*I was given an ARC of A Recipe for Christmas in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Penguin Random House UK and Jo Thomas for my copy of the book.*

Synopsis: 

Take one woman longing for the perfect Christmas . . .

All Clara has ever wanted is Christmas surrounded by loved ones, full of warmth and delicious food. So when her new boyfriend asks her to move to Switzerland, she can’t help but say yes! After all, what could be more perfect than Christmas in the Alps?

Add a dash of surprise

She quickly signs up for a chocolate-making course, imagining a workshop like something out of a festive advert. Instead, it’s chocolate-making bootcamp! And her boyfriend isn’t all he seemed either . . .

And enjoy a magical festive treat!

Despite it all, Clara begins to make friends – including the aloof yet intriguing Gabriel. With all of the ingredients at her fingertips, will she finally be able to whisk up her Christmas dream?

Review:

A Recipe for Christmas is my third festive read from Jo Thomas and it was 100% my favourite. I’d almost completely given up on her books last year, but when this popped up I decided to give her one more try. I’m glad I did. A Recipe for Christmas was an enjoyable read from start to finish and is a contemporary romance I’d recommend.

My usual complaint for Jo Thomas books is that the characters feel one-dimensional with no personality other than a love for baking and while Clara does talk about chocolate a lot, she was extremely likeable. Starting the book with her trying to fit as many Lindors in her mouth as possible was a great way to bring life to her character. 

I wouldn’t say this book was particularly festive, but the Swiss landscape more than makes up for it. The constant talk of snow, hot chocolate and general cosiness made me feel all warm inside and really crave some chocolate. Which is pretty unusual for me.

I will always enjoy a ‘baking’ scene in a book and the chocolate making in A Recipe for Christmas was so interesting. The descriptions were written so well I could vividly imagine how each chocolate would taste. Which didn’t help with the cravings I mentioned above. 

The chocolate school scenes were some of my favourites, topped only by the chocolate making outside of the school. Which I won’t go into detail about as it’s somewhat of a spoiler.

As always with these types of books it’s obvious who the romantic interest will be and it’s never who they start out with. I don’t mind this though as finding out how the current relationship will fall apart is an anticipated moment for me. Does that make me weird? Maybe, but Daniel showed red flags from the get-go so I was excited to be rid of him.

The real love interest was clearly the right choice for Clara and their chemistry was great. Even if he was a little rude to begin with. 

Reading a Recipe for Christmas has given me some much needed energy to continue with my festive ARCs. Here’s to hoping the rest are as enjoyable and heartwarming.

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Like this post? Why not read this one too: The 12 Books of Christmas: The Christmas Dog Sitters by Lucy Mitchell