The 4th book in Jenny Colgon's Mure series is a fun read. It was nice to revisit the island and all the characters you have fallen in love with in the previous 3 books.

This is not a stand alone book so you will be a bit lost if you haven't read the first 3.

Did not care for this book, however I can see that some readers would love it. Set on a fictional island in Scotland, the story follow several characters and their attempts to open a new hotel at Christmas. Several story lines going on with different characters, I just couldn't connect with any of them. For readers who like to read about different places, this might appeal to them

Jenny Colgan is one of the three authors who write “Women’s Fiction” that I will read. That I love to read. Funny, heartwarming, a guaranteed happy ending but with plenty of lovable characters who manage not to descend into stereotype and / or caricature.

Fintan has been left a behemoth of an almost-ready hotel on a tiny (and beautiful and stupendously cold) Northern Scottish isle by his late and beloved husband. All he really wants to do is make cheese. His sister Flora, struggling with the demands of a maternity leave steps in to help out. Add a fully-tattooed, garrulous (but magnificent) French chef, a spoiled Norwegian playboy stripped of all things monetary and / or digital and sent to the dungeons (I mean the hotel kitchen), plenty of charming and well-written locals who are not short in the personality department, and you have a situation ripe for comedy, heartbreak, and healing romance.

I’m impressed that Colgan has managed to seamlessly introduce hetero- and homo-sexual relationships and the stressful experience of a Syrian refugee family into a typically shallow genre. And while sticking to the required fairy tale ending, she manages to include real, and often insoluble problems, that her characters have to simply learn to make the best of.

Jenny Colgan is one of my favorite authors. I was super excited to receive an ARC from #netgalley for her latest book, Christmas at the Island Hotel. This is a continuation of her Mure Island stories, so, in my humble opinion, it should be read in order, which makes this the third book in the series. However, it does stand alone with an emphasis on a previous minor character, Isla, and newcomer Konstantin. In this story, the gorgeous new luxury hotel The Rock, which Coltan built, is getting ready to open for Christmas. Fintan is supposed to be the manager but he is sidelined with grief, so Flora, on her maternity leave, takes over. Isla, sent up to the hotel from the Seaside Kitchen to help, meets Konstantin, a banished playboy from Norway who is working in the kitchen. As the story of Isla and Konstantin builds, previous character's relationships and situations are woven throughout to paint another delightful picture of life on this isolated island. Another perfect offering from Jenny Colgan!

What a delightful story. Jenny Colgan is able to take simple ideas and spin them out to be pleasurable reads. Set on the Island of Mure, a Scottish island, remote, harsh, where the weather is always a factor, and transport to the mainland might be by ferry if the weather is good, or not at all if the weather is uncooperative.

A cast of oddball characters, some of whom who have been introduced in earlier books in this series, live and love on the remote Scottish island. (I have not read the previous books in the series.) Fintan is going ahead with opening the hotel that his partner had started. Everyone on the island has opinions about the hotel and the staff - Gaspard, the irascible chef, the young, blond Norwegian who has been exiled by his father, with only his dog, Bjark, to keep him company. Somehow the community comes together to make this Christmas extra special. Lots of love, lots of heartache, but above all, a sense of community.

So excited to visit Flora and the gang again. I adore this series and look forward to each new book. This time around Fintan is trying to cope with opening the hotel of Colton's dreams. We meet a cranky chef and a young man of means who was financially cut off from his family. As always a humorous, heartfelt look at small town life. Another hit!

Love this series, the setting and the characters. Charming as always as The Rock opens and more characters come to the island of Mure on the remote coast of Scotland.

The sweetness that typically saturates Jenny Colgan’s books settles over this new chapter in the lives of the Island residents. This time, we find Fintan mourning Colton’s death while Flora and Joel adjust to a new baby in their lives. While our Island regulars struggle with the changes in their lives, new character Konstantin is dropped in the middle of opening a new glam hotel at Christmas. Banished to the island by his wealthy father, Konstantin becomes the prime character here as he learns the value of hard work and joy of love, giving, and friendship.

Romance fans and fans of the Colgan books will thoroughly enjoy this new peek into life on a Scottish island. A joyful escape from reality....

Jenny Colgan has done it again with the Christmas book to read this year. Christmas at the Island Hotel is a magical book for a magical time. The characters Jenny creates come to life on the pages and you want to be there and be friends with almost every one of them.

This was a fun follow-up to the original book, though I didn't realize it when I picked it to read. If you loved the cast in the first story they are all here plus a handful of new oddball characters that the story essentially revolves around starting about one third in. As with the previous book, there are those of us who'd love to visit or live on a remote Scottish island where the world that revolves around
"likes" and "shares" and trendy-ness have very little meaning or bearing on everyday life in a village in the middle of the ocean. Of course, there's still love and heartache, work and careers, family and community to bind people together in a sweet story. Definitely a nice read for a world that's gone a bit mad.

Another sweet tale from Jenny Colgan about life on Mure Island and the people who live there. Flora is helping her brother open up a new Hotel left to him after the death of his husband. Various people pitch in to help. A new and volatile but talented chef arrives as does an exiled prince hiding his identity. Complications and love ensue and all is well that ends well. Overall a fun read but it seemed a little rushed and without much substance.

Jenny Colgan is the sugary sweet author we all need right now. Christmas brings out her best work and I’m here for it! So grateful for this review copy, the book will be a huge hit for us.

What fun! A few laugh-out-loud moments, a few must-be-something-in-my-eye moments. I was hoping for another installment of this collection of characters on the island that is practically a character too. We get updates on some characters while others get a stronger voice. Enjoyable light reading, but not frivolous. Cheaper than a vacation but as refreshing.