Synopsis:
It’s nearly Christmas, Julia Devine’s favourite time of the year. She’s just programmed a wonderful lead into the holidays at Sunny Street Cinema, which leaves her plenty of time to worry about going home to Cumbria for Christmas. Her mum and stepdad are fine, but the thought of spending another holiday with her awful stepsister Becca is enough to make a Scrooge out of anyone.
When Becca calls to let her know about the dreamy pilot she’s bringing to Christmas lunch, Julia finally snaps and does something very silly. She tells Becca she’s dating heartthrob movie star Hugo Turner.
Of course, Julia isn’t dating Hugo Turner – she isn’t dating anyone – but Becca will never let her live it down if she discovers Julia’s lie. Enter Sam Hunter, ordinary guy on the street with a startling resemblance to a movie star. Without any holiday plans of his own, he’s the perfect stand-in for the real Hugo. Sam has his own reasons for agreeing to be Julia’s sham movie-star boyfriend. It’s just for one weekend, right? But will this Christmas charade flourish into real Christmas magic?
Review:
The Christmas Star was a fun, easy listening festive read. I’m not always a big fan of single narrator audiobooks but this one was pretty decent. Although the story was very predictable it was an entertaining read. It was a fun twist on the fake dating trope with them not only fake dating but also one of them hiding their identity.
The narration was done pretty well but I still hate when they put on voices. Becca’s voice in particular was very grating but that made sense for her character so I understand why it was done. It probably wouldn’t have been so bad if I listened at a slower speed but I have to have audiobooks at a decent pace otherwise I lose interest.
The descriptions of the settings were so lovely. The cinema in particular was so interesting. I would have liked to spend more time there. However, this was a fairly short read that would have potentially made The Christmas Star drag on. The length of this was actually perfect for me. It gave time for the story and characters to develop whilst keeping things interesting.
The one thing that would have made The Christmas Star even better was if the drama wasn’t just Julia finding out Sam is actually Hugo. It would have been great if someone was close to figuring out it was all a ruse. Also, if Becca revealed that she checked he was actually Hugo in front of everyone and Sam had to face Julia knowing who he actually is when he’d been lying to her for weeks. Is that too much drama? Maybe. But what’s Christmas without a little drama?
Overall, I’d recommend checking out The Christmas Star if you want a quick injection of festive fun. The story isn’t overly Christmassy but the descriptions of the mill house’s decorations were lovely.
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