Archive | December 2023

Keeping Christmas by Dan Walsh

Dec6

Very Charming

Keeping Christmas by Dan Walsh is the most charming contemporary Christian Christmas novel as we join a couple in the run up to Christmas.

Grown up children living miles away, sees a couple celebrate Thanksgiving alone and now face the prospect of Christmas alone. This hits the wife hard as she spirals downwards. All her memories of Christmases past are tied up with her children. She finds it impossible to lift her spirits back up.

Memories can heal or pull one down. It all depends on how we view them.

We meet big hearted characters who practice self-sacrifice. Nothing is more important than family. Priorities are in the right place.

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Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas by Adam Kay

Dec6

Personable, Insightful, Humorous

Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas by Adam Kay is an amusing nonfiction book about all the Christmases the author spent working in various hospitals. The new guy always picked up the Christmas shifts.

As with all Adam Kay’s books, this is in the form of diary entries and footnotes.

Adam Kay writes with humor and in a very personable style. This is my third book by him and I feel like I ‘know’ him!

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Undoctored by Adam Kay

Dec6

Brutally Honest

Undoctored by Adam Kay continues on from the end of This Is Going To Hurt. It is about the author’s life after he hung up his stethoscope.

As with the previous book, Adam Kay writes with humor and in a very personable style. It feels as if we are dropping in on his life and sharing his asides – think Miranda or Eric Morecambe in a book.

Adam Kay is very honest in what he shares. There was definitely an awful, jaw-dropping moment that Adam Kay was very brave to share, and what must have been his worst moment, ever.

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The Vintage Village Bake Off by Judy Leigh

Dec6

For The Love Of Baking

The Vintage Village Bake Off by Judy Leigh is the most charming contemporary novel that will warm your heart and make you smile.

The lead characters are three siblings in their seventies. They have a lifetime of experience behind them but prove that you are never too old for a fresh start or a new direction. The future is theirs to grab with both hands. “Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.”

We witness a character brow beaten by forty nine years of marriage to a bully who exerted control, squashing the very life out of her. She believes everything he spoke over her – that she is a worthless fuddy duddy in boring clothes. It is beautiful to witness her transformation from black and white to glorious technicolour.

Another character has always been a colourful butterfly but beneath her exterior lies heartache and pain. Her choices to flit about lead to regrets. Is it too late for a do-over?

And the third sibling has had a sensible career as a teacher and then headteacher. Retirement is a time to shine as a new hobby is picked up. Baking is a very popular choice.

I loved the names of the animals owned by a character – Isaac Mewton was a cat. The other names were equally witty and well thought out.

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