Christmas at the Island Hotel (Mure)

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Flora lives on the island Mure in the North Atlantic with her large family of brothers and her father. She runs the Seaside Kitchen and is very happy and in love with the American Joel, who has relocated to the island. Flora has just found out that she is pregnant but is very nervous about telling Joel her news as he has trauma from his childhood and she worries that he may not want to be a father. As the novel begins, Joel has been away in the US on a business trip, but he is due to return and Flora knows she can't keep the news from him. It did start off really slow and I was overwhelmed by the overload of characters and trying to keep them all straight, but each of their individual stories was heartwarming. Some of the romances seemed a little out of place and extremely rushed as well, but they were still sweet.

Jenny Colgan creates enjoyable, often quirky characters that you can't help but root for and fills her books with both humor and poignant moments. She also fills them with food and includes a few recipes at the end. If you are looking for something not too heavy and a holiday read that will tug at your heartstrings, this is a great book to snuggle up to with a cup of tea and a piece of shortbread or two. Suddenly, the fairytale trip seems doomed to fail… much like the innkeeper’s dwindling cashflow. It will take a miracle to save her heart and the inn. And that just might be what Fate has in mind. We had the pleasure of chatting to author Jenny Colgan all about her new novel Christmas At The Island Hotel, book recommendations, and much more! Hi, Jenny! Tell us a bit about yourself! When Bronwyn finds out that Fletcher is in snowy Vermont at a romantic inn for the week, she can’t help but give synchronicity a push. She signs Emma up to help the inn keeper as the children’s activity coordinator. Emma agrees that a week filled with quaint shops and maple syrup would do her good… and maybe Fate really does have a Christmas gift in store for her. That is until she sees Fletcher with his daughter and fiancée.Je volgt niet alleen de vertrouwde personages, ook worden er nieuwe karakters geïntroduceerd die voor heel wat leven in de brouwerij zorgen. De schreeuwende Franse chef-kok Gaspard en de Noorse keukenhulp Konstantin, die nog nooit voor zichzelf hoefde te zorgen, worden goed uitgewerkt, hun verhaallijnen zorgen voor verbazing, humor en ontroering en ze groeien in het verhaal. Daarnaast leef je mee met juf Lorna en huisarts Saif, die nog steeds wacht op nieuws over zijn vrouw, erger je je aan een momzilla op het eiland, moet je lachen om de grote persoonlijkheid van Flora’s nichtje Agot en pakt een viral video niet helemaal uit zoals die bedoeld was. Er is dus genoeg te beleven, maar alle verhaallijnen zijn prima te onderscheiden en samen vormen ze een mooi geheel. Another heartwarming story from British author, Jenny Colgan – this one set in a Cornish coastal village. Perhaps one of the reasons that I enjoy Colgan’s books so much is that I love the U.K. and there is so much of it that I have yet to visit. If you feel the same way or have someone on your list who does then any of her books would be a great choice for Christmas.

I found the first book in the series, gobbled it up with enjoyment, then rapidly moved on to the second and had to wait a couple of days, then pretty much inhaled the third. Although this is book four in Jenny Colgan’s ‘Mure Series,’ it is my first from this talented author. Jenny has more than thirty published books, in what I like to call the, “happy, cozy read.” Yes, of course, there is a little romance in here, but it is not the ‘syrupy sweet’ stuff I have read in other books. Jenny writes with her heart and mind. This book piqued my interest because I was in immediate need of a happy read, (and I mean now), that could lift me from my reality, (pandemic cabin fever), and take me anywhere else to lift my mood. This book answered that need!

When their mother’s illness forces the sisters home to North Carolina for the holidays, they’ll rediscover what really matters.

Their romance has the depth of a dinnerplate, and they fall in love in the space of 5 weeks, knowing nothing about each. But they are white and he is rich and this is a romance so what does that matter?

Is it still enjoyable? Definitely yes as well, but you need to have read the first three books in the series for this one to be as meaningful as possible. There are a plethora of characters and relationships that have been developed over the past three books, and starting here would be like joining a family reunion where everyone knows each other except for you. Hello! Well, I’m a novelist, I live with my husband, three kids and two dogs in Scotland, and I love to write romantic comedies about my home country, as well as some sci-fi and I write a bit for Doctor Who. With the current state of the world, what are you doing to cope with the changes we’ve had to make with our day-to-day? Coppell, Tx. is not a sleepy li'l one horse desert town, somewhere south of Austin, where it is always hot and everybody votes for Trump. The miscommunication and hurt feelings continue between Flora and Joel, with me reminding myself that they are 31 and 35 (36?) years old. They both seem younger emotionally. Favorite moment in this book... Joel is sitting with Flora, who is laying in bed with a concussion, stitches in her head, and the news that she is about to miscarry her baby, but Joel as usual is talking about himself. Finally: But perhaps worst of all, this is the last Christmas Mae will be at her favorite place in the world—the snowy Utah cabin where she and her family have spent every holiday since she was born, along with two other beloved families. Mentally melting down as she drives away from the cabin for the final time, Mae throws out what she thinks is a simple plea to the universe:Please. Show me what will make me happy.

Coppell is a bedroom suburb in DFW (the Dallas/Fort Worth Me dropped), it is fairly cold in the winter. Sometimes it snows, but mostly we get ice storms. You're mostly right about Trump. Your character's family owns the biggest car dealership in town. That's not hard to do, as there are no car dealerships in Coppell. Oh, and they do know about gay people. Gay people live there. I had high hopes for this book. As an unpublished author myself, I always read books in my basic genre in two ways. One, just as any reader, enjoying it or not, but also as a writer. Does this element work? Why or why not? Could it have been done better, or more to the point, could I do it better? That sort of thing. Dystopian Fiction Books Everyone Should Read: Explore The Darker Side of Possible Worlds and Alternative Futures So, my concerns: One of the "romantic" scenes was a bit more graphic than I prefer as one of the things I love about Jenny Colgan is that she can write a passion-filled love scene capturing the characters' feelings and thoughts without being gross. Not a big deal but I just hope this is not a trend. The other thing is that there's much more profanity in this book and I just hope that it doesn't get any worse. Granted, the worst language was expressed by Coltan who has a really foul mouth anyway and he is, of course, in horrible pain. However, I just hope it doesn't get any worse because it really takes away from the charm of the stories.Between The Endless Beach and An Island Christmas these are without a doubt Jenny Colgan's best ever books, and if she continues to write in this more slightly grittier way with some heavier subjects in amongst the lightness, then I am incredibly excited to see what her next books are. First, I thoroughly enjoy all of Jenny Colgan's books--lovely places, some humor, some struggles, some romance, some recipes! However, having just read this 3-book series, I have a few remarks. (SPOILER ALERT) I really enjoyed both getting to know the new characters, the disastrous early services in the restaurant, as well as catching up with all the regulars from previous books. It felt like I had returned to my home away from home as I am that absorbed with the lives of the Mure inhabitants. Flora lives on Mure and she runs the Seaside Kitchen, the most beloved cafe that offers the most delicious things ever. Her boyfriend Joel, the one who's American, a high - flying lawyer with quite a few issues from his childhood finally start to open and feel happy. But then something happens - how are they going to cope with it? Well it takes place on the remote Scottish island of Mure, where the inhabitants are trying to open a wonderful hotel in time for Christmas, with a very grumpy french chef and a Scandinavian pot boy who doesn’t seem to have ever been inside a kitchen before…. lots of high jinks ensue. What inspired you to write this novel?