Free Festive Reads

I love a festive read. And what's even better than a festive read? A FREE festive read!

I've done the donkey work and compiled a list of free Christmassy ebooks for us all to enjoy. It's been so tiring, I need a sit down on the sofa with a mince pie (or two) and a marathan of festive films.

Please note, the books were free at the time of posting but please check before downloading. Now enjoy!

 

I'm going to be cheeky and start with my own free festive read,
 

A Beginner's Guide To Christmas.

Ruth usually spends Christmas curled up on her parents’ sofa, watching feel-good movies whilst being fed festive food and drink until she can no longer move. But Ruth’s perfect Christmas is shattered when her mum receives a DIY-induced injury and Ruth is forced to take over the preparations.

Shopping. Cooking. A house full of hyped-up kids.

Christmas may no longer be the most wonderful time of the year.

Download here

 

Miracle At The Museum of Broken Hearts by Talli Roland

Does every relationship deserve a second chance?

When chief romantic Rose Delaney scores her dream job at London's quirkiest new attraction, The Museum of Broken Hearts, she thinks she's got it made. Sure, it's a little depressing dealing with relics of failed relationships each day, but Rose is determined not to let it break her 'love conquers all' spirit. After discovering the museum's handsome curator is nursing a broken heart of his own, Rose steps in to fix it.

Can Rose bring about a happy ending before it's too late, or are some relationships beyond saving?

Download here

A Very Game On Christmas by Kyra Lennon

“A Very Game On Christmas” follows on directly from “Blindsided,” and is a short, bonus story which takes place at Bree Collinson’s 21st birthday party, three days before Christmas. Similar to “A Beginner’s Introduction to Game On,” the story is told from different characters’ points of view.

Find out how the Westberg Warriors handle Radleigh and Leah’s return to Los Angeles, how Freya and Will are adjusting to their new relationship, and take a sneaky glimpse into the lives of the other characters introduced in “Game On.”

Please note: “A Very Game On Christmas” could be considered Game On 2.5 to clarify the order the books should be read. It is not a full length novel, merely a way to gently ease readers toward Game On 3. It is not essential to read this book to understand the next, it’s just a bit of light-hearted Christmas fun!      

Download here

The Christmas Bake Off by Abby Clements  

With Christmas just around the corner, the residents of Skipley village are gearing up for the annual bake off, and tensions are high.

Winning means a lot to everyone involved – talented cake-shop owner Katie dreams of baking stardom, Rachel wants to prove she's more than a stay-at-home mum, and John hopes his culinary skills will impress the woman he loves.

But when the judges discover that some cakes have been tampered with, the villagers' loyalties are called into question - whose ambition would stretch to sabotage, and why?

Download here

 A Christmas Wish by Carole Matthews
Last year, Hannah's Christmas was full of love, happiness and romance. Things couldn't be more different this Christmas. Broken-hearted and lonely, Hannah wishes she could be happy and in love again but she is struggling to find even a glimmer of her old festive spirit. Luckily for her, there's some Christmas magic in the air . . .


Available 9th December. Pre-order/Download here

 Six Geese-A-Laying by Sophie Kinsella

In Six Geese a-Laying, Christmas is approaching, and Ginny is looking forward to the birth of her first baby. It's a pity her partner Dan is so useless, and she has to keep reminding him where he's going wrong. Luckily she's enrolled into the most exclusive antenatal class going - all the highest achieving, smartest mothers-to-be aspire to be taught by the legendary Petal Harmon. Like the other five women in the class, Ginny already knows exactly what she wants, and how she's going to handle motherhood.

But when they turn up for the final class it isn't quite what they expect. As Ginny discovers what parenthood is really going to be like, she begins to realize the things that really matter...

Download here
 
The Snow Globe by Kristin Harmel
 Christmas Eve, 1942, Paris. A boy stands beneath the statue of Liberte in the Jardin du Luxembourg, awash in a flurry of snowflakes, on the eve of his sixteenth birthday. Time is running out – the curfew means he needs to get home, this is a dangerous time to be on the streets. But then he catches sight of a young girl called Rose, and his fate is sealed...
 

