Friday 31 July 2015

Christmas in July: Rebecca Raisin - Christmas Wedding at the Gingerbread Cafe

You are invited to the wedding of the year!

Snow is falling thick and fast outside the Gingerbread Café and inside, its owner Lily is planning the wedding of the year. Her wedding! She never dreamt it would happen, but this Christmas, she’ll be marrying the man of her dreams - in a Christmas-card-perfect ceremony!

The gingerbread is baking, the dress is fitted and the mistletoe’s in place – for once, everything’s going to plan. That is until her mother-in-law arrives... Suddenly, Lily’s famous cool is being tested like never before and her dream wedding is crumbling before her eyes.

In the blink of a fairylight, the Gingerbread Café has been thrown into chaos! Lily thought she had this wedding wrapped up, but with so much to do before she says ‘I do’, can Lily get to the church on time – and make this Christmas sparkle after all?

Amazon links: Kindle 

Like many other readers I couldn't wait to read the final book in Rebecca Raisin's Gingerbread trilogy, Christmas Wedding at the Gingerbread Cafe, which I did actually read last year but never got around to writing up the review due to ill health.  So when I decided to try and do a Christmas in July feature month, which again didn't quite go to plan, I did have a re-read of this eBook to finally write the review.  So apologies Rebecca and Carina UK for the tardiness of this review!

It's been a dream year for Lil who a year ago would never have dreamed that on Christmas Eve she would be getting married to her own prince charming Damon as well as her becoming stepmother to his young daughter Charlie.  But as we all know when planning special events there are always curveballs that come our way to throw us off track and that's certainly the case when both their families make their appearance.  If Lil is hoping for a couple of stress-free days then she'd better make her escape now... 

It's like being back with old friends and like in life, there are good times and bad, happy and sad, and Christmas Wedding at the Gingerbread Cafe certainly featured the whole spectrum of emotions. One minute I was angry on Lil's behalf at the meddling that was going on, the next I'd be laughing especially at the mishaps that seem to follow Lil's mother whenever she's in the cafe, but then I would be feeling emotional as I could see how conflicted CeeCee was about being there for Lil but also wanting to support her oldest friend in the worst moments of her life.   
Rebecca has written a beautiful, charming story that has made me fall in love with the town of Ashford all over again.  I love the camaraderie of her characters, nothing is too big a problem for them and they're always willing to come together to help or brainstorm ideas as to how to raise the profile of the town and the shops within it.  It's like being home with friends and I'm sure I could enjoy a girls night in with Lil, CeeCee, Sarah and Missy putting the world to rights.   It certainly sounds like a town that I would love to live in although maybe in the outskirts so that I could have a little privacy ;)    

Although I'm sad that this trilogy has come to an end, I know that it's not the last I'll see of these characters as Rebecca's new book Secrets at Maple Syrup Farm, which I'll be reviewing this weekend, is also set in this charming town so I'm sure they're bound to make an appearance at some stage. 

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