Secret Santa by Scarlett Bailey

A self-confessed Christmas queen, Sue Montaigne prides herself on organising the annual nativity pageant in her small Cornish village of Poldore.
But this year, what with having to deal with the repairs on Castle House after it was wrecked by a terrible storm, training a new – and frankly flighty – Virgin Mary and managing a Joseph who is allergic to sheep, she is distinctly lacking a little bit of ‘me time’. And then there are the auditions for the new Santa.
But nothing prepares her for the beautiful man who turns up, a twinkle in his eye and a promise to make her Christmas dreams come true…

Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas if we didn’t have a festive story released by the Queen of Christmas novels Scarlett Bailey. Although this time it is a novella ( which I am not usually a fan of) I couldn’t not have my Scarlett Bailey fix and I really wanted to catch up with the village folk of Poldore!

Sue Montaigne is usually the one to keep everyone in line in Poldore, she is obsessively organised and she is always ready to do whatever she can for everyone who lives in Poldore even open up Castle House to everyone when they really needed shelter. But Sue isn’t living a perfect life everything is crumbling around her but will someone be there for Sue in her hour of need?

I didn’t want to give too much away with what happens in this book because with it being a novella it would ruin it. I thoroughly enjoyed this novella I usually feel like I have only had a little taster when I read novella’s and so am left disappointed but with Secret Santa it really felt like a packed read, I think it is helped by the fact we already know and love Poldore and its characters. Sue has obviously appeared in Scarlett Baileys previous book so we know of her but I can never say I really warmed to her she seemed like a bossy annoying woman to me but I actually really felt for her in this novella and I was really hoping that her Christmas wishes would come true.

This novella is full of Christmas spirit so you will definitely get your festive fix with this one, we all love an appearance from Santa!

Yet again Scarlett Bailey has delivered another festive delightful read and I do feel like Sue’s story was best told as a novella so I have to hand it to Scarlett Bailey she has got it spot on again! This is easily my favourite novella of the year.

Two Weddings and a Baby by Scarlett Bailey

Tamsyn Thorne has not been back to her home town of Poldore for five long years. But now her brother, Ruan, is about to get married and she has no excuses left. Her plans to arrive in Cornwall looking chic and successful are dashed when a huge storm turns her from fashion goddess to a drowned rat. Worse, she ends up insulting the local hunky vicar - and then finds a tiny baby abandoned in his churchyard.

I was so excited to hear that Scarlett Bailey was releasing another book set in Poldore and not only that it is another wedding themed book yippee!!

Tamsyn is living the high life, she lives in Paris works in fashion and is primed to within an inch of her life. She is about to return to her home town of Poldore for her brother Ruan’s wedding but she is far from excited.

On arrival a disruptive storm breaks out and little does Tamsyn know this storm is about to move her life in a new direction.

I was so excited to start this book as I am a massive fan of Scarlett Bailey ( Rowan Coleman) and it sees the first book by Bailey that isn’t a Christmas themed book so I was looking forward to seeing a different setting for her writing even if it wasn’t a nice sunny one! The book is set back in the town of Poldore which I fell in love with in Just for Christmas and it also features many of the characters so it was great to fast forward and see what is going on with the characters now.

Tamsyn goes through a transformation for me when we first met her I really didn’t like her which I was a bit worried about with her being the main character but she seems to find her true self through this book and so I did eventually warm to her. I really enjoyed the storyline it wasn’t what I was expecting at all and the shock find at the beginning ( sorry that’s all your going to get from me because I don’t want to be a SPOILER!) I didn’t expect that. I did find the book a little predictable in parts but that really didn’t but any downer on the book I was still intrigued to see how it reached the outcome.

I love the romance in this book, in true Scarlett Bailey form it is a very bumpy ride but that is something I love about her writing nothing is ever straight forward! The book sees the locals working as a community and it gives a cosy and friendly feeling to the book.

This is another winner for me from Scarlett Bailey I can’t wait for her next release.

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Just For Christmas by Scarlett Bailey

Her best friend's wedding... When Alex Munro learns that the love of her life is getting married to another girl, all she wants is to be alone - and as far away from Edinburgh as possible. Moving to a Cornish cottage, which comes complete with the world's scruffiest dog, Alex finds that her new neighbours are determined to involve her in their madcap Christmas festivities. Then she meets her sexy neighbour Ruan - and somehow Alex doesn't want to be alone this Christmas after all. But having lost one fiancé, Ruan has no intention of letting anyone get close to him again...

Christmas wouldn’t be complete without a book by Scarlett Bailey! This is by far my favourite cover of hers it is a perfect winter setting with its ice blues and the extra touch of glitter just adds that little bit of Glitz that will catch your eye on the shelves making it impossible to walk past without a copy falling into your basket!

