An Auchenvale Christmas by Emily Anne Brandon - Review

I don't normally read Christmas themed books, but last year I made my first attempt as fitting in a Christmas novel to join in with the holiday reading festivities. It was an unmitigated disaster and my choice did not work out for me at all. I was unsure as to whether I was going to venture back into the Christmas literature world again this year, but I got the chance to read An Auchenvale Christmas by Emily Anne Brandon and the synopsis sounded great so I jumped right back in and I'm glad that I did. 

An Auchenvale Christmas

What would you do if you had to spend an entire weekend with your picture perfect family in a tiny Scottish village at Christmastime? What if your parents were so disappointed in your life choices that they thought you should go to therapy? What if your three successful sisters were all married to rich, handsome men? How do you admit that your thirty-something life looks more like a twenty-something life? How do you explain the humiliating chaos of crappy jobs, never-ending singledom and a permanent lack of cash flow? 

You don’t. You lie. 

The Fitzgeralds come together every year for the weekend before Christmas. It’s tradition. But Robyn can’t face a whole weekend of disappointing everyone yet again, so when a timely opportunity presents itself, she runs with it. She runs all the way to her childhood home with it. 

A perfect Winter novella to curl up in front of the fire with. 

My Review

Robyn is the main character in An Auchenvale Christmas and she is a perfectly average person, working perfectly average jobs and enjoying her girly nights out with her best friend. All of this isn't good enough for her family though who are all high fliers and so she is dreading the weekend before Christmas and the annual trip home. I found Robyn really relatable and I enjoyed listening to (reading) her Scottish brogue and the Scottish words that she uses.  

Robyn meets Jack her local bar tender who offers to help her out and pretend to be her boyfriend to make her trip home a little more bearable. Jack is an absolutely wonderful leading man and is really the perfect guy. He helps a girl out in need and loves her for what and who she is, not needing anything more than that. He's also hot and intelligent so he really is the whole package! 

Robyn and Jack make the trip to Auchenvale which I could picture vividly thanks to the authors fantastic descriptions. I really could feel the cold of the snow and see the beautiful countryside, and they brace themselves for a weekend with Robyn's family. Nothing is as it seems though and everyone has their own problems, some people are just better at hiding it than others. 

I really enjoyed this book and I loved that there was a happy ending. There were also some laugh out loud funny moments which really added to my love of the book. I read an Auchenvale Christmas in one sitting as it was so much fun and so easy to read. It definitely made me feel Christmassy and I'm extremely happy that I read it. This book has renewed my interest in trying out Christmas books. 

I gave this book 5 Stars.