Carol hates Christmas. Being recently dumped, she's not crazy about weddings either. So her sister Marley's nuptials, over the Christmas weekend, are making her positively Scrooge-like. When she arrives for the weekend at the stately home in rural Scotland to find her three ex-boyfriends in attendance, Carol has no choice but to face her ghosts to discover what really happened in those relationships, learning a lot about herself in the process. As the snow falls outside and the fire crackles in the hearth, might one of the wedding guests become the harbinger of Christmases to come?
Christmas Carol by Michele Gorman is the latest novella that I have just read for this month's Christmas reading challenge. It's a short but sweet modern spin on the Dickens classic but instead of featuring Scrooge and the three ghosts we have Carol and her three exes!
Having recently just split up from her latest boyfriend Karl, her sister Marley's boss, she's not looking forward to seeing him at Marley's wedding in a remote country house in Scotland especially when she's already having to face her previous boyfriend Robert who is best man at the wedding. But then she gets a further curveball when her childhood sweetheart 'Skate' turns up with his current girlfriend. One thing's for sure, this weekend is sure to be eventful...
Through flashblacks we get to see glimpses of Carol's relationships with each of three men to see how they initially met and why things went wrong between them. I really liked this aspect of the story as it gave you more of an insight into who Carol is as a person.
Although not overally Christmassy, Michelle Gorman's descriptions of the stately home decked out in all its trimmings made it sound like the idyllic setting for a winter wedding.
As well as Marley and her fiance, Carol and her exes, we get to meet an interesting mix of secondary characters, friends and family who are attending the wedding, and I have to say my favourite was granny who came out with some classic one-liners that you couldn't help but have a chuckle at.
I really enjoyed this novella but my one wish though is that it could have been a little longer as towards the end it did feel a little rushed in what was an otherwise enjoyable read.
I'd like to thank Michele for sending me a copy of this novella to review.
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