved her down to earth approach with the celebrity. I loved Carmen started settling into herself and Oke was a much underplayed character, I’d love to know more about him in future books! 9/10

I must make one thing clear… I am the Grinch. When I saw Jenny Colgan’s The Christmas Bookshop in the list of books available to review, I thought “I will ask for that one. It will be sickly sweet. The heroine will be perfect in body and mind, effortlessly making everyone’s lives sweeter with one hand whilst baking brownies with the other. I will see through it and my review will act as a sharp counterblast to all the others, which will be cloying and sycophantic. Ha!”

Well, Jenny Colgan bu99ered that up for me, good and proper. Carmen Hogan, the heroine, is fairly self-centred and is jealous of her sister’s perfect life and perfect family. She does make things better for some people, but she works her butt off to do so and doesn’t really enjoy it. She is the last person on earth to bother making brownies and if she did, they’d be crap. She is 100% believable and, actually, not very likeable. I had to keep reading because I wanted to know what happened next. Colgan is so good at building a cast and a world that live and draw you in. I even dreamt about Carmen’s world of Edinburgh and dark, snowy courts, steps and alleys last night. No other book has ever invaded my dreams.

Carmen was made redundant when the local department store closed. He sister, Sophia, is a high-powered lawyer with a client, Mr McCredie, who runs a tiny bookshop in Victoria Street, near Edinburgh’s Grassmarket. Mr McCredie loves books and his shop but he’s not really interested in selling – that’s been the problem. The bookshop hasn’t been profitable for years and the owner’s only hope is to show a profit and sell it as a going concern. Sophia offers Carmen as someone who will achieve that. (That bit IS unrealistic. Rents will be increased in the New Year – any buyer will look at the longer-term track record of a business and assess it in the light of the increased costs. Also, one assumes that Carmen is paid for her time – that will be a large cost increase just before Christmas. However, it’s a novel – let’s suspend belief about this aspect.)

Carmen cleans up the shop; buys some stock that s less than fifty years old; and tries to sell books. She meets two men who spark her interest: one is rich, arrogant and bluntly asks her to go to bed with him. However, the dialogue – both verbal and via txt messages – shows him as someone who can be quite good fun. I realised Colgan’s skill with characters at this point – Carmen and Blair are both flawed rather than perfect – and so much more interesting because of that. There is also Oke, a customer who’s a lecturer at the university. Is he a drip or is he more interesting?

Sophia has a nanny who dominates the household – no TV, no sugar, no junk foods. Carmen gives the children hot chocolate and introduces them to The Muppet Movie. Sophia’s elder daughter, Pippa, is a mini version of Sophia – perfect and goody-goody. The other daughter, Phoebe, is a mini-version of Carmen – scruffy, careless and uninterested in school or making a good impression. ‘She doesn’t have any friends,’ said Pippa, widening her eyes. ‘I am so sad for her, aren’t you?’ ‘No,’ said Carmen. ‘Other children are total idiots, everyone knows that. Total buggers.’

This is emphatically a Christmas book. Colgan’s picture of Edinburgh in December, with a Christmas fair, sparkling white snow and the black castle on the rock, is highly atmospheric. As I said at the start, I am the Grinch, but reluctantly and through clenched teeth, I confess that this book made me feel really Christmassy and warm inside, despite reading it in September. Bah, humbug!

#TheChristmasBookshop #NetGalley

This is probably my favourite book of the year so far! I have not read anything by Jenny Colgan before but I will now be purchasing all her previous books. Why was this so good? The dialogue. Right from the first page I felt as if I was sitting with the characters listening in on their conversations. I was invested in them from the get go. I couldn’t wait to turn the page and find out what happens next. And it has the ability to make you genuinely laugh out loud
‘Bloody bloody buggering hell!’ she yelped. ‘Are you all right?’ came the tremulous faraway voice. ‘Yes,’ said Carmen, not loud enough for him to hear. ‘That’s the noise I make when everything is going incredibly well.’

I started reading it as I went to bed and stayed up half the night promising myself just one more chapter. It is soooooo good.