Download here

In A New York Minute by Eleanor Moran

Amy is on a film set in New York, trying very hard to wrap the advertisement she's filming in time to catch the last flight home for Christmas. But the actors are squabbling, the star of the piece, a cat, won't play ball and, truthfully, Amy's heart isn't in it anyway – she'd escaped to the Big Apple to try to forget her broken heart. But as snow begins to fall on Christmas Eve, someone on set with Amy makes her realise fairytales really do happen in New York.

Download here
 
 The Perfect Treat by various authors

Heart-warming short stories for cold winter nights…

Featuring short stories from Sunday Times bestselling authors Miranda Dickinson and Claudia Carroll and highly anticipated debuts from Mhairi McFarlane and Liz Trenow, this collection is the ultimate treat.

Each short story is followed up by exclusive extracts of each of the authors upcoming titles.

Love, Loss and Coffee Cake: Through tears, heartbreak and the undying hope of love, a tale of a pair of star-crossed lovers.

It’s A Wonderful Life: A comedy that proves you should be very careful what you wish for.

Driving Home For Christmas: A touching tale about a newlyweds desperate to spend their first Christmas alone.

Breaking The Spell: A moving story about the power of hope and love.

The Twelve Lies of Christmas: A hilarious feature that offers up the truth about the festive season.

Download here

Giveaway Winner: The Pleasures of Autumn by Evie Hunter

Thank you to everyone who entered or tweeted about the competition. Rafflecopter has randomly selected a winner, who is:

Catriona P

I hope you enjoy your prize, Catriona!

Blog Tour: A Cinderella Christmas

 

Today I am delighted to be taking part in the A Cinderella Christmas blog tour, with a festive chat with the author, Holly Kingston.


Can you tell us about your book?
Love to! I’m sooo excited about this book as it’s been huge amounts of fun to write! A Cinderella Christmas is all about Lucy Tilley. She’s a shy dancer who’s been given the worst role in the Christmas pantomime. And not only is she mortified about having to shake her booty in an enormous foam cow costume, she has to do it in front of the guy she’s madly loopy for, the sexy TV star Ryan Aspall. Add in a diva of a Cinderella, some “interesting” theatre performances, the best Christmas party in town, and the career opportunity of a lifetime and...well nothing goes to plan does it?! And let’s just say someone is keeping a few secrets, and Lucy isn’t very good at keeping them!

What was your inspiration for A Cinderella Christmas?
I normally start with a simple concept and then it mushrooms from there. This book started with a cow! I was thinking of unusual jobs that people do over Christmas period, and the back of a panto cow topped my list of ridiculosity (I know that’s not a word, but it should be). I’d completely forgotten that I used to dance in pantomimes myself when I was younger. The human mind is a peculiar thing. My sub conscious clearly isn’t very “sub”. But those theatre memories certainly helped when I started writing the story.

What do you love most about the festive season?
The food! I even get excited about the sprouts! And I love the whole extended run up. The anticipation, the Christmas markets, the chocolate advent calendar, the Christmas parties, the mulled wine, the open fires, the snowflakes, the sense of good will, the snugly jumper with a picture of a reindeer on the front, hang on do I need to restrict my word count on this one...?

Do you have any Christmas traditions?
Santa always leaves a sock outside the bedroom door stuffed with goodies, although apparently Santa hasn’t heard of inflation. It’s been five pound coins at the bottom of that sock for years now. I need to have a word with him about quantitative easing and its effect on the economy.

What is your favourite Christmas song?
I love the old school classics. Bing Crosby’s White Christmas pops up in A Cinderella Christmas. And I love Eartha Kitt’s Santa Baby. Now there’s a woman who knew how to write a Christmas list!

And favourite Christmas film?
Can I have In Bruge please? Is that Christmassy enough? How about if we wrap Colin Farrell in a bow? Love that film, great casting! Did I mention Colin Farrell is in it?

What would you like to find under your Christmas tree this year?
I’ve wanted a puppy since I was about five! But I have two cats and I think they’d be mighty peeved off if I were to upset the ecosystem of our house! To be fair I’d settle for Colin Farrell in that bow. But I have a boyfriend who might be peeved off...uh oh, I’m going to end up with a Toblerone again aren’t I?!

