Member Reviews

Viola is a very nice person, who cannot say no, when is asked for help. She meets by accident a man that will change her life until Christmas. This is a marvelous Christmas story, filled with love, some funny situations and with the season spirit.

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Having read and enjoyed Covent Garden in the Snow I was really looking forward to reading this new book and I certainly wasn't disappointed. I enjoy books where the focus is on the characters, rather than situations, and this certainly had this. With some characters from the previous book making guest appearances this time the focus is on Viola, who plays the viola in the Opera House orchestra, who is "volunteered" to help organise a school nativity play. She is helped by one of the school Governors, Nate, whose daughter Grace is in the play.
With romance and humour to balance the sadder moments I really enjoyed this book, to the detriment of my sleep at 5 in the morning. Definitely recommended.

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Viola is a member of the London orchestra and is put in charge of a school Christmas pagent in her neighborhood of Noting Hill. Through this, she meets Grace and her father Nate, who are preparing for the Christmas season, minus estranged wife/mother Elaine. This is a Christmas story, so you can imagine what happens next...

I received and Advanced Reader Copy via NetGalley.

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Some characters that are made to fall in love with and little Grace is no exception. Beautifully written and made for snuggling up with in front of the fire.

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This book is amazing. What a wonderful person Viola is,always putting others first. The nativity she created sounded so funny. Such a heartwarming story including the love for a child she fully understood.

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Sounds clichéd however I found this story a delight; sweet, strong just like a perfect cup of coffee.

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Well this is one of those books that had you engaged right from the start with poor Viola’s underground frustrations. This is a wonderfully written and edited book that just flows and is so easy to relax into and follow with a simple but joyous storyline, beautiful characters and the warmth of Christmas with a hint of Cinderella thrown in. There’s a small degree of inevitability but besides that it’s a heartwarming story and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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Notting Hill in the Snow is a delightful and charming Christmas romance that will have you laughing from the first page. This romantic and hilarious novel will sweep you away to London and Notting Hill during its beautiful and snowy Christmas season. Wake's writing is full of warmth, humor and incredibly relatable to characters making this a holiday romance that will leave you wanting more.  Notting Hill in the Snow is a lovely and festive read that is sure to get you in the holiday spirit

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This was my first time reading a book by Jules Wake and it won’t be my last. If I feel I completely know the characters and the surroundings, I’m happy.

Notting Hill in the Snow. Such a beautiful location and time of year - perfect. I enjoyed the scenes involving the nativity performance at the school, Christmas shopping, selecting a tree, etc. so much fun.

The little girl, Grace is the highlight of this story. I love her. I want to take her home and keep her. So sweet, such great emotional dialog. Awesome.

Slight spoilers ahead...

Viola needed to learn when friends and family truly needed her and when they were using her. She was taken advantage of by her cousins and I’m not sure that part of the story was fully resolved. I would have liked to see an example of them changing their ways.

I had a big issue with the romance aspect of the story. We learn early on in the book that Nate is married. Again - he’s married! Not a spoiler there because, as I just said, we learn that early on in the story. (ppssst, he’s married)

Judge for yourself. I will read more by Wake. Hopefully all the romantic players will be single.

Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the review copy of this title.

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An unusual Christmas novel that made me smile and think.
It's engrossing and entertaining and the plot is more complex than the average Christmas novel.
I loved the realistic and relatable cast of characters, they're well written and you can feel the empathy of the the author toward them.
The plot kept my attention till the end and I found it heartwarming and poignant.
An excellent read, highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

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I have fallen in love...

...not with the the simply amazing story that really does sum up London and Notting Hill in the snow

...not with the simply fabulous sounding Nativity that Viola helps to put on

... not with Viola's family who frankly were driving me mad, but equally amused me

... not with Nate the incredibly sexy and wonderful man

... but with Nate's daughter Grace, who has crept completely under my skin and is key to the whole story. She is old beyond her years, and doesn't seem to know how to relax and just be a child. Which is of course due to her high flying mother and Elaine's need for perfection and appearances.

Grace was in some ways so wise, but in others so insecure and adorable. As Viola spends more time with Grace and Nate, it starts to feel like they are a family unit, but they also know nothing could ever happen between them.

It was wonderful to see a familiar setting and faces from Covent Garden in the Snow, but if you haven't read that then don't worry, this will easily work as a standalone novel.

