Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
BOOKS The twelve books of Christmas
reveals this year’s top seasonal reads Gifts Laura Barnett W&N, £12.99
Sometimes the best things come in small packages and Laura Barnett’s Gifts is a slender volume of 12 interconnected short stories.
Gifts has a cleverly intertwined structure, every story linking to the next until we come full circle. Each tale is about someone looking for a gift – Maddy needs a present for her childhood sweetheart Peter, Peter is at a loss as to what to buy his daughter Chloe, while Chloe is hunting for something for her beloved grandmother, and so on. Tender and moving, Gifts is infused with Christmas magic – that bittersweet mix of joy, yearning, sadness and hope that accompanies the festive season.
The Wish Nicholas Sparks Sphere, £18.99
Have tissues at the ready for this new tear-jerker from The Notebook author Nicholas Sparks. Maggie Dawes is a successful travel photographer whose life has been a series of adventures but, at 36, she has terminal cancer and is facing her last Christmas. When a new assistant joins her art gallery, they strike up an unlikely friendship and Maggie tells him the story of her first love. A Christmas read packed with emotion and sentiment.
The Killer In The Snow Alex Pine Avon, £7.99
If you prefer your Christmas reading drenched in blood rather than festive cheer, try this crime thriller. DI James Walker is tasked with solving a brutal triple murder in his rural village. But these are not the first killings to occur in the remote farmhouse – a young couple died there 20 years earlier.
DI Walker embarks on a dangerous mission to discover if the crimes are connected.
The Christmas Bookshop Jenny Colgan Sphere, £14.99
After Carmen is made redundant, she has no choice but to ask her annoyingly perfect sister Sofia for help, and Sofia knows of a local bookshop in need of an assistant.
Carmen reluctantly takes the job but can she turn the shop’s fortunes around in the build-up to Christmas? Laugh-out-loud funny, this is guaranteed to get you in the festive mood.
Murder On A Winter’s Night: Ten Classic Crime Stories Various authors Profile, £8.99
Crime fans will love curling up with this collection of seasonal whodunnits from much-loved writers including Arthur Conan Doyle, Dorothy L Sayers, Mark Billingham and Margery Allingham. From an unfortunate Santa stabbed through the heart to a gaslighting murderer who gets his comeuppance, these crime classics feature twists and turns aplenty.
Always, In December Emily Stone Headline Review, £8.99
Since she lost her mum and dad in a car crash,
Christmas holds few happy memories for Josie. But everything changes when she bumps – quite literally – into Max, crashing into him on her bike. This chance encounter leads to love. But life is never simple and there is plenty of heartbreak along the way. This is a festive romance about finding love in the most unlikely places – and the pain of letting it go.
Christmas Hope For The Steel Girls* Michelle Rawlins HQ Stories, £7.99
During the Second World War, friends Betty, Nancy and Patty are doing back-breaking, dangerous work making parts for Spitfires while keeping the home fires burning. And at Christmas time, they’re also supporting struggling families in their close-knit Yorkshire community. Despite the bitter cold, rationing and fear for their loved ones, the book is infused with the spirit of togetherness like the glow from a hot cuppa (of which they have many). Heartwarming, hopeful and inspiring, it will bring a nostalgic smile to your face.
The Merry Christmas Project Cathy Bramley Orion, £7.99
With a heroine called Merry, a love interest called Cole and much of the action set in Holly Cottage, this is festive fiction with (jingle) bells on.
Heartbroken after a break-up, Merry moves into the cottage and embarks on establishing a new business. Cole is also bereft because his ex-partner and children have moved to Canada.
But when their local town launches a festive event, the two are thrown together and Christmas suddenly looks much brighter.
The Christmas Murder Game Alexandra Benedict Zaffre, £14.99
When Lily is invited to her deceased aunt’s manor house to play a festive game, she has no desire to go. Family members must crack clues and find keys and the winner will inherit the country pile. But a letter arrives telling Lily that this game could solve the mystery of her mother’s death.
Packed with riddles, anagrams and puzzles, this is an engaging murder mystery that will grip you until the end.
Underneath The Christmas Tree Heidi Swain Simon & Schuster, £8.99
You’d think growing up around a Christmas tree business would make you a fan of all things festive. But Liza Wynter has no desire to work at Wynter’s World – her late father’s Christmas tree plantation – having lived there as a girl after her mother died.
However, when her father’s business partner announces his retirement, she has no choice but to return. There, she meets Ned, and sparks fly. Easy to read, this is a cosy story of redemption and romance.
The Winter Of Second Chances Jenny Bayliss Pan, £8.99
Annie Sharpe’s life is blown apart when she catches her husband Max in flagrante delicto with another woman. Furious and set on divorce, Annie jumps at the chance to move to a seaside town to look after a beach house. But with Max determined to win her back, will she take that chance ? You’ll be rooting for Annie all the way in this funny, warm-hearted novel.
A Winter Memory Lulu Taylor
Pan, £8.99
Family secrets and a mysterious disappearance spark this sprawling saga in which Helen, her husband Hamish and children move back to the family home to live with Hamish’s brother Charlie. But Charlie’s wife Sylla has vanished – and nobody will tell Helen where she is. Over 500 pages long, this family drama will keep you going through Christmas and beyond.
*Christmas Hope For The Steel Girls
reviewed by Clare Fitzsimons