Rea Book Reviews: Tasmina Perry

Today on the blog I am joined by the very talented Tasmina Perry ahead of her new release, The Proposal.

Favourite Christmas Books and Movies.

I love Christmas so much I had to write a book about it. The holiday season is also a perfect time for catching up with things you’ve wanted to read over the year but not yet got round to, or re-watching or re-reading old favourites that can’t help but put you in the holiday mood. Here’s some of my Yuletide favourites.

Home Alone has got to be in my Top Ten movies of all time. I’ve watched it over a dozen times and now my son loves it – it’s an excuse to watch it all over again. Home Alone 2 – set in New York (like my new novel The Proposal!) is almost as good as the original if only for the location.

I’ve got a very old copy of A Christmas Carol that I try to read each year. It’s so short but it’s without doubt the most brilliantly atmospheric story about Christmas with a powerful, timeless message about the way we should live to boot.

I bought Arthur Ransom’s Winter Holiday because it had such a fantastic cover and because I loved the author’s more famous novel Swallows and Amazon as a child. It’s perfect Christmas reading - chocoblock full of snow-fuelled adventures like igloo building and sledging.

A beautifully illustrated copy of The Greatest Gift by Philip Van Doren Stern was in my Christmas stocking a couple of years ago. It can’t be more than 5000 words long, but it’s such a sweet redemptive story – and actually formed the basis for the famous Jimmy Stewart movie It’s A Wonderful Life.

My whole family can pretty much recite Trading Places from beginning to end. Very Christmassy. Very funny. Eddie’s Murphy’s finest moment.

Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons isn’t quite as good as the novel it spins-off from (Cold Comfort Farm) but it’s still a charming short story that is a perfect quick read whilst you polish off the tin of Quality Street.

Elf is a modern Christmas classic. Will Ferrell is brilliant as Buddy – one of Santa’s Elves. Plus there’s lots of lovely singing from star Zooey Deschanel.

I didn’t fancy the Martin Freeman movie Nativity when it was at the cinema, but my little boy forced me to watch it last Boxing Day and I absolutely loved it. I defy you not to cry!

Everyone loves It’s A Wonderful Life, but a lesser known Christmas treat is Nicholas Cage’s The Family Man, another story of Yuletide redemption.

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis isn’t a Christmas novel as such, but all that snow in icy Narnia is perfect fire-side reading.

Tasmina Perry’s The Proposal (Headline) is out November 7

My Review.

I am a huge Tasmina Perry fan, when it comes to her books you can always guarantee that the covers will transport you to some kind of paradise and that there will be a scandalous, strong storyline. The Proposal is Tasmina Perry’s new release and it is not one to be missed. The cover is very different compared to her usual covers but I love it, it is a very simple, elegant cover which does the beautiful storyline inside justice.

The Proposal follows the journey of two fabulous main characters Amy and Georgia. The two ladies couldn’t be any more different and yet thanks to an advert dear Georgia places for a companion to accompany her on a trip to New York the two are brought together and form an unlikely bond.

Amy whose life is anything but perfect from her love life to her career and her empty bank balance would love to go home to see her parents over Christmas but can not afford the flights so when she comes across Georgia’s advert she feels as though she has been thrown a life line.

The story moves back and forth in time from Georgie’s life in the 1950’s to the present day and as Amy discovers more about Georgia through her tale of her earlier years and it becomes clear why she is travelling alone.

This was an absolute delight to read. It was consistently good all the way through, no low points or parts you want to skim are found in this book. The Proposal sees a softer side to the authors writing style, there is of course still a scandal to look forward to so you can still feel that it is a Tasmina Perry book but it was just so much more elegant and warm and just a real classy read rather than her usual modern glamorous and gritty style ( that I also love ). It was lovely to see a different style to the authors writing and it was equally as good.

The storyline is very strong and compelling and not one that I will forget for a long time yet. The characters are fabulous in their individual ways, Georgia is a strong, elegant, eccentric character who I loved and was in fact my favourite character. Amy is a modern, loveable soft natured character who was a great complement to Georgia. I would love to have a Georgia in my life to give me a lesson or two!

The descriptive writing style was incredible I felt as though I was being transported back in time with Georgia and I could just picture the elegant dresses and the grand houses.

It is a very romantic read, with a shocking, unexpected twist which had me so taken aback I had to re-read the paragraph!

This is an amazing read that I cannot recommend enough, this is definitely my favourite by Tasmina Perry.

Festive Cover: