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Festive Reads - A Christmas Tale

I'm a Christmas-a-holic, I freely admit it.  I love the lights, the weather, the feeling.  Most of all I love curling up with a roaring fire, a mug of tea and a Christmas themed novel.  As an indie author I spend most of my time when not in my day job writing so this is the way I relax.

As it's now September, the weather is growing colder, the trees are changing to their beautiful autumnal crowns of glory I'm getting started on my pile of festive romance and cosy mystery books.


The first on my pile is the charming A Christmas Tale by Cressida McLaughlin,






The story focuses on Cat Palmer who takes a young puppy named Disco with her to work at the local nursery.  She soon discovers this was a bad idea when Disco escapes from her bag much to the children's delight and her boss's annoyance.  Fired from her job she decides to start her own business as a dog walker.  Securing clients from her beloved Primrose Terrace where she lives with her friend Polly, her brother Joe and his grumpy cat named Shed.

With help from her friends she launches Pooches Promenade and starts to meet and become more involved with the lives of the residents the Terrace.  Cat has a good heart, she likes to help people sometimes its for the best other times she puts her foot in it.

Cat is very good at identifying what others need, however, she's not so good at seeing what's right in front of her face.  While there is simmering tension between herself and roommate Joe, she is also flirting with smooth and suave neighbour and Collie owner Mark.

The tale takes place over the course of a year, resolving at Christmas, hence the title.  As it's only the last few chapters of the book that relate to Christmas you could get away reading this at any time of year.

The dogs definitely steal the show in this book, each one has it's own character, as a dog lover and owner I can see the personality of each dog and their breed coming through.  The way Cat loves and talks to the dogs I can completely relate to.

There are some scenes that made me chuckle, some which had me wanting to sit Cat down for a reality check kind of chat over a cup of tea and slice of cat and some that brought a tear to me eye and had me cuddling with my dog.

If you are looking for a charming and delightful start to your festive reading or even just looking for a  charming heart warming story then I can highly recommend this book.




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