Books Read: Not Just for Christmas by Natalie Cox

Charlie hates the holidays, and this year is shaping up to be her worst yuletide ever. Her boyfriend has left her for his personal trainer, her flat is out of bounds after a gas leak, and her mother has gone to spend Christmas in Melbourne with her fifth husband. Finding herself single, mildly concussed and temporarily homeless, Charlie hesitantly agrees to dust off her wellies and spend the festive season in Devon, looking after Cosy Canine Cottages, her cousin Jez's dog-care centre.

However, her plans for a quiet rural Christmas with only the four-legged friends for company are dashed as soon as she meets Malcolm the deaf Great Dane, Hugo, his gorgeous (but engaged) owner, and Cal, the undeniably attractive but unbearably haughty and patronising local vet...

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I'd like to thank Alainna at Orion for inviting me to be a part of this blog tour and for my copy of Not Just for Christmas which I received to review via NetGalley.

What do you get if you cross a newly single, temporarily homeless, Christmas and dog phobic thirty-something woman alone at Christmas in charge of a doggy day-care centre, a hilarious tale of mishaps and mayhem that's what.  Right from the off when Charlie ended up in hospital after the explosion you knew that this was going to be an entertaining read and I certainly wasn't disappointed.

The concept of this novel was just perfect.  Alone in the middle of the countryside in Devon would be my idea of  heaven but I'm not sure how I'd cope if like Charlie I'd be left in charge of animals.  Charlie could hardly look after herself so how is she supposed to manage to keep the animals safe and well.  She hadn't signed up for this, her mother had arranged for her to stay with her cousin Jez for Christmas, but who was she to stand in the way of love when her cousin gets an invite to go spend Christmas in Lapland from her girlfriend.  With only herself and four dogs to look after, how hard could it be?   

There was something about Charlie that you couldn't help but like, despite her somewhat woe-is-me attitude, as when push came to shove she was really there for her cousin despite her reservations.  I'm sure many of us would have taken one look at the responsibility involved and would have scarpered but she really committed to it even if it did mean she ended up in some hilarious, compromising situations especially when it came to her first meeting with 'Bovine Cal'. I was literally laughing out loud at the circumstances of their meeting as who in their sane mind would dream of doing that, Charlie that's who.

Forget about any potential romance in this storyline, it was all about the dogs for me.  And what stars they were... pregnant beagle Peggy, elderly poodle Sebastian aka slab, and twins Alaskan Malamutes Romulus and Remus.  Add into the mix an unexpected addition, a deaf Great Dane called Malcolm and you will certainly get your fair share of canine capers to brighten up even the dullest of days.

Not Just for Christmas had everything you could possibly need for a fun, festive read... cute canines, two handsome men and Charlie of course. It really was the perfect tonic I needed to pick me up when I was in a bit of a slump as it was packed full of humour that had me laughing out loud and crying tears of laughter. I look forward to seeing what Natalie Cox has in store for us next.