Member Reviews

I love these books. I love that they are told in a series of letters, emails and messages. I love it so much I could not put it down and read from start to finish in a single day.

Hallett is truly the master of unique stories.

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Thanks to Atria for the eGalley.
I loved being back with the Fairway Players and all of their drama. The structure of this novella is the same as the first, and I just love the mix of texts and emails that keeps this story entertaining and engaging. The characters here are all unique and it's easy to root for and against them. Even though the story was short, I found it to be a satisfying read. Highly recommend picking up The Appeal and this one.

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Pros: I loved the author’s first two books—The Appeal and The Twyford Code—and was delighted to revisit the characters from The Appeal in this story. This novella follows the same unique structure as The Appeal, using texts, emails, newspaper clippings, etc. to set up and solve a mystery.

Cons: This is not a con but just a note about formatting—because of the unique formatting, I think it is great to read on Kindle or in print, but I’m not sure how it would translate to audiobook.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read this book.

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The Christmas Appeal made me laugh out loud several times. The book had so much drama, and I loved all of it.

Hallet tells the story in a multi-media form, for instance, emails, texts, and even police reports. This novella is over the top. Watching Celia and Sarah Janes' (SJ) ridiculous back and forth put me in a good mood.

The story takes place in a church where the Fairway Players are putting on a Christmas production of Jack and The Bean Stalk to pay for the church roof. The production of the play causes a lot of problems. I did not realize that The Christmas Appeal is a novella. The Appeal is the book before this novella. However, I was not lost or confused. I will be going back to read The Appeal because I enjoyed the humor of this book so much.

4 Stars! The Christmas Appeal is a great palette cleanser after reading a heavy fantasy, It is a fast and easy read. I am only giving 4 stars because the mystery does not start until about 60 percent through the book. I recommend it if you are looking for a funny and quick read.
Thanks, NetGalley and Atria Books. For providing this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

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5 sparkly stars! A favourite of the year! This is what I imagine the love child of “The Goes Wrong Show” and “Midsomer Murders” to look like. It’s an utter delight!

The Fairway Players are back! And this time they are doing panto!

While The Appeal was slightly darkly humorous, this novella takes the funny up another notch. It is hilarious! In the most vicious, juicy and gossipy way imaginable!

Oh, and there’s obviously going to be a murder that our two lawyers from the first book have to puzzle out!

All around amazing and I hope Janice Hallett writes more novellas to go in between her main books!

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So much holiday sleuthing fun! A fabulous follow-up to The Appeal, which I devoured. Hallett is a puzzle master.

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Another amazing read by Janice Hallett. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to read this one early. The fact that it continues on from one of my favorite books made it that much better. All (most) of the usual suspects are back for this fun novella (it’s actually longer than the usual Novella, but shorter than the average book) it’s a quick read, took me an afternoon, and I loved every minute. I can’t wait for the next book coming out next year. (Not related to this one I believe)

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Another great mystery from this author. I’ve enjoyed everything she’s written so far and particularly love her use of “found documents” to build her story. My only critique is that a few of the jokes about “wokenes” and mocking minority people’s names don’t land and already seem dated and old.

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I was delighted to get the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book thanks to the publisher and Netgalley. I have loved all of Janice Hallett's books, and this novella, a sequel to The Appeal, was great as well. It was fun to read more about the members of the Fairway Players and their power struggles. This book was very humorous, with funny observations on Christmas letters, fundraising, etc. Of course, the corpse found during the Player's Christmas pantomime provided an unusual mystery to be solved. This will be a great treat for readers during the holidays. I highly recommend this book and look forward to the next book by the author.

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Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Christmas Appeal.

I've just recently finished the author's future release and enjoyed it very much so I was eager to read something new.

I've come to realize the author favors epistolary writing for most of her books, something I had to get used to.

It's not a favorite format of mine to read, but this was a very short, pretty interesting story about a group of volunteer theater actors preparing to put on a pantomime, and at the same time deal with drama, gossip, and murder most foul.

I enjoyed finding out whodunit and picking up the clues, not easy when everything is written via text message, Whats App messages, and emails.

This was a good, fast read, and gets the job done if you're looking for a quick mystery to solve alongside the detectives.

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Thank you, NetGalley and Atria Books, for this ARC!

"The Christmas Appeal" is a short 108-page whodunit tale. Told via text messages and emails, the story centers around the Fairway Players theater group, their rivalries, their secrets, and their upcoming production of Jack and the Beanstalk. The group soon discovers a dead body amongst the crew, but who could it be? Femi and Charlotte pour over the messages to find the culprit responsible for the body and the ensuing chaos.

This story is a fun, chaotic mess sure to entertain readers as they try to decipher the messages alongside Femi and Charlotte. The characters and events will have readers go through different emotions, from exasperation to hilarity. Readers will enjoy this quick read as they put clues together to figure out the mystery behind the dead body.

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A huge thank you to NetGalley and Atria for the eARC of one of my most anticipated reads of the year! I didn’t know how much I wanted to step back into the world crafted in The Appeal until this was announced. This desire was further confirmed when I was reading. As per usual, Janice Hallett’s epistolary style and exper writing enables an intriguing mystery that captivates the reader. My only qualm is that I wasn’t ready for this to end! If you loved The Appeal this is an excellent treat. if you haven’t read The Appeal, go read it immediately and then read this as soon as it releases this October!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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The Fairway Players are back and busy practicing for a Christmas play. Things go awry when during the middle of the performance, a dead Santa shows up.

I really loved this one! The style here with the interviews, texts, emails, etc is right up my alley. I also liked that since it was Christmas based the crime ended up being lower stakes (not like a full blown murder mystery). The Appeal was on my list to read but now it moved up a lot because of how much I enjoyed the writing here! If you haven’t read The Appeal (like me), you will still be fine here as the author does a great job not spoiling anything!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my copy in exchange for a honest review!

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Christmas Caper!
Janice Hallett takes us back to the small town Fairway Players (The Appeal) where inexplicably another murder may have occurred!
Join Femi and Charlotte as they read through letters, emails and police transcripts to determine what actually happened when the Fairway Players presented "Jack and the Beanstalk" in pantomime at the local church.

The insanity is real as any competitive neighborly get-together can be! I devoured this story and only wish someone was murdered every month on or off stage! Join our players as the modern day Agatha Christie takes us through the motions. Keep your detective hat handy as there are plenty of suspects and more then one crime occurring!
#Atria #ATriabooks #Netgalley #TheChristmasAppeal #JaniceHallett

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Janice Hallett is the only person I would willingly and enthusiastically read a Christmas story in August for.

The Christmas Appeal was an excellent sequel to The Appeal. Femi and Charlotte are back to solve another mystery involving The Fairway Players’ Christmas pantomime and are confronted with an interesting ethical dilemma in the end.

This novella is jam packed with laughs, shock, and some egregious behavior. I wish it were longer!

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Thanks to all for this eARC!

I read The Appeal last year and absolutely loved it. When I saw this come across my Netgalley requests, I was so excited to read it. The story follows The Fairway Players once again. I love how this novella is written. By using epistolary style, the story is constantly moving forward at a quick pace and encourages the reader to continue. I didn’t want to put this book down. I laughed out loud multiple times and overall, it kept me guessing. I do wish that there was a little more mystery to it, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of reading it.

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So, I'm a little let-down, because I didn't realize how similarly this was written with a Christmas twist in relation to The Appeal, but I guess I should have seen that coming. I am really thankful to Janice Hallett, Atria Books, and Netgalley for letting me experience this yuletide nightmare in August.

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