A Very Merry Manhattan Christmas

A Very Merry Manhattan Christmas

Blurb

Lucie Quigley hates Christmas. It’s the time of year when everything goes wrong in her life. So this year, when she’s asked to be a bridesmaid at her friend Petra’s Manhattan wedding, she jumps at the invitation to escape the festivities.

Dale Treharne has been best friends with Lucie for as long as he can remember. He’s used to looking out for his oldest friend and when she asks him to be her plus one, he can’t seem to find a reason to refuse. Instead, he sees it as a way to help Lucie get through what is, for her, the most miserable time of the year.

In New York, as the snow starts to fall, Lucie and Dale start to realise that their feelings run deeper than just friendship. But can they overcome their pasts, and make it a very merry Manhattan Christmas?


Our Review

If you are looking for a light-hearted Christmas romance then this is a good place to start. If you are looking for a light read with a Christmas theme then this is the book to read. It had a lot of clichés and there was only ever one way it was going to end but I knew that when I began reading it.

Being a book about Christmas in New York this definitely put me in a festive mood, particularly with the descriptions of the store fronts on Fifth Avenue. “The window displays were like nothing she’d ever seen before. From wintry family scenes made of Swarovski crystal, to giant teddy bears and snowmen with red and green hats and scarves, to thousands of colourful twinkling lights; everything screamed decadence, festivity and elegance.”

Lucie has been invited to be a Bridesmaid at a friend’s wedding in New York on Christmas Eve and she doesn’t want to go alone so she begs her best friend Dale to come with her. “It was difficult asking Dale to put his mother’s feelings to one side – after all the Treharne Christmases were always a big affair – but the thought of going all the way to New York alone made Lucie’s stomach flip. “

Lucie comes across as a little bit ditzy and incapable, “She suspected that if she tried to make it to Manhattan alone, she might miss her flight or take one of those dodgy taxis and end up somewhere she didn’t want to be.” She’s a bit of a dreamer and always has her head buried in a book somewhere.

From the beginning of the book it is clear that there is more to their relationship than friendship, for example, when Lucie thanks him for saying he will come to New York with her. “Lucie flung her arms around his neck and kissed her stubbly cheek…Dale cleared his throat as he gently disentangled himself from her embrace. His cheeks were flushed and he didn’t meet her eyes.”

Dale feels it is his duty to look after Lucie as she had been ‘plagued by disaster’ for as long as he had known her. Also, Christmas is not a good time for Lucie as her mum died in a car crash on Christmas Eve when she was a young teenager. This left her with dread of Christmas, one which Dale is determined to change once they are in Manhattan.

Dale talks Lucie into coming to talk to his mum about them being away for Christmas but his mum gets the wrong end of the stick and assumes he and Lucie are dating. She responds to this with delight, “I’ve always known you were in love. The way you look at her, the softening in your expression when you talk about her….It’s obvious Dale. I was just waiting for you to realise.” Dale and Lucie can’t bring themselves to ruin her mood by telling her that they aren’t actually dating so they pretend. This pretense then escalates to include other family members and friends.

Our Final Rating...

Our Rating

  • Currently 4/5

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