With the festive season merrily on its way, I was delighted to receive a copy of Amy Silver's latest novel, aptly titled All I Want for Christmas. Quite frankly, I didn't know what to expect; I'd always passed the Christmas-specific novels by and don't really know why. I decided to take this one as company on a long journey and by the time I stepped off the train three hours later, I's almost finished it. It's that addictive!All I Want for Christmas focuses on three women. There's Bea, who runs her little cafe The Honey Pot alone as husband Marco is no longer around to help her. There's also Olivia, journalist at glossy mag Style, who has recently got engaged. And then there's Chloe, who to any outsider presents herself as a complete bitch; a young lawyer having an affair with a married man. When each of these women meet accidentally at the Honey Pot just over a week before Christmas, they don't realise that their lives are about to change.
Single mum Bea is facing her first Christmas alone and is determined to do everything right, but without Marco around, things are not falling into place as planned, and with family thinking that she should be moving on, doing so is so hard to even consider. Newly-engaged Olivia, constantly put down by boss Maggie, is also having a hard time having to get presents and food for her entire family, whilst at the same time thinking that maybe getting married isn't the best thing to do after all. Once married, does that mean all the fun is over?
Chloe, on the other hand, is desperate for her married lover to leave his wife and children, as he's promised for a long time. But this Christmas, it becomes clear to her, finally, that it's not going to happen. Despite being a young, fit lawyer with the best things in life, it seems as though this man is the one thing she's NOT going to get.
Yet after they have a chance meeting, it's time for the women to finally take action. As they become friends, they realise that there are ways to overcome their relationship issues and work towards a good Christmas.
The book is told in chapters, although each chapter is broken into sections; one for each character. Bea's story is told in first-person, yet the others are told in third. This worked really well, and allowed me to really feel for Bea. The truth about Bea's predicament comes a few chapters in, and made me feel exceptionally closer to her.
Each of the characters are written so very well. I loved Olivia, and Chloe - although she immediately comes across as a hard-nosed bitch, she does see the error of her ways (well, kind of.) As their lives intertwine, we learn more about each woman and what's brought them to that particular point in their lives. And once you've started, it's hard to stop reading...
All I Want for Christmas is a lovely, heartwarming Christmas read that's difficult to put down and guaranteed to make you feel not just more festive, but grateful for what we have in life. Amy Silver has written such a great tale and I sincerely hope she has more like this up her sleeve!
Rating: 5/5