Finally, what are you working on at the moment?
I’m writing my second full length novel. It’s about a girl who...oh goo... I can’t go into too much detail it’s not finished yet and sometimes my characters have a life of their own! I can’t wait to finish it. It’s funny. Well I think it’s funny, but then I’m highly biased and easily pleased!! I just need to keep writing books till one gets made into a film. Just so I can cast Colin Farrell in it, or Benedict Cumberbatch, or Gerard Butler, or Clooney, or Gosling, or...any suggestions let me know!


MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You can find out more about Holly and her book on her website, Twitter and Facebook and A Cinderella Christmas is available on Amazon here
 

Guest Post: Cathy Bramley

My leading man

We authors talk a lot about our leading men, our favourite book boyfriends and which drop-dead gorgeous actor we had to Google fifty times when we were ‘developing characters’. But what about the real heroes? The ones who have to listen to us moan about how tricky our plot is, about how we only managed a measly five hundred words all morning? So, pin back your lugholes, I want to tell you a story….

20:00 December 29th 1989

‘We won’t go mad. Just a few drinks. We need to save ourselves for New Year’s Eve.’

My friends and I nodded earnestly at each other. It was Friday night, we had all driven up to Nottingham after work for New Year, our first reunion after graduating we were tired and really needed to be sensible…

02:00 December 30th 1989

‘Any man!’ I cried, hands on hips. ‘I can give any man a fireman’s lift.’

Well… I was twenty-two, no one is sensible when they’re twenty-two. I was out with my friends. I had been earning money since September. Three months’ worth of wages and I was RICH! And apparently very strong.

We were having the best night ever (except for Ange who had had too much to drink and had left the pub at 10pm, gone home via the Indian takeaway, bought a chicken madras and eaten it off the ironing board?!)

I was tipsy and in Pieces. Pieces being THE student nightclub in the 80s

‘Go on then!’ A young man with the physique of a rugby player smirked at his mates. I pushed my sleeves up, put my head down and charged at him. As soon as his body weight touched my shoulder I crumpled like a coke can. Undeterred, I jumped up to my feet, muttered ‘idiot,’ rubbed my hands together and shouted ‘Next!’

There were no takers, which was probably a good thing. I spotted a man grinning at me, leaning against one of the pillars. What struck me most at the time was not his wavy hair, his grey blue eyes or his lovely smile, it was the fact that he was wearing a denim shirt, an Arran jumper and a tweed blazer. Somebody must have told him Pieces was a bit of a cattle market; all that was missing was a wax jacket and wellies.

‘I bet I can give you a fireman’s lift.’

‘I’m sure you can but-’

Too late. Before he could say Aberdeen Angus, I’d hefted him over my shoulder and was swinging him round like the proverbial cat.

He was really light! So light that I thought I must be very strong indeed and proceeded to do a lap round the dance floor to prove it.

The reason for the lightness, I was to find out later, was that he had recently undergone life-saving surgery at the eleventh hour for peritonitis, after appendicitis had finally been diagnosed on the day of an ambulance strike and he had to be taken to hospital by the army and then got forgotten about due to a massive pile up on the M1 with several life and death patients and by the time they got round to him he was very poorly indeed.

Had I have known this, I might not have bounced his lower abdomen on my shoulder until he begged to be released.

I was still face to face with his backside when the DJ played ‘You saw the whole of the moon,’ by The Waterboys. I lowered him to the ground and forced him to dance with me. He must have really liked me, (God knows why) because I know now that he hates dancing.

He offered to buy me a drink. I chose water, which cheered him up no end.

The lights came on and my friends were pulling their coats on. I liked this Tony Bramley. He was good fun. I started to panic that I’d go back to London and never see him again.

‘Shall we go for a walk through town?’ I asked.

He shifted awkwardly and looked at his watch. ‘Er…’

What’s the matter?’ I narrowed my eyes and folded my arms. He’d got a girlfriend, I knew it, the two-timing, scheming cheating…

‘It’s just that my mum’ll have put my electric blanket on.’

