Review :: Christmas Every Day :: Beth Moran
October 30, 2019
This week's book for my Christmassy NetGalley-athon was Beth Moran's Christmas Every Day. While it was a perfectly fine read there was one thing that I really didn't expect, and that was a bit of a disappointment - this isn't a Christmas story. It is told over the period of a year, starting at Christmas one year and finishing the next, but really it isn't even Christmas adjacent.
Now that I have that off my chest, here's the synopsis from Goodreads...
When Jenny inherits her
estranged grandmother’s cottage in Sherwood Forest, she has nothing to
lose - no money, no job, no friends, no family to speak of, and zero
self-respect. Things can only get better...
Her grumpy, but decidedly handsome new neighbour, Mack, has a habit of bestowing unsolicited good deeds on her. And when Jenny is welcomed into a rather unusual book club, life seems to finally be getting more interesting.
Instead of reading, the members pledge to complete individual challenges before Christmas: from finding new love, learning to bake, to completing a daredevil bucket list. Jenny can’t resist joining in, and soon a year of friendship and laughter, tears and regrets unfolds in the most unexpected ways.
Her grumpy, but decidedly handsome new neighbour, Mack, has a habit of bestowing unsolicited good deeds on her. And when Jenny is welcomed into a rather unusual book club, life seems to finally be getting more interesting.
Instead of reading, the members pledge to complete individual challenges before Christmas: from finding new love, learning to bake, to completing a daredevil bucket list. Jenny can’t resist joining in, and soon a year of friendship and laughter, tears and regrets unfolds in the most unexpected ways.
Lack of Christmassiness aside, this was a nice book. I wasn't mad about some elements of the writing - for instance the chapters often finished with a line leading to the next chapter - like "I wouldn't have believed what would happen next", which I didn't love.
The story itself was actually just the kind of thing I like to read - a main character finding herself (literally and figuratively) in a new place with a quirky-ish cast of supporting characters. It also features one of my favourite tropes - unlikely friends brought together by a common interest (in this case book club), with the narrative revolving around their friendships and how they support each other.
Just because they were kind of unexpected (although I should have read enough books about women's friendships to always expect these) I think it is worth giving a content warning for infant loss and also terminal illness.
I gave this one 2 out of 5 stars - having taken a half star off because of it not being Christmassy. To be honest, its entirely possible I might have given it 3 stars if I had not had the expectation that it would be more festive, but who can tell?
In short, this is a sweet story, but if you're after a Christmas cosy I'd skip it.
xo Bron
***
Christmas Every Day by Beth Moran
Out now from Boldwood Books
Source: free ebook provided for review by Boldwood Books via NetGalley
Themes: Finding yourself, relationships, family, friendship, infant loss, terminal illness
2 comments
That is so disappointing that this was pitched as a Christmas book, complete with a Christmas cover, and yet it isn't even Christmas adjacent! How rude.
ReplyDeleteIt's such a shame that this was not what it was supposed to be.
I hope the next read is far better! 💜
right? so misleading! (not a bad story though!)
DeleteI hope the next one is better too =)