I’ve read a lot of Mandy Baggot’s books and always enjoy them. It took me a while to get into this one, but I’m glad I persisted. Enjoyable read and Christmassy atmosphere. Will definitely look out for Mandy’s next book. Thank you for approving my request for an honest review.

I struggled to get into this one a little bit, but I kept with it and I’m pretty glad I did! It’s a cute and easy read especially during the busy holidays

Although it started off quite promising and interesting, I couldn't get myself to finish it till the end.

This book was really good! I had so much fun reading it! This story is so refreshing, so touching and also funny! I really enjoyed this book so much!

A lovely Christmas story bringing Emily and Ray together. As always with Mandy Baggot books there is a great deal of warmth and humour in the story which makes it hard to put down

Sadly not for me. I struggled to get into it and really did not enjoy it unfortunately. I didn’t relate to the characters at all

Gosh I love Mandy Baggot. Her novels are like hallmark movies ... you know the good ones.

They are a great pallet cleanser between serious reads, and often are like a warm hug. I have read several of them now, and I have liked them all. If you are looking for a great, feel good, Christmas read, look no further than One Christmas Star.

Emily Parker has had a rough year. She lost her boyfriend, her roommate moved out and her her heating system cannot decide what season it is. All that would be manageable if she also was not put in charge of the Christmas musical, at the school where she works, when she has very little musical ability.

Ray Stone is down on his luck. He had a quick rise to fame as a song writer, but after an ex girlfriend and a few bad press articles he is not feeling inspired. It doesn’t help that Ray is almost out of money, with no where to go.

After an incident at the school shed with an injured hedgehog cause these two’s path to cross. They decide they may be able to help each other out, to make the holiday season a little more bearable for both of them.

“None of the circumstances were perhaps perfect, but life wasn’t perfect. And she new that more most.”

Thank you Aria and NetGalley for the eARC copy to read and review.

This was such a great Christmas read outside your normal predictable story. Mandy does such a great job of building characters and revealing little parts of them throughout the book. I loved watching Emily and Ray's story unfold while also watching them grow as individuals. Hallmark needs to make a movie out of one of these Christmas books!

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

Another fabulous read by Mandy, one minute were in Greece the next were back home for christmas. Emily is a year 6 teacher and you can relate to her if you have had children around this age or you work in a school teaching these little horrors. Emily nd Ray have issues and are both equally vulrable but they work through this and they shine together and have some romances scenes without the bedroom scenes enclosed... mandy writes so well you can see it unfolding.
The christmas market had so much to go for it, lets hope we see them this year. A brilliant read.

This was a really cute, perfect for Christmastime read. The plot was slightly predictable, but overall I really enjoyed this and would recommend it!

Nothing has ever been quite right for Emily since her boyfriend Simon was killed by a drunk driver crossing the street. With her parents unavailable at the best of times, and judgmental all of it, they can’t understand her penchant for vintage fashion or why she would give up the lucrative life as a solicitor and join their firm. Tired of the trappings of “do gooding” without actually doing good, Emily has felt like a disappointment for her entire life, and even her tiny rebellion with her best friend, gay, black and from the housing estates, also has come under fire. Now teaching 6th form in one of the more impoverished schools in the area, she’s constantly feeling as if she’s being judged: helping the particularly trod-on students, never quite feeling as if she’s ‘good enough’ to apply for the assistant Head position, and generally turning herself inside out to do the best for the kids every day, only to return to an empty flat, close to out-of-date ready meals and her bursting at the seams closet full of vintage fashions never yet worn.

One early morning – there is a disturbance in the school shed, and out rolls a very handsome and more than slightly hungover rock star by the name of Ray Stone, gingerly clutching a hedgehog with a broken leg. Both the man and the hedgehog are like catnip to the students – so after a particularly spiny first encounter – Ray and the hedgehog are admitted into the classroom and the RSPCA is called to treat said hedgehog – instantly named by the students (Olivia Colman) and Ray is summarily stuffed into the supplies cupboard when the Headmistress arrives. Of course this is to enforce her ‘rules’ and question the hedgehog’s appearance, while the issue of Ray is quietly and hastily dealt with. Fast forward a couple of days and Emily’s innate goodness and helpfulness, along with a steady dose of no judgments, has her slated to create the school’s “Christmas Extravaganza to be all new and spectacular – as the extra funding for the school is in jeopardy. With singer/songwriter Ray now staying in her flat as his situation went from fame to toilet with ‘revelations’ from his ex – she’s got someone who can help – and all she has to do is ask.

From here – we see both Emily and Ray dance about the attraction sparking between them, opening up, yet guardint their deepest, darkest secrets. And Baggot reveals those with a gentle hand – letting Emily’s grief for the loss of Simon and her worries about, well, everything balance the more shocking and (he thinks) shameful abuse that Ray suffered at the hands of his ex. With a new issue / secret that Ray has kept from everyone, opening up and sharing with one another, and then trusting in their friends and families to understand them better, when you add in the kids (10 year olds are particularly observant and unique) the stress involved in writing the show, and Emily’s desire to get her kids to stick to their own ideas of who and what they should be, disregarding their often difficult starts and struggles: the story is full of heart and hope – and done in a way that allows readers to see Emily and Ray as people, involved, complete and full of little issues and quirks that define their strength and show their true hearts in ways that make the story (and the holiday) ring true for everyone.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at <a href=”https://wp.me/p3OmRo-awh/” > <a> I am, Indeed </a>

One Christmas Star took me a little while to get into but it is a good read with romance, humour and Christmas magic.

