Reviewed by Emma Crowley
Chloe can't wait for Christmas . . . to be over! Her son Ruben is staying with his dad and Chloe is planning to ignore the holidays altogether. Her only festive touch is her son's advent calendar, to help count down the days till he's home again.
But a surprise call changes everything. Chloe might be the unexpected owner of some land in Canada! Surely, it's a scam. Or could it be just the escape she needs right now? Ruben's latest note in the advent calendar tells her to 'say yes!'
In a flash, Chloe's new countdown to Christmas involves a log cabin in the middle of a snowy forest, a community that's worried for its future, a gruff lumberjack who gives her butterflies and a lot of pancakes with maple syrup . . .
Many thanks to Randomhouse UK via NetGalley for my copy of Countdown to Christmas to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
As I sit here on Christmas Eve writing this review, the countdown to Christmas 2023 is well and truly coming to a close but that doesn’t mean you still can’t read Christmas books and you can’t go far wrong with the latest book from Jo Thomas - Countdown to Christmas. This had the honour of being my first Christmas read of the year and from the minute I saw that fabulously festive cover I knew I was in for a real treat. Jo now publishes two books a year, one in summer and one in winter and dare I say it but it’s the Christmas books that really capture my heart as she does Christmas stories so very well. Not that I don’t enjoy her summer stories but there is something magical in the way she writes about the most wonderful time of the year.
Jo encapsulates a moment to perfection and gets you in the mood for the festive season. I love how she has such varied settings for her stories and I always feel as if I have whisked away to another country when in reality I am sat curled up on my couch. This time around we are taken to Quebec in Canada, to a small isolated town named Foret des Espirits as we accompany Chloe on a fabulous journey full of warmth and human understanding with spectacular descriptions of the landscape, the food and of course there is plenty of humour along the way and I was there for every minute of it absolutely adoring this story from beginning to end.
It’s 24 days to Christmas and for Chloe it’s a strange time as her son Reuben is flying to New York to spend Christmas with his dad and his new baby sister. Chloe hates the thoughts of being away from her son and is anxious about trying to get through a month without him. Reuben has made an Advent calendar for Chloe with unique gifts for her to find as she opens one each day. This is such a lovely touch throughout the book and provides Chloe with the solace and comfort she needs at times when she wavers on the journey that she undertakes. It really does become the gift that just keeps giving.
No one likes being away from loved ones at a time that is meant for families and coming together to celebrate but something very unexpected as cropped up for Chloe. She receives news that she has inherited a parcel of land from a very distant cousin of her fathers. Her parents have passed away so she is the sole beneficiary as she is the only blood relative to a man named Harold. Everything she usually loved at this time of year has been taken away from her so she decides to bite the bullet and travel to Canada to investigate further and see can the land be put up for sale. She wants all this sorted by the time Reuben returns home. Little does she bargain on quite a story waiting for her in Canada and the people she meets there will transform her life in many different ways.
Right from the moment Chloe steps foot in the isolated snow covered town surrounded by woodland and specifically maple trees, I felt as if I was there alongside her. There was an air of magic about the place and I could visualise the trees, the snow, the log cabins and feel the cold and chilly air. A funny scene with a turkey named Ike sets the tone for plenty of humour to come but there is also a lot going on in the village who have been left devastated by the death of Harold as his land had the sugar shack where the maple syrup that is collected and then bottled. Chloe soon learns that the town works as a co-operative with everyone working together to harvest the maple syrup and in turn all the profits are shared around. But all this is under threat now that Harold is gone and all Chloe wants to do is get back to England as soon as possible.
I could see where Chloe was coming from. She was totally out of her comfort zone and all this had been sprung on her. I mean who wouldn’t want to sell and get out of there as soon as possible? Yet the town has a history and a heritage that can’t be forgotten and the people who live there rely on the syrup for their income and how can years and years of tradition just be gone like that? Chloe certainly had a tough decision to make and I felt there was only one clear cut solution but can the townspeople convince her otherwise and what happens when another unexpected arrival comes to the town who in turn has their own ideas about what should happen?
The reader can really feel the sense of community in the little town as they always rally around for one another but Chloe keeps things secret for awhile as to why she is there until she can suss things out. To be honest, this gave me a slightly uneasy feeling whilst reading simply because I was worried for Chloe that when she revealed why she was really there that Theo whom she first met at his hardware store and had quickly become friends with. Well that he would become very angry with her and turn against her and I didn’t want that to happen because deep down Chloe is a really good person but she does have to look out for herself and her son. But she had so much pressure on her because the town needed the land but yet by selling it her future would be secure. She certainly was in a conundrum and as she learns more about her family connections to the town she struggles even further.
I loved Theo as a character. He was very attractive and was there to help everyone in any way he could most notably Bea who runs the local dinner and is having difficulties keeping things going now that she is pregnant with twins. I loved how Chloe stepped in with the running of the diner and here once again the authors wonderful way of bringing food in her stories comes into play. My god were the descriptions of pancakes and taffy and all things maple syrup just mouth watering. I could see Chloe becoming more confident and assertive as she settled into a routine in the town but she did have to hold back ever so slightly as long term plans did not involve a piece of land in Canada. But as the days passed she threw herself into so many events and again the author’s imagination ran riot with a tree lighting ceremony, carols, Christmas Fair and sap run to name but a few and it all just added to the festive atmosphere and warmth that exuded from every page of this fantastic story. Chloe starts to do things she might not have wanted to which turn out to be quite fun. She is trying to do her best for the community, and she is making a difference but there is plenty sent in her direction to thwart plans and I feared that a happy ending would not be at all in sight or achievable.
A Countdown to Christmas had so much going on it but at no time did it feel overloaded. There were lots of twists and turns and surprises and to be honest I was gutted to reach the end. It has a romance that gently simmers, a stunning setting, brilliant characters, hidden secrets and vibrant terrific writing that will leave you wanting much more. It has definitely been one of my reading highlights of the last several months and it’s a story that I hope many readers will readily lose themselves in. I’ve already checked out what Jo has in store for us in 2024 and Love in Provence and Christmas in the Swiss Alps sound like we are in more wonderful writing from a very talented author.
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