After the longest coldest walk around Nottingham during which we pointed out to each other all our favourite places, I kissed him goodnight and sent him off in the frosty night air to find a taxi. (He didn’t get home until five am and his bed was like an oven.) I opened the cubby hole where I was supposed to be sleeping. It stank of curried farts and I held my breath as I wriggled into my sleeping bag. Ange lifted her head and mumbled sleepily, ‘Did you meet anyone?’

‘Yes,’ I said closing my eyes, a smile on my face. ‘And I think I’m going to marry him.’

The Beginning (not the end)


About Cathy

After four years of flinging herself round the dancefloors of Nottingham's nightspots, Cathy somehow managed to get an honours degree in business.

She then plunged herself into the corporate world of marketing, working on high-powered projects such as testing the firing range of SuperSoaker water guns and perfecting the weeing action of Tiny Tears. After making it onto Timmy Mallet's Christmas card list, she realised it was time to move on and so in 1995 set up her own marketing agency.

She lives in an idyllic Nottinghamshire village with her husband, two daughters and a dog called Pearl. She shares her time between her marketing agency, writing and taxiing the girls endlessly from one activity to the next.

Cathy is a fan of Masterchef, strong coffee, chocolate brazils and Marian Keyes books. She is addicted to her Kindle and has an irrational fear of bananas.

Conditional Love is Cathy’s debut novel. It’s a romantic comedy about a thirty-something procrastinator who dreams of having the perfect man in the perfect home, but doesn’t seem to be in the driving seat of her own life. After her boyfriend dumps her on Valentine’s Day and she inherits the estate of a stranger with a condition in the will, she is forced to face up to her future and reassess her past.

Cathy Bramley can be found at:

Cathy Bramley on Amazon
Twitter @cathybramley
Blog www.cathybramleyauthor.com
Facebook www.facebook.com/CathyBramleyAuthor
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7181993.Cathy_Bramley

 

 

 

Calling Mrs Christmas by Carole Matthews

 

 

Cassie Smith hasn't had the best year. After being made redundant, she has struggled over the past few months to find a new job. With increasing debts and Christmas looming, Cassie is starting to panic when she cooks up an idea for a new business venture. Cassie has always loved Christmas so she decides to put her passion to good use and offer a range of festive services, from sourcing and wrapping gifts to writing cards and decorating trees.

 

Prison officer and Cassie's partner, Jim is supportive when she suggests starting up her own festive business but his encouragement begins to wane when Cassie takes on millionaire Carter Randall as a client. Not only does handsome Carter want Cassie to organise a trip of a lifetime for him and his two children, he wants Cassie to accompany them.

 

Calling Mrs Christmas is my first festive read of the season and I wasn't disappointed. Cassie is stuck in a bit of a rut but inspiration soon strikes and she sets up her business, Calling Mrs Christmas! It's a lot of hard work but Cassie has support from both Jim and her sister, Gaby. As a huge fan of Christmas, I loved the idea of a business specifically aimed at the festive period. Cassie gets to relive the magic of decorating trees over and over again and there is an abundance of mince pies and cupcakes.

 

While Cassie's business starts to take off, it does take its toll on Jim. Jim is a lovely, supportive man and he does his best to help Cassie even when his own workload is getting him down. Jim is reliable and hardworking but he is also human so I could understand him being put out when Cassie flies off to Lapland with another man. Some of my favourite scenes take place with Jim and two of the young offenders who he takes under his wing and I loved the bond the two boys formed.

 

Another favourite part of the book was the trip to Lapland, which sounds amazing. I'm not always a fan of snow but Carole Matthews makes the trip sound so beautiful and magical and it was an absolute joy to read.

Festive Reading List 2013

 

 

Christmas is always a fabulous time for book lovers as we're treated to gorgeous festive reads. Over the next few weeks, I'll be counting down to Christmas with this selection of books:

 

Click to see review

Calling Mrs Christmas by Carole Matthews

A Gift To Remember by Melissa Hill

Christmas At Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop by Jenny Colgan

Last Christmas by Talli Roland

A Cinderella Christmas by Holly Kingston

 

 

Which festive reads are on your list?