I love Mandy Baggot and her books always make me smile. Unfortunately I found this one a bit lacklustre and just far too predictable. Some really sweet moments but these just didn’t outweigh the rest of the book. Maybe I just prefer the author’s books set in the sunshine rather than the wintry setting!

I absolutely ADORED this book! It is fun, festive and fabulous! The perfect read to accompany some mulled wine to provide light relief and romance during the festive season!

This week our American cousins celebrate Thanksgiving and with the accompanying Black Friday shopping spree thus begins the official start of the Christmas season. And so dear friends it would be utterly remiss of me if I didn’t have the perfect Christmas book for your enjoyment. Ignore the queues in the shops, put your feet up and enjoy this seasonal delight.

Think Richard Curtis-style London based festive story, add in a few hedgehogs, cross that with a disgraced singer songwriter and soon you’ll be singing along to an extremely unlikely Christmassy version of Shallow!

Emily Parker isn’t looking forward to Christmas. Her flatmate – and personal chef! – has just moved in with his boyfriend and Emily is left on her own. Life as a teacher for year six students is hugely rewarding but budget cuts at the school see Emily funding personally a lot of the things that she wants to do with them herself and getting emotionally involved with her charges.

Ray Stone can’t really get much lower. His ex-girlfriend has branded him as as an abuser and every paper and television show carries the lurid details of his alleged domestic abuse. To top that off he is struggling to progress his next album for the record company. They think he’s stringing them along and are reluctant to pay an advance on the album. In reality Ray is having real problems with his vocal chords and really needs an operation to fix it before he can sing again.

When Emily’s schoolchildren find a hungover and homeless looking Ray sleeping in the school shed they immediately realise who he is and it is only his efforts to save a hedgehog with a broken leg that begins to win them over.

One Christmas Star is a tinsel bedecked Christmassy delight. I defy you not to unpack the fairy lights and pop on your favourite seasonal music while you curl up and read this book. I fully expect it to hit our screens at some point as its too joyous not to share.

Supplied by Net Galley and Aria in exchange for an honest review.

UK Publication Date: Nov 14 2019. 464 pages.

Emily Parker is set to have the worst Christmas ever! Her flatmate's moved out, she's closed her heart to love and she's been put in charge of the school original Christmas show – with zero musical ability. Disgraced superstar, Ray Stone is in desperate need of a quick PR turnaround. Waking up from a drunken stupor to a class of ten-year-olds snapping pics and Emily looking at him was not what he had in mind. Ray needs Emily's help to delete the photos, and she needs his with the show. As they learn to work together they may just open their hearts to more than a second chance.
This was a really cute story that I hadn’t expected to like so much. I really liked the Emily as well as her interactions with Ray. I flew through the story. I recommend.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

Thank you Netgalley and Aria for the free review copy in exchange for my honest opinion. This was a really cute holiday read. It took a little while for me to get into and was a little slow for me at first, but I really enjoyed it once I got into it.
Emily and Ray were both very easy to relate to and very likable characters.
Ray is a down on his luck singer whose ex-girlfriend is falsely trashing him in the media. He has no where to go or stay and ends up in a shed at an elementary school. Emily is an elementary school teacher who is handed the last minute holiday/Christmas concert that she has to create from scratch. She's been living alone since her partner died away last year and her best friend moved out. They run into each other one day in the school yard and after some classroom chaos, realize they can help each other.
This would make a cute holiday/Hallmark movie. For me, there were a lot of predictable elements and it was a little slow in the beginning, but overall I really enjoyed it. It's 3.5 stars rounded up for me.

This book was excellent!!!! I had so so so much reading it! This story is so refreshing, so beautiful and touching and also so so funny! I laughed out lout several times during my read and that is not something that happens to me easily while reading! I really enjoyed this book so much! I can only recommend it to you and it doesn't have to be Christmas time to enjoy it! You can read it all year round!

Emily is a teacher of ten years olds, her sex grade is everithing to her. Her flatemate was move out and she is alone. Emily is in charge of the school Christmas show, but she has no musical talent at all or her mother put that thought in her head.

Ray, a celebrity musician, is in every magazine or news but they say bad news about him. His alcohol addiction put an oil on the fire and makes the others to think that everything is true. 

Somehow he is ended up in the school shed and meets Emily and her pupils snapping pictures of him drunk and lost. That is not how he supose to deal with his problem. 

Emily is a modest woman, I imagined her like a teacher as she is. She is put in charge of the show but she couldn't believe that.

"At the forefront. What did that mean? Emily needed quick clarification."

The story is heart warming, funny and romantic.

‘No one got a photo of that. Which is a shame, because that’s the sort of good news story you need. I mean, imagine you on Loose Women then, photos of you cradling Sonic playing on a loop to some sentimental music."

There wasn't anything romantic at all but I was melting, it was their first conversation alone.And the allegory with a surfer is so good:

"I don’t believe you,’ Emily said. ‘You and all the British press,’ Ray commented with a sigh. He followed it up with a smile. ‘But I’ve learnt to ride that choppy ocean like the very best surfer. So , put me in the cupboard again, Emily.’

She is proud to be the teacher, she remains me of my teaching carieer and how I miss my classes:

"...just want to say… how proud I am to be the teacher of this year’s Year Six class.’ She drew in a breath. ‘Your children come into my class every day full of enthusiasm and bursting at the seams with excitement for the world. And I know, for us as adults, it’s sometimes..."