Reviewed by Emma Crowley
When Lee first came to Amsterdam, it was with a newborn baby and a secret. Five years later, her life is approaching normal: her career as a celebrity photographer is flourishing, her son Jasper is growing up, and they are enjoying the run-up to Christmas with their tight circle of close friends.
But all this changes one morning when Lee finds a book in the basket of her bicycle – and scrawled inside it, a desperate message. Who left it for her, and why? Lee feels compelled to help and tracks down the book’s author, Sam. With an instant, undeniable connection it seems they might have a shot at a real future together.
Until her past comes calling. As the snow falls and ice thickens on the city’s canals, the secret Lee has never told resurfaces. Suddenly everything she holds dear hangs in the balance. Christmas is a time for being together – but what if the truth means she ends up alone?
Many thanks to Pan Macmillan via NetGalley for my copy of Together by Christmas to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
Having finished another excellent read from Karen Swan, I think I’ve now decided it’s her Christmas books that I much prefer as opposed to her summer publications. Together by Christmas was a great read. If you were to judge it for its run of the mill cover, typical of so many Christmas themed books, you would be forgiven for thinking it’s just another Christmas romance book. Well the story that awaited me was such a surprise and it had such depth to it raising numerous topics that were very serious and relevant to the society we live in and read about every day.
Don’t get me wrong that Christmas feeling was there in abundance and was done so well as Christmas in Amsterdam sounded magical and all the descriptions were brilliant but yet there are more serious and darker themes and undertones also being explored that make for a gripping read. The element of mystery and of our main character Lee dealing with the emotional trauma from her past forms the basis of this story and right from the prologue my interest was piqued and remained so until the very last chapter.
The prologue certainly opens with a bang and makes you sit up and pay attention as Lee, a war photographer, and her journalist co-worker Harry are in Syria on the trail of an important lead which if proven correct will prove to be an explosive story. Lee and Harry are the people’s eyes eager to share and tell their stories but what happens when it all goes wrong and the affects will then in turn leave their partnership in ruins and Lee traumatised by what she experiences?
Fast forward six years later and Lee is settled in Amsterdam with her young son Jasper. They are enjoying the Dutch traditions and festivities that are on offer in the run up to Christmas. But Lee is always on edge, she can never fully relax and embrace her life with Jasper and enjoy her photography work capturing celebrities and anything that takes her fancy. It seems her war work has been left far behind it and she refuses to talk about it or acknowledge how successful she had been in that field. Instantly the reader is keen to discover what has made her this way and why she no longer has any interaction with Harry? Especially given that they had worked in such close proximity to each other for so many years and earned critical acclaim for their work.
You could tell that whatever happened to Lee has had the most profound of effects on her and that she is emotionally damaged although she does her best to hide this from others. She is very much a closed book and to many she can be rude and abrupt but there had to have been a very good reason for this. We are drip fed little teasers every now and again and time and time again over the course of the book I believed I had it nailed. I thought I knew exactly what happened to Lee and why she acts the way she does and yes it’s completely justified. But there are numerous twists and turns and complex developments throughout that throw you off track and have you changing your opinion and that’s what I loved about the book.
Yes, we had Christmas and romance and I loved the exploration of that angle of the story, but it’s the secrets and torment that really had me intrigued. Karen Swan really worked her magic and had me guessing until the last possible minute as to actually what had gone on and I didn’t guess until perhaps a page or two before the big reveal which was truly shocking. That’s the way a book like this should work. that you are kept in suspense until you really need to know everything, and in particular with the note she finds in the basket of her bicycle that too was a surprise. Although on reflection I should have joined the dots together much quicker.
Lee is a hard nut, very tough to crack and not willing to deviate from her quiet life. She craves everything to be predictable and safe and it’s like she has created this bubble around herself and Jasper. If she could just get on with photographing what she loves instead of these celebrities then her life would be complete. No doubt about it she sets very high standards for herself work wise having way above average expectations seeking perfectionism with her uncompromising vision but still deep down you sense she is not truly happy especially as any man she has an interaction with is brief and kept secret from Jasper and her friends. So when she is asked to photograph a new and upcoming author who is having major success with his debut book, little does she realise her carefully ordered life will be turned upside down.
A chance meeting pre-photography session had already aroused her interest but her job draws them together. The question is will she be able to give in to the feelings she is developing for Sam and the magnetism that makes her feel very drawn to him or is she just too over protective and closed off to love? Her ordered life starts to become a mess and the routine and security she seeks starts to crumble. Can she cope with what life is about to throw at her or will the demons of the past raise up and shake her very foundations? I questioned had she the strength and ingenuity to deal with what was coming her way both on a romantic and professional level. The steely, hardworking Lee used to all kinds of conditions was portraying a very different persona and I don’t think she knew what to do with her changing self.
It may seem like Together by Christmas is very heavy and full of doom and gloom from what I have said up above but it’s not. It’s just that as we read about Lee and the things that have happened in her past that she has done her very best to suppress are once more rising to the fore. It just so happens that it all starts occurring in the run up to Christmas. Karen Swan does a fantastic job of mixing the more grim and serious themes with the joy and happiness that Christmas can bring. Throwing in the romantic element with Sam offered light relief to what Lee was going through emotionally in relation to her past and also her worries about the mysterious letter appearing in her basket asking for help.
Sam was a brilliant character. I felt he wouldn’t take anything from Lee in that he wasn’t going to let her get away with things and just use him like she normally did with men. He genuinely wanted to get to know her and explore the feelings he had for. He wanted to break down her barriers but they were placed so firmly in position. She had a love ‘em and leave ‘em approach when it came to love and intimacy but Sam was the very opposite of the war zone mentality she was so used to. He was warm, kind hearted and had such a generous spirit yet he too was grappling with his own demons and the storyline with the winter race was just brilliant in conveying this.
There was so much that happened in Together by Christmas and I really enjoyed every moment that I spent reading it. Karen Swan writes brilliant Christmas books and I loved the more sharper edges and tough and troublesome issues flowing throughout this excellent read. This could be easily read at any time of the year and not just around the Christmas season, it’s definitely a real page turner.
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