Written with Jules Wake's trademark warmth, wit and incredibly relatable to characters, this is a sure fire hit book for me. I loved every second of it, and just couldn't seem to read it fast enough.

I thought it was incredibly clever to have so many references to Frozen 2, not in detail but just to help show just how excited children this winter will be for the film, and I desperately want to see it myself. I loved all the Frozen references, although I have just had to look up LOL dolls. It is clear Jules has definitely researched well what children will be enjoying this Christmas.

Oh and the nativity, and the children in Grace's class, so adorable, I loved George the innkeeper. Some incredibly touching moments throughout this book.

This is a wonderfully heartwarming story to read this winter. I adored it!

Thank you to One More Chapter and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

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I am rating this a 3.5 really. I was absolutely engrossed and could not fly through this fast enough! However, I found Nate to be lacking. His excuse in not helping with the nativity is that he's too busy. But with Viola managing his child, surely he too didn't need to bail on her? He didn't do the cleaning and barely shopped. Viola is a doormat and I found that her family took advantage of her to the point that she was being severely manipulated! Made to feel bad about her self from an early age, it's no surprise that she allows herself to be run ragged. Nate is still a married man! There was always the possibility that his wife could in fact come back. It was fated to happen as the plot wound it's way to the conclusion. Viola and Nate set themselves up for heartbreak! Who falls in love with so much gusto when you're still married? This puts our would be heroine in the place of the other woman and I wonder if those faithful wives out there will be thrilled to read a story about "The other woman". So with hard to empathize with lead characters, it was truly the daughter that stole the heart in this one. Notting Hill in the Snow sounds like such a magical and wondrous place to be during the Season. This did not give me the warm fuzzies. Instead, I was left with a general feeling of simply wishing them luck! This is the first that I've read from this author.

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Lovely festive read. It was a heart warming romance. It was a wonderful book to read. It was well written and flowed well.

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It was a cute read! Thank you netgalley and the authors for granting me an ARC of this one! It is a perfect christmas rom-com. Loved it from the beginning to the end. The characters were so relatable and chemistry between the protagonists was cute and swoon worthy!
Recommend it to all rom-com lovers!
Happy reading.

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This is a typical Christmas read, a fluffy and light read. I enjoyed Jules Wakes last Christmas read but this one, not so much. The protagonist is like a doormat and the man she's interested in, is married and also an idiot. I'm disappointed.

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It was a beautifully written and very romantic novel. Excellent character depiction, plus an exciting storyline make for a roaring success. Highly recommended.

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Jules Wake also writes under the name Julie Caplin as well so It's possible you may have read some of her work before. I loved this book. I thought there was a real depth to this story, more so than the usual festive romance book. I really enjoyed the characters and how they interacted. I won't ruin the story, but will say that this has been one of my favourite Christmas books of 2019 so far!

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The story of Viola who plays in the orchestra. She is roped in to helping a local school with their nativity. This is where she meets Nate. The more time they spend together the closer they get, but he still has a wife, even if she is in a different country.

A great festive read.

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What a beautiful present in time for Christmas. Although I know Christmas is a good three months away this really managed to put me in the pre-christmas spirit. The story was lovely plot with amazing characters with flaws on their own an the ending was the perfect bow on top of the pretty parcel. Grace stole my heart and Viola was simply a sweetheart. What made it great was the fact everyone was human. No one blamed anyone unnecessarily, they manned up to their mistakes. My heart genuinely broke for Viola when she came to find Elaine back but that part needed to happen. It broke for grace when she figured her family wasn’t what she wanted and it broke more when she finally figured what was the best for her and Nate. The little girl was more adult than anyone could be.

Beautiful story, with beautiful humane characters to remind us that Christmas is indeed a beautiful time all around.

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This books was a really sweet romance. However, I had some issues with it.

Spoiler alert::

I was not thrilled with some of the behavior of the H, but people are human. But that ending killed me! So he comes home to his wife and ex-girlfriend. He knows he wants to ditch the wife, but the ex doesn't know that. So he asks her to babysit!! And she says yes!?? And he has this slick smile cuz he knows what's going on? To be honest, it made me want to punch him!

I appreciate the advance copy from the publisher and net galley. This did not affect my review.

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