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A Perfect Cornish Christmas by Phillipa Ashley
4.0

Ashley's books are the ones you snuggle with on a chilly night with a mug of hot chocolate and this was exactly that. I haven't read any other book in this series, hence I couldn't recognize a few recurring people. But that didn't make a difference to how much I enjoyed the book.

All Scarlett wanted to do was to find out if she and her sister Ellie had any Viking blood in them, but the surprise is a bust as a dangerous secret is revealed during a family Christmas dinner. Scarlett, still recovering from it decides to move back to the Cornish town of Porthmellow to find more about all that she lost because of a well-kept secret by her other. She moves in with her sister, Ellie into the family mansion and goes about her investigation.

Both these ladies encounter love along the way, but turbulence and troubled time follow them like a shadow. Some hidden and well-placed twists add thrill to this cozy romance. The Winter Solistice Festival, which is one of a kind (and something I haven't heard of before) is the life of the book. The entire town coming together was truly a joy to read, The story gets repetitive and that is probably my only problem. We are told countless time about the now-broken family Scarlett and Ellie dwell in and how everyone is losing their calm and reliving that same evening again and again. The same thing keeps happening throughout the book and Honestly, it was a bit tiring.

Just like any other Christmas-y story, this one right here is about the importance of Christmas and family, and how it brings together people despite their differences. The story isn't all Christmas trees and reindeers (basically, not shoving everything Christmas-y on our face), but cute enough to continue the tradition and give us a story at the same time.