*I was given a copy of A December to Remember in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Pan Macmillan and Jenny Bayliss*

Synopsis: 

Wildly different half-sisters Maggie, Simone and Star have hardly seen each other since their idyllic summers spent in the charming village of Rowan Thorp, the home of their eccentric father, Augustus. Known for the fruitful ways in which he and his bustling curiosity shop kept the town’s tongues wagging and ladies swooning, Augustus was loved by all and known by none, not even his daughters.

Now, years later, the three estranged women are unexpectedly reunited at the reading of Augustus’s will. Maggie, Simone and Star are shocked to find out that Augustus has engineered a series of hoops through which the three women must jump to unlock their inheritance – the last thing any of them want to do. But each sister desperately needs the money, and they are in no position to rebel against their father’s final wishes.

Spending the winter months at Rowan Thorp stirs up feelings with forgotten flames, and makes the sisters confront the lives they’ve left behind. As old wounds resurface and long-buried secrets come to light, the sisters must learn to work together if they hope to succeed. Sometimes the only way to move forward is to go back to where it all began . . .

Review:

Jenny Bayliss has become a staple choice for my Christmas reads and she always delivers a solid book. This one wasn’t my favourite, that title still belongs to The Twelve Dates of Christmas, but I did like A December to Remember.

I want to start this review on a good note as I didn’t dislike this book, obviously as I’ve just said I liked it, but I do have some negatives to talk about. The complexity of these characters and the relationships between them were very well devised. The dynamic between the sisters was particularly interesting to read. 

I’m a little sad to say that the festive vibes really weren’t there. It got to 30% in and the word Christmas had only been mentioned in passing. The cover is extremely festive looking so I thought this was going to be packed with Christmassy fun. It did pick up near the end, but sadly this whole book just wasn’t Chrismassy at all – it could have been set at any point in the year and it wouldn’t have changed anything. 

The lack of Christmas vibes could be due to the fact that the book opens with a funeral and the mood of the book is very sad/angry for quite a while. The temperament of some of these characters was a little ridiculous. The arguments came out of nowhere, absolutely zero build-up. One second the sisters were getting on and the next they were at each other’s throats. The worst one was Simone having a go at Patrick (her nephew) despite them having not talked since he was a literal child. He walked into a coffee shop and she just starts shouting. It was a bit much.

There was a specific relationship that I really enjoyed but I can’t mention because it’s a spoiler. However, they were very cute and I loved watching their love grow. I have a feeling if you decide to read A December to Remember, you’ll instantly know who I’m talking about. 

I spent the first part of this book wondering if it was going to take a magical turn and have the North sister’s dad be Father Christmas or something. The way everyone talked about him so fondly and the fact that the sisters only spent one month in the summer with him every year really made me think this. It feels ridiculous now after finishing the book.

I always appreciate an epilogue and the one in A December to Remember is a very cute one. Without giving any plot points away, it’s set five years after the last event in the book and it’s a very satisfying ending to the story.

This review is making it sound like I didn’t enjoy A December to Remember very much, but it was actually a very decent read. If I took it at face value and didn’t think too much about whether or not it was christmassy it was actually a good book.  

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