Heartbroken Alex needs to get away from her life as she knows it so she can finally be herself. After a hidden secret comes to light and to top it off the love of her life is about to marry someone else. She takes a job miles away in the village of Poldore, but will running away from her problems be enough or will everything catch up with her eventually?

Bouy the smelly old dog was the star of this book! I am not a big dog fan but he is a wonderful addition to a great set of characters although with his antics I have to say I don’t think the front cover is any real resemblance as I could never see this strong willed dog being put on a lead! There are a real quirky mix of characters in this book and Alex is an independent, tomboy character, she has grown up without a female role model around so she has had no guidance when it comes to any kind of women’s problems or fashion sense so she is quite unlike our usual chick lit female leads, and I loved her for this. Alex finds a friend in Lucy who also has her fair share of problems but the friendship that grows between the two of them feels very real.

What makes this such a perfect winter read is it isn’t too challenging, and the warm friendliness of the village folk makes this such a cosy read. The time scale of the book is set around Christmas time and there are some Christmas features too so this is a great book to get you in the Christmas spirit.

One thing you can always count on with Scarlett Baileys books is that there will be a troubled romance, and this book doesn’t disappoint. There was also some light humour which was a great touch to the storyline and there were also some great little twists which to me were an added bonus to a great book. This is an enjoyable light read that you will fly through in no time.

Festive Cover

       Festive Storyline

Overall Review

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Married by Christmas by Scarlett Bailey

Scarlett Bailey is back again this Christmas with her second release and after she swiped first place last year with The Night Before Christmas I was really looking forward to this book.

The countdown to her winter wedding has begun... 
Anna Carter wants the perfect Christmas Eve wedding. It's been on her 'to-do' list since she was a little girl stuck living in a children's home and dreaming of a far happier family life than she'd ever experienced. Now she's found the perfect Georgian country manor as a venue, to which she will be taken in a reindeer-drawn sleigh. She's got a show-stopping designer ivory-beaded wedding dress. And she's even found her groom. Three years ahead of schedule, funny, sexy, handsome journalist, Tom, had swept her off her feet. 

Only, now, two weeks before the wedding, Tom drops a bombshell that threatens to ruin everything.But nothing is going to stop Anna's plans - not even the pesky inconvenience of discovering her perfect husband-to-be already has a wife...

What I love most about Scarlett Bailey is she manages to create such loveable and full bodied characters who stay with you even when you finish reading the book. Anna is a loveable character who you warm to from the start of the book after reading about her upbringing and although she feels like a delicate character at the beginning of the book as the story progresses and she goes on her journey we begin to see another side of her, a fun side where she begins to let her hair down and begins to find her true self. I also loved Liv, your heart goes out to her when you discover her well kept secret, it is a shame that we don’t get to see more of her character especially alongside her best friend Anna just to see the friends interacting and having fun together.

The storyline is very easy to fall into and is very exciting, never quite knowing if Anna’s dream wedding will take place. I love the setting Scarlett creates in New York it is some where I have never been but she writes with such excitement and energy the place feels so alive I am now eager to visit although not looking for a missing ex wife I hope!

The only thing this book was lacking for me is the festivity, I was hoping for a more Christmassy feel to it but I am a bit over enthusiastic when it comes to Christmas, and I think we were spoilt with last years The Night Before Christmas which was overflowing with festivity.

Another great read by Scarlett Bailey which would make a great little stocking filler!

Book Cover

Festive Feel


Book Review over all


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Author Interview with Scarlett Bailey

We welcome the author of our Best Christmas Book 2011 




SCARLETT BAILEY


Thank you for coming over and talking to us. We would firstly like to congratulate you on winning our competion and also thank you for bringing us a beautiful festive book for Christmas. We would love to ask you a few questions.


1. How will you be spending your perfect Christmas this year?
I will be enjoying a quiet Christmas with a certain young man, at home. There will be a log fire, a lot Bailey's, maybe a bit of turkey and a lot of friends and family, which after is what it’s all about.

2. I was amazed by the amount of descriptive writing which was used in your debut book especially when talking about the beautiful old house, is this house somewhere you have stayed before, I know I feel like I have stayed there now after reading your book!
The house is based on a B&B I stayed in in Keswick when I was researching the book, which was built for two sisters to live in side by side in. But I've moved it out of the town and into the more remote Lake District and put in on a shore. I also invented Mad Mollie, who may or may not haunt Heron's Pike.

