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The Twelve Days of Christmas Trisha Ashley 9781847561152 Books

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The Twelve Days of Christmas Trisha Ashley 9781847561152 Books

Holly is not a fan of Christmas. She was raised in a home where the popular celebration of Christmas was not the norm. Her husband died near Christmas. And recently her beloved Gran died. It is not a joyful time for her. For several years, she has created her Christmas time to be a time when she is alone.

She is a house sitter and when her original job falls through, she is offered a wonderful opportunity. She will be alone in a manor house in the middle of nowhere in Lancashire. It is just the way she wants it. It will give her an opportunity to write her cook book. She is a professional chef and hopes to create a wonderful book.

Being in the middle of nowhere, is accurate. Being alone, is not even close to reality.

There are family members who have always spent Christmas together at the manor house. No matter how Holly attempts to let everyone know she does not plan to cook dinner for a group of strangers, things just seem to roll along.

Holly finally surrenders and promises to cook dinner on Christmas day. Of course the fact that family members start moving into the house is just a coincidence.

Then of course there is the absent owner of the house. Jude is a world famous sculptor who is visiting in America. He does not know Holly and does not trust her to take care of his treasured horse and dog. The fact that he wants her to take care of his family members as well is a given.

The phone calls between the two are classic. Holly is normally polite but with Jude she seems to automatically feel the need for sarcasm. Jude is a quiet man who treats his family very well. Speaking to this woman he does not know and cannot trust seems to bring out his inner snarl.

This is a story of love. There is a love for family as well as the love between friends. And there are relationships between a woman and a man, which may or may not include love.

Holly and Jude are wonderful characters. Each of them have a history which includes pain. And each of them have a history which has created strong people who are successful in their fields. Both are intelligent, witty and charming. With one another the intelligence and wittiness is evident. There is little charm in evidence.

The secondary characters are wonderful. Jude's family includes several generations who all love one another. The mutual love does not prevent anyone from being snarky and snippy with one another.

The humor is gentle in this story. There is a great deal of information about cooking and caring for animals and being snowed in during a blizzard. At times, some of all this felt like overkill.

But, I loved this story. It is a Christmas story which is truly about preparing for Christmas, dealing with family situations, and constantly cooking for Christmas visitors.

In other words, this is based on how life can be at Christmas.

I have found Ms Ashley and I definitely want to continue to enjoy her books.


Tags : The Twelve Days of Christmas [Trisha Ashley] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Sculptor, Jude Martland, is determined that this year there will be no Christmas after his brother runs off with his fiancee and he is keen to avoid the family home. However,Trisha Ashley,The Twelve Days of Christmas,HarperCollins Publishers,1847561152,Fiction General,Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)

The Twelve Days of Christmas Trisha Ashley 9781847561152 Books Reviews

I purchased Twelve Days of Christmas after reading a book that did not have a happy ending and I needed a break from the gloom I felt after reading the other novel. Since it was a Christmas story I was fairly confident that it would end happily. I was not disappointed and despite the predictability of a warm fuzzy ending my interest was held throughout as the author introduced her characters and the plot. There was the element of mystery as Holly learns that her Grandmother who had recently died had carried a secret to her grave which Holly was discovering in the journals that Grandmother left behind.
A tragedy of her own had caused Holly to avoid celebrating Christmas for several years and her plan to isolate herself over the holidays by taking a house-sitting job in a remote village begins to come apart when she is introduced to the elderly couple who live in a cottage on the property and she becomes drawn into their lives and long held Christmas customs.
There is . of course, a romantic interest which develops despite Holly's best intentions to avoid entanglement . This too was predictable but still left me glad that all ended happily.
I read this book based on a recommendation expecting another sappy Christmas story -- which I happen to love -- but this book is much more.

Holly, who for various reasons does not celebrate Christmas is house sitting for Jude when through a series of events she ends up hosting a house party with all the guests snowed in, feeding and caring for Jude's family with a couple of miscellaneous others, including Jude who unexpectedly arrives just in time to become snowbound with everyone else. Sparks fly, Holly learns long hidden secrets about her grandmother and about herself. I was drawn into the story, and will be looking for other books by this author. This book will be on my annual December re-read list.
Last December (2012), I read a Christmas-themed novel by Tricia Ashley called The Magic of Christmas. I selected it on a whim since I was unfamiliar with the author but found myself pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I purchased this novel at that time, but waited until the holiday season to give it a go.

As December rolled around, I found myself with limited time to read but this was one of the few Christmas reads I picked up and I am so happy I did. There is a fairly detailed summary of the plot in the product description, but I think if you depend solely on that to make a decision to read this, you may miss out on something good. The product description summarizes over 400 pages into just a few paragraphs and makes the novel seem like a copy-cat of all the other light, fluffy holiday reads available. While this novel isn't hefty and complicated by any means, it is much more enjoyable that what many authors are providing. It feels like a full novel that Ms Ashley spent time writing versus just churning it out since her published was trying to capture the market. While the reader has a pretty good idea of how things will turn out in the end, you are never 100% sure which is very pleasant. The book is populated with wonderful characters and Ms Ashley does a very nice job of giving each of them a voice and personality of their own versus just fulfilling a supporting cast role. Since it is set in the UK, there is a little flavor of Roisin Meaney and Maeve Binchy.

For fans of holiday reads, this is more complex and satisfying than the more cotton candy books but is still uplifting and good read for a cold winter night. Based upon my two positive experiences, I have purchased additional books by this author and look forward to more hours of enjoyment.
Holly is not a fan of Christmas. She was raised in a home where the popular celebration of Christmas was not the norm. Her husband died near Christmas. And recently her beloved Gran died. It is not a joyful time for her. For several years, she has created her Christmas time to be a time when she is alone.

She is a house sitter and when her original job falls through, she is offered a wonderful opportunity. She will be alone in a manor house in the middle of nowhere in Lancashire. It is just the way she wants it. It will give her an opportunity to write her cook book. She is a professional chef and hopes to create a wonderful book.

Being in the middle of nowhere, is accurate. Being alone, is not even close to reality.

There are family members who have always spent Christmas together at the manor house. No matter how Holly attempts to let everyone know she does not plan to cook dinner for a group of strangers, things just seem to roll along.

Holly finally surrenders and promises to cook dinner on Christmas day. Of course the fact that family members start moving into the house is just a coincidence.

Then of course there is the absent owner of the house. Jude is a world famous sculptor who is visiting in America. He does not know Holly and does not trust her to take care of his treasured horse and dog. The fact that he wants her to take care of his family members as well is a given.

The phone calls between the two are classic. Holly is normally polite but with Jude she seems to automatically feel the need for sarcasm. Jude is a quiet man who treats his family very well. Speaking to this woman he does not know and cannot trust seems to bring out his inner snarl.

This is a story of love. There is a love for family as well as the love between friends. And there are relationships between a woman and a man, which may or may not include love.

Holly and Jude are wonderful characters. Each of them have a history which includes pain. And each of them have a history which has created strong people who are successful in their fields. Both are intelligent, witty and charming. With one another the intelligence and wittiness is evident. There is little charm in evidence.

The secondary characters are wonderful. Jude's family includes several generations who all love one another. The mutual love does not prevent anyone from being snarky and snippy with one another.

The humor is gentle in this story. There is a great deal of information about cooking and caring for animals and being snowed in during a blizzard. At times, some of all this felt like overkill.

But, I loved this story. It is a Christmas story which is truly about preparing for Christmas, dealing with family situations, and constantly cooking for Christmas visitors.

In other words, this is based on how life can be at Christmas.

I have found Ms Ashley and I definitely want to continue to enjoy her books.