This was a really good festive story. It was the perfect book for a cold and dark winters afternoon, curled up on the couch with a steaming hot cup of tea.
The story centres around Emily, a Scot living in London, and her upcoming trip home to spend Christmas with her family. Feeling like she needs to impress her parents, she announces she is bringing her new boyfriend home with her, but as the saying goes - the best laid plans....

Enter Evan - the loutish neighbour from the flat next door, the bane of Emily's life, and now her only hope to save face. Emily is left hoping they can manage to get through a long road trip with only each other for company, and spend four days together without anyone coming to serious harm!

I loved the banter between Emily and Evan, I loved Emily's barmy family, and I loved the shenanigans of their Christmas holiday! I laughed out loud at their quips to each other, and revelled in Emily's discomfort around them. Evan was a trouper, dealing with everything that was thrown at him with perfect ease.
A sweet, funny and festive tale that I would definitely recommend. My only gripe is that I wish it had been longer.

Firstly thank you to Quercus for a review copy of this title. I am obviously a little behind in reviewing this book seeing as we are now in February and I read the book in December *hides face in shame*, however I would happily reread it right now and would enjoy it just as much as when I first read it.
I read Joanna’s novel “The List” a couple of years ago and I knew then that she was going to be one of my must read authors. The Most Wonderful Time of the Year more than lived up to my expectations and will be a book I will definitely keep to reread in the future.
The story is all about Emily who thinks she more or less has her life sorted; job – tick, friends – tick, car – tick, flat – tick and of course amazing boyfriend – tick. That is until Robert tips her life upside down and puts a spanner in every single one of her going home at Christmas as the well rounded, successful daughter plans. Robert, quite frankly is a swine and even though he had a kind of Colin Firth-y thing going on I was actually glad when Emily and him split up!
Emily is a really down to earth and relatable character. She has many worries and issues that readers will be able to identify with and she has a really dry sense of humour that will have you laughing throughout the book. One little trait of Emily’s that lets her down in the beginning is that she is quite judgemental, particularly when it comes to her hot, younger, neighbour Evan. I really liked Evan though. He wound Emily up and got under her skin which was fun to read because he shook her up a little and gave as good as he got from Emily.
The story follows Emily back home for Christmas where Evan masquerades as perfect boyfriend Robert. As the holiday season passes the two become closer and Emily begins to see that she has pegged Evan all wrong.
I really enjoyed this festive read which can really be enjoyed at any time of the year. If you’re a fan of Mhairi Macfarlane and Lindsey Kelk you will enjoy Joanna’s books!