3. You also have a short story in the form of an advent calendar(click here to view Scarlett's calendar)how did you come up with this fabulous idea?
Lovely people who have already read The Night Before Christmas (thank you, lovely people!) kept asking me what more of mine they could read next, and they seemed really disappointed when I told them there would be a year's wait! I've have so much amazing support, I thought it would be fun and a nice thank you to write a Christmas short story - although in the end it will be more of a novella, about twenty-five thousand words long - and a friend told me about the advent calendar app which seemed to fit perfectly. Its lots of fun to do it....I'm writing it as I go so I have no idea what will happen in the end either!

4. Have you started work on your second novel and can you tell us what to expect? I have, it's going to be called 'Married by Christmas' and it about Anna, who discovers with only two weeks to go until her Christmas Eve wedding that her fiance is still married to a Vegas Show Girl, and has no idea where she is. The race is on for Anna to track the first wife down and get that ring on her finger. Needless to say nothing happens the way she expects it to....

5.What are your favourite 3 things about Christmas? Presents, Food and the people I love. Oh and Baileys (Can I have sneaky fourth?)xxx


Thank you Scarlett it is always great to find out a little about the author behind a début book.Make sure you get your copy of Scarlett Bailey's book before Christmas by clicking on the link below...

The Night Before Christmas by Scarlett Bailey

We have had quite a few entries for our Best Christmas 2011 Book, many of the authors I have previously read before but we have got a new author who has entered and she has entered with a bang! I am sure you all see the package which arrived on my doorstep containing the book. It truely felt like Christmas opening the package to find the book which was placed in little snowballs and snowflake confetti with a miniature Baileys and a box of chocolates. Surely this is any woman’s perfect Christmas present sending you weak at the knee’s! One thing I know you will want to know though Is the book as good as the package?

Plot
All Lydia’s ever wanted is a perfect Christmas…
So when her oldest friends invite her to spend the holidays with them, it seems like the answer to her dreams. She’s been promised log fires, roasted chestnuts, her own weight in mince pies; all in a setting that looks like something out of a Christmas card.
However, her winter wonderland is about to be ruined by the ghosts of boyfriends past, present and potential future. She’s snowed in with her current boyfriend, her old flame and a hunky stranger. Well, three (wise) men is traditional at this time of year...

My Opinion
I snuggled up to read The Night Before Christmas by Scarlett Bailey, with my Baileys coffee and my box of chocolates and I got lost in the book!

Putting the package aside and focusing now on the book I have to say the cover does give a festive feel and the title of the book couldn’t have been more perfect. One thing I have noticed with many Christmas books is just because they have a festive cover doesn’t always mean the story has the same festive feel to it but I am happy to say that this was not the case with this book.

The story is set over the week of Christmas and Scarlett Bailey sets the scene for us with a group of friends celebrating Christmas together in a remote setting and being snowed in already giving us that cosy feeling. This is a traditional realistic Christmas feel to this book rather than the magical Christmas feeling.

There is a real mix of characters in The Night Before Christmas and I have to say it must be the first book I have read where I have liked each and every one of them. Sure they all have their bad moments where we can hear the pantomime boo in the background but because all of the characters are developed so well we just have the attitude that well everyone makes mistakes and HEY its Christmas so we can forgive and forget!
Lydia who is our main character is very down to earth giving that girl next door feel and although she seems to have men dropping at her feet we still feel sorry for her situation. The mix of male characters is very generous in this book so ladies there is a man for each of us hidden in this book. For me this has everything a book needs for a full 5 star rating.

The pace of this book flows nicely with the storyline getting off to a fast pace. For me The Night Before Christmas is a real contender in our Competition despite this being Scarlett Bailey’s debut book. For any men reading this review you are on to a winner if you wrap this up for your partner this Christmas!

The Night Before Christmas Publication date is 27th October so go ahead and pre-order your copy now!.
If you would like to have the chance to win the same package which arrived on my doorstep then head over to  Scarlett's facebook page

You can follow Scarlett Bailey on twitter @ScarlettBailey
or on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Scarlett-Bailey/114529108652745
Pre-order your copy here

Post Box

WOW! Do any of you have one of those weeks where every thing that can go wrong does go wrong! Welcome to my week! I am not like a man who buries their head in the sand I bury my nose in a book instead hehe!! So this is why I am having to say a BIG thank you to Scarlett Bailey and her lovely publishers at Ebury Press as you have managed to put a Big smile back on my face!
I think it is only fair to share with my lovely followers the pictures of what arrived in my post box!

Thankyou once again to Scarlett Bailey and Ebury Press.

Also followers just so you know this of course will be one of the books entered into the best Christmas book of 2011 so eyes peeled for the review.