From Paris With Love This Christmas: A heartwarming and uplifting Christmas romance

I bought this book after reading Covent Garden In The Snow and I have to admit I found it rather disappointing. The characterisations in this book are very flat and nobody feels like a flesh and blood person. The majority of the tale is set in Leighton Buzzard with only a brief sojourn in Paris so I was expecting snow by the Seine and instead got snow by Watling Street.Siena in particular is nothing more than a materialist who appears to blame everything in life on her mother - as is the way of this genre mothers are either completely apple-cheeked and wonderful or complete harridans and Siena's mother is the latter. Her conversion in to this warm, capable organiser is not entirely believable and I found myself heaving a few hearty sighs of annoyance at her antics.Jason is the surly, crossed in love male whose heart she has to win. He is a slightly more fleshed out character with a decent support network and a passion for brewing. It is this passion that prevents the character from becoming annoying to the same level as Siena's but he is still right up there for this reader.I found myself just wanting to get to the end of the book so that they could be together and it was all over. Particularly as I could not really see either of these people together and it felt all forced and contrived to get them to this point. Especially the section where a few drinks breaks through Siena's repressed sexuality - bit of a dangerous message there in my mind. If she had suffered at the hands of her fiance as the novel would have us believe then I don't think the "love of a good man" and a few wines would break through that trauma.Her estranged sister Laurie and her gentleman, Cameron, are far more interestingly written and so little time is spent with them. It did make me wonder if their story was dealt with in another tome but I was so disappointed in this book that I find I don't really want to bother looking at Ms. Wake's books to find out.However, this is a 2015 publication so maybe Ms. Wake was still finding her feet, I may well check out one of her later books in case this is a blip but I remain to be convinced that more disappointment will not follow.To sum up it a bland, cookie cutter read that is, on the whole, inoffensive. If you are a fan of this genre then you may well extract more enjoyment from this book than I did. I did give it three stars, this much is blatantly true, but only as I fear my judgement was clouded by loving Covent Garden In The Snow so much that my judgement of this book may have been impaired.

Another fabulous book by Jules Wake this Christmas romance has you gripped. I loved Siena character and how Jason finally shaw what was right in from of him.4 1/2 ⭐️

Siena is determined to break the pattern of her life as a rich socialite in Paris and in her opulent family home. There must be more to life than shopping, jet-setting and obeying her mother and marrying a rich and suitable fiancé that she doesn’t love or who doesn’t love her simply out of duty. She needs time to think, so she secretly plans to visit her sister Laurie who lives in London. It’ll give her time to think – just a small breather so that she can make plans for her future; a future that she wants. She knows that her fiancé and mother will be furious, but she’ll deal with that when the time comes.When she arrives at the airport, she learns that her sister is not in London. Laurie’s lodger Jason collects her grumpily in the middle of the night. It’s obvious to her that he doesn’t want to share his home with her because she is so lightweight and transparent. She’s obviously not used to slumming it and he’s too busy with his fledgling business. She’ll bring nothing but aggro. Still she’ll only be there, so she told him, until her step-father’s birthday. He can just about manage to put up with her messiness and presence until she leaves, if just as a favour to Laurie.How things can change in a few short weeks. Oh yes, Siena is not who she first appears to be and this is the start of an amazing journey together; a journey of self-discovery for them both.I really enjoyed this festive read. I loved both of the main characters and thought that ‘From Paris with Love this Christmas’ was a magical fairytale romance, enough to warm the coldest of hearts. The story was beautifully told with a wealth of memorable and skilfully crafted characters. I loved the descriptions of Paris in the build up to Christmas and I loved the heart warming ending. It’s a well earned 4* review from me.