A Chat With Jac Wright

Can you tell us about your book?
The Reckless Engineer is the first in a series of literary suspense and mystery fiction featuring a courageous and adventurous electrical engineer, Jeremy Aiden Stone.

In this first story in the series I look at the troubles that a guy (Jack Connor) can get into whose character fault is that he is weak in love. There are four strong and very different women who pull him in different directions and the story is woven around the intense conflict arising from this situation. At the onset of our tale one of them, Michelle Williams, has turned up dead and Jack has been arrested for the murder. He puts his one call from police custody to Jeremy, now living in London, who brings the top London attorney, Harry Stavers, down to Portsmouth to handle his former best friend’s defence.

While Harry handles the criminal defence in a fast developing murder trial, Jeremy blends in with Jack’s family and friends - Jack’s wife and her powerful family, his ex-wife and children from his first marriage, and his colleagues and managers at work – and covertly investigates them to find out who the real killer is, and if his friend is in fact innocent like he claims.

What was your inspiration for The Reckless Engineer?
I set out to write a series for this one. The first thing I knew was that my series lead was going to be a highly skilled electrical engineer like me. Actually he is more the person I should like to be; he lives the life I want and I live it through him. When I was a child there were several TV series my dad and I loved to watch from our favourite seats in the living room: MacGyver, Mission Impossible, Perry Mason, and Tales of the Unexpected based on Roald Dahl’s adult suspense fiction. At one time I used to read Roald Dahl and Earl Staney Gardner like I was possessed. My series lead, Jeremy Stone, is adventurous, versatile, and resourceful like MacGyver. He is a highly skilled and brilliant engineer like Barney in Mission Impossible. He is courageous and strategically inclined like Jim in Mission Impossible.

The second thing I knew was the setting. I wanted to base my story primarily in Portsmouth, the beautiful seaside birth town of Charles Dickens. My mother loves Charles Dickens and she used to read his works to me even before I could read. She had this massive rack of books in the attic on which various classics, including the major works or Dickens were stacked among piles of Reader’s Digests. Portsmouth is beautiful and I wanted to capture its beauty, charm, its industries, hotels, beaches, hospital etc. in the story.

What has been your greatest experience since publishing your book?
The best experience has been reader feedback to my short story, The Closet, and feedback now beginning to come to me on The Reckless Engineer. There is nothing like hearing from my readers. One of my readers wrote to me after reading The Closet, saying that she is dyslexic and sometimes finds it hard to follow full-length novels; that she loved The Closet and wanted me to continue writing really good short fiction like that. It almost brought tears to my eyes that one of my stories could have helped her.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Read the classics as a child. Read and study Drama because it helps in dramatic scene creation. Also read and study poetry because it helps you create strong imagery and appealing prose in your narrative.

Do not let what you read on the Internet or other writers’ work drown out your inner voice too much because you end up creating something that is cliché or formulaic. Quiet your mind and listen to your inner voice that will create something unique to you.

What was the first book you ever bought yourself?
They were two Agatha Christie books, though I cannot remember which ones. I was in my early teens when my mother started giving me pocket money and I bought 2 Agatha Christie’s books while on holiday. A cruise-ship with a section full of books had come to the port where we were on holiday and my mother took us on a tour around it where I bought the two Agatha Christies.

What was the last book you read?
I just finished reading J. K. Rowling’s new mystery, The Cuckoo’s Calling. She creates superb characters though the main protagonist, Cormoran Strike, is a little cliché. She brings her characters to life with very descriptive prose which I like. My favourite is Guy Somé with his filthy mouth and I love that scene with Strike’s encounter with Rochelle, again for the description of Rochelle’s character.

I have just started on this year’s Booker Prize winner, The Luminaries, by the Kiwi writer Eleanor Catton. It is described as a gripping literary mystery which sounds right up my street. I loved “A Town Like Alice” set in Australia; so I am really expecting to like this one.

Finally, what are you working on at the moment?
I have Buy, Sell, Murder (The Reckless Engineer #2) and The Bank Job (Summerset Tales #2) half written. I hope to publish both in 2014. 

I have started the fifth, In Plain Sight, with just the plot and the main characters designed and only the first chapter written. I have a hunch that In Plain Sight is going to be my favourite.