Hugely excited to be on the Blog Tour today for the wonderful Marie Laval and Bluebell’s Christmas Magic! My thanks to the author, publisher and Rachel of Rachel’s Random Resources for letting me be part of it all! As well as my review of this festive read, there’s also a giveaway with some fabulous prizes to be won!!
ABOUT THE BOOK
A gorgeous new Christmas story from the author of best selling novel Little Pink Taxi
A flick of a feather duster and a sprinkle of Christmas magic …
Cassie Bell is used to mess. Her cleaning business, Bluebell Cleaning, is well known in the Cumbrian village of Red Moss. However, now it’s almost Christmas and Cassie has a slightly messier situation to deal with than she’s used to.
She’s been hired to help Stefan Lambert, an injured army helicopter pilot who’s staying at the local Belthorn Manor whilst he recovers. Stefan resents Cassie’s interference and is definitely not looking for Christmas cheer. But Cassie prides herself on sparkling surfaces – so, can she bring some festive sparkle to Stefan’s life too?
PURCHASE LINKS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Originally from Lyon in France, Marie now lives in Lancashire with her family. She works full-time as a modern languages teacher and in her spare time she loves writing romance and dreaming about romantic heroes. She writes both historical and contemporary romance and best-selling Little Pink Taxi was her debut romantic comedy novel with Choc Lit. She belongs to Authors on the Edge and writes short stories for the best selling Miss Moonshine’s anthologies. She is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association and the Society of Authors. Her native France, as well as her passion for history and research, very much influences her writing, and all her novels have what she likes to call ‘a French twist’ Author on Twitter
Author on Facebook
GIVEAWAY
Giveaway to Win a small canvas purse and a thick notebook (Open to UK Only)
*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.
MY REVIEW
A wonderful and magical story that had me swept about with the history and romance and left me just wanting more! There was so much going on in this story and I found myself totally submerged in the lives of the characters – and in Cassie and Stefan you have 2 people who are polar opposites but just have that spark, that neither can explain!
Cassie runs a cleaning business and is one of life’s good guys. Always there to help out whoever needs it and a real delight to be around. So when she’s given the job of helping to look after a new inhabitant, Stefan, at the local manor house, she expects to receive gratitude and thanks. Stefan really just wants to be left alone so doesn’t take too kindly to being ‘cared’ for – he’s been injured abroad and isn’t up to socialising much so finds it easier to push people away.
Stefan is a wonderful character to explore – seemingly a loner, you know he’s got some history that has scarred him, not only physically, and you wonder if he’s ever going to let his guard down and let people in to help him get through the darker times he has. In Cassie, he meets someone who is seemingly a people person! She loves to help and is an invaluable member of the local community. She also has a wonderful bond with her grandfather and their ‘jokes’ are a real feature of daily life!
As Stefan explores the manor he uncovers some diaries of a soldier who was at the manor in 1917, and this was another intriguing twist on the story – I do love a historical theme in the stories I read, and it all makes more sense when Cassie starts reading letters her grandfather gives her and a new story evolves about about what happened in the past.
Add to the past storyline, there’s also a darker element in the present with a number of burglaries taking place which really puts a strain on the villagers as they can’t believe someone could take advantage of them in such a way.
I loved Cassie and Stefan and the way their particular storylines played out – they both had to deal with some harrowing situations but found support when needed, and especially with Cassie who had dreams of a different career and finding out that those she thought she could trust were not quite so honest towards her, you just wondered when she’d get her break. It gives a good message throughout of being careful who you trust, with some startling things going on that really added shock value.
Loved it!
★★★★★
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