The book is centered around Bea, and her choice to stay in London or Go to New York every Christmas. I have mixed feelings about this book. The dual timelines concept was good at the start, but it felt confusing at a point. I didn't warm up to Bea throughout the book. She couldn't make up her mind about anything in her life. She is doubtful and unhappy with the situations in the whole lot of the book. It's tough to keep track of the story. I just finished to find the ending, and it also felt unimpressive. Maybe someone else can appreciate it better. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.

For five years Christmas is the point of change in Bea’s life. The decisions she makes takes her to two journeys through friendship, family, new beginnings, forgiveness, and finally the end that was meant to be from the star. Clare Swatman’ s capacity to storytelling is amazing.

This was another ‘WOW’ read, and I loved everything about it. Having been the target audience when the film Sliding Doors hit the cinema, I was more than intrigued to see how this story would play out. Would Bea find happiness in London, or would New York be her final destination, and with whom would she settle? With this premise, it’s impossible to predict how the story would turn, but I was happy to strap myself in and enjoy the ride.
Our protagonist, Bea, is easy to like but not as easy to second-guess. She’s wrapped up in family loyalty and wants to make everyone happy, even to her own detriment. She has long nurtured a desire to live and work in New York, and leaving her stale relationship behind, she heads to London, Heathrow, and her final destination across the pond. After a luggage malfunction on the moving walkway, she meets an annoying yet sad-looking American. As she gathers up her scattered belongings, her life divides into two scenarios: Go and Stay.

Bea’s London relationship is filled with her experiences of dealing with her boyfriend Dom’s battle with depression. This is handled in a very sympathetic manner, but there is no avoiding the overwhelming fact that more than one person in a relationship is affected by the highs and lows of mental health.
As the differing timelines crossed and Bea’s worlds were tossed and turned, it was impossible to guess what the end story would be, but I found myself hoping for a positive and happy conclusion. The amount of thought and careful planning involved in ensuring that all versions worked flawlessly was a huge consideration. I can only imagine the number of Post-it notes involved—it’s beyond comprehension. That said, Clare Swatman is an accomplished writer and clearly knows how to catch her reader’s attention.
Simply wonderful!

This book tied in me knots. It’s like the Choose Your Own Adventure stories when I was kid.
Alternating chapters are based on what happened if Bea got on the plane to NYC or if she didn’t.
It was rather confusing at first and the chapters share many of the same details but in different circumstances.
I felt that Bea ricocheted between Dom and AJ and didn’t give herself time to think and heal. I harbored mixed feelings about her because I thought she was unfair to both of them in each story line, but then they were unfair to her too.

Thank you netgalley for an advanced copy of this book for my honest opinion in return. So set mainly around Christmas time, the story dips between timelines seeing what would happen to the lead character should she make different decisions and choices regarding her future. This book does take a little bit of getting used to and a little concentration in places with its back and forth story telling, but it's definitely worth a read.

Last Christmas is a dual timeline story spanning 2002 to 2010. In Go, Bea moves from London to NYC. In Stay, she stays in London. From there, the plots merge, converge, diverge, mostly around December. The story is pretty uneventful and the book never really hooked me into rooting for either or both of the "sliding doors". Mostly because Bea is kind of boring and mostly passive for the majority of the book. In both timelines she ends up in a love triangle that doesn't make sense but on the positive note, she makes a great friend group in NYC in addition to her fantastic childhood friends in London. Mia, Michael and Harry, and Maggie were my favorite characters in both times. They were fun, funny, and know what will make Bea happy but let her try to figure it out on her own.

I wish there were more situational references that evoked the fashion, vocabulary, booming tech, or pop culture of the early 2000s. This book could have been set in 1980, 1990, or even 2010 because mostly the characters drink at home, drink in a pub, or walk past a few NYC landmarks. Nothing grounds it into feeling like the Y2K decade. There was no George Michael reference either which was a missed opportunity for a British Christmas book.

Thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for the advance reader copy. I am required by law to disclose this.

An intriguing festive story with a difference - rather than one storyline there are two running parallel to each other depicting Bea's life if she stayed in London on the fateful Christmas or took the plane to New York.
I adored discovering New York and how her life evolves while there which was in stark contrast to her alternate life living with her boyfriend who suffers badly from depression. Both lives caught my imagination as they covered many Christmases but I did become confused latterly with which timeline I was in because of the convoluted events involving many different characters.
It covered many difficult themes well and is not your usual festive feel-good romantic escape but is an emotional insight into relationships, family dynamics and consequences of snap decisions.

What if?  Its a question we all ask ourselves when we make a major decision.  Loved the the fact that we got to read the story of the what would have happen with the stay or go decision. Not your typical christmas story but set in December over a few years.  Romance, families and some unexpected twists. Really enjoyed this book.

I loved the premise of this book. It started well and I was keeping up with the different timelines in the story but then, about a third of the way through, it became confusing, messy and hard to follow. I really didn't like Bea, the main character as I felt she was immature, selfish and seemed to be drunk an awful lot! The way she treated both Dom and AJ was horrible as she flipped and switched her allegiance between them constantly. She was a very mixed up individual and I really felt sorry for both men who suffered her flippant and indecisive behaviour. There was an excessive amount of bad language in the book that was unnecessary and did nothing for the plot or the characters. I did enjoy reading about New York and found those references interesting and fun. I thought the ending was a bit far fetched as it all wrapped up too neatly and in a way that was hard to believe. A great start but a disappointing outcome for me, sadly. My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for my honest review.

I have read a few books by this author but unfortunately I found the storyline hard to follow.

Bea seems to be having sliding door experiences, whether to follow her heart and move to New York or stay in London?

The story gives glimpses into each scenario and how Bea's life would play out in each city and with either her long time boyfriend Dom in London or AJ from New York, who see meets on the flight over.

I found that I was lost at times and had to reread on occasions to understand what was happening, with who and where??

Bea Preston is running away, she's having problems in her relationship with long term boyfriend Dom and is not enjoying life in London anymore, plus New York has always been her dream, but can she actually up sticks and leave behind everything and everyone she's ever known and start again or, could she have the best of both worlds?

Last Christmas is the latest novel by Swatman, with Bea's story told in parallel scenarios throughout the book, changing at each chapter and occurring every December between 2002 and 2010, depicting her life and the choice she made between staying in London and moving to the Big Apple. I really liked Bea and the friendship groups she had in each scenario but I really wanted her to make her mind up who she wanted and where she wanted to live, and to deal with the consequences of the choice she made. This was a great premise for a story, although a little confusing at times, but very enjoyable all the same and even though it has Christmas in the title, it's not really the festive book that everyone would expect so, for those die hard readers who insist they can't read a Christmas book before Autumn arrives, this is one with a difference and, in my opinion, quite easy to read in August, as I've just done. This is my first by this author and I'm looking forward to reading her others now.

I'd like to thank Boldwood Books and Netgalley for the approval, I will post my review on Goodreads now and Amazon on publication day.

Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

I enjoyed this book.

Bea is on her way to New York, before Christmas to start afresh.

But, she’s wondering whether she should go or whether she’s making a mistake in leaving for a number of reasons.

The relationship she was in, has changed and she’s feels for him as he suffers from depression. But, she wants to live her life.

When she’s finally on the plane, in the next seat is someone who won’t tell her his real name so she calls him Paddy. .

Then we read the two timelines of Bea in New York and Bea at home living different lives.

Which life does she stick with?

I recommend this book.

Just Ok

I started out really liking this book. The two viewpoints, Stay or Go, had very clear storylines, the characters were consistent in their behavior and easy to follow. About 3/4 of the way through the book, the two viewpoints were almost merged and messy, same characters in both and I found it hard to follow. For the record, I'm a huge reader and have an excellent memory, and even that wasn't helping me.

I understood and empathized with Bea's uncertainties, she was abused at work and was in flight mode. Many of her decisions throughout the book were made from an emotional standpoint rather than a decision made on facts, and unfortunately for her, the emotions were frequently dependent on what she felt was best for others in her life. I understand it was necessary for the plot to work, I just wish she had more backbone.

I have enjoyed other books by this author, and will continue to look for her writings. This one just wasn't hitting me in the right place.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book, but my opinions are my own.

I love a Christmas themed book so reading this was a no=brainer for me - it was a good read but I had to keep checking back which situation I was reading in. An enjoyable read that I lost an afternoon to and do not regret.

Oh get ready to have ALL the feels with this adorable, and just extremely darling love story! I just melted reading this book. Get ready for a sweet love story!

Last Christmas is a cosy festive novel by Clare Swatman.
This was such a cute read. It was easy to follow and had a good cast of characters. It's the perfect book to read over the festive season. A good book that I would recommend to other readers.
❤️ Thank you to netgalley, the author and publisher for my arc ebook copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I love the idea of a parallel universe starting with a simple decision. Very 'Sliding Doors!'

I also loved the characters who were there throughout it all, best friend Mia and Maggie and the cast of supporters in Bea's life

To be honest, it got really confusing halfway through as to which storyline we were in as there were similar circumstances in each. None of them were the perfect fairytale that I look for in an escape read.

I did like the fact that a lot of similarities continued to happen and the way the ending worked.

I'd like to thank Netgalley, Boldwood Books and Clare Swatman for the opportunity to read this book. All opinions are my own.

The idea of this book was really cute, but unfortunately I was only able to get about 15% done. The timeline was just getting too confusing for me.

Last Christmas by Clare Swatman, The book starts with Bea hemming and hawing at the airport trying to decide if she should fly off to New York or stay in London with her boyfriend and her family. I have never DNF a book at 93% but totally did with this one I knew on the plane when “Patty“ wouldn’t tell her his real name and then when she sees him again he tells her his name and it’s not even close to being as hideous as he claimed but I let that go, I breathed in five times and out four endkept reading then I learned Dom the guy she left on Christmas also suffers from depression and when do people get depression the most… During the holidays! What a great girl Bea is. After reading this whole book from her life in New York to her life in London to the reason she left London and everything else we get to the end or almost the end and when her mom calls her to come over and tells her what she tells her I was done. I mean talk about a 360 they have other instances I want to give but it would be spoilers I don’t like when people do that to me so I’m not going to do that to anyone else. I will say at the beginning of the book I really liked be but the more I read the two POV’s in the more I got to know her the way she was written it’s like every decision she makes she second-guess’s it and she seems to never be satisfied. I know a lot of people enjoyed this book but I did not and think the reason I am not really into romantic stories because I am too pragmatic. For example think of being on a plane with a guy you don’t know and he’s attractive but he won’t tell you his name, keeps trying to ply you with alcohol and then wants to hold your hand as the plane is landing no woman would go for that or at least most wouldn’t. I always think about what would happen in real life and I really wish I did not because it ruins a lot of books for me but despite that there are many romantic stories I have swooned over because I get so swept up but with this one I just kept thinking OMG that would never happen.#NetGalley, #BoldwoodBooks, #ClareSwatman, #LastChristmas,

This was a nice read, although in August it still gave a nice Christmassy feel, i liked the way the character had to make choices and how it followed those choices, with the "go" and "stay" it sometime did get confusing but overall a nice read.