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

Synopsis:

Jemima Jones is driving home to her family’s magical hill-top farm for Christmas…

And on arrival, she soon learns that her dad has been keeping a secret – all is not as it seems, and Hollybush Farm is struggling to make ends meet! Worried about losing the childhood home she loves, Jemima must pull on her winter wellies and get stuck in.

Amid the chaos of chasing after escaping sheep and organising the Christmas tractor run, Jemima begins documenting her slice of farming life on social media. As she builds a supportive online following, she also forms an offline connection in the shape of charming, retired rugby player Llew, her very own Santa’s helper.

With a sprinkle of festive cheer and a dash of goodwill, might the community pull together to help save the farm in time for Christmas?

Review:

I have such a love-hate relationship with Jo Thomas’ books. I’ve always had such ‘meh’ reactions to them, other than last year’s release, which I really liked. Because of this, I was excited to give her books one last chance this year in hopes it would be as good. Sadly, I didn’t enjoy Christmas at Hollybush Farm anywhere near as much as I wanted to.

This book was lowkey depressing. I found the community spirit element to be really uplifting and lovely, but the rest of the book had a real undercurrent of sadness and anger. The message of supporting farmers/small businesses and knowing where your food comes from was great, I’m definitely on board with that. But it was conveyed with so much anger that the fluffiness you expect from a festive romance was nowhere to be seen.

The festive vibes were also nowhere to be seen. If I had a pound for reading Christmas books in 2025 that have a dog getting hurt or an animal being born I’d only have two pounds but it’s weird that it’s happened twice. Can we please stop hurting animals in books? I was legit stressed the whole time and having it happen on Christmas Eve was too much, in my opinion.

The romance was done very poorly also. Jem starts the book basically engaged to Matthew but they break up at the start of December and then by Christmas she’s in love with another man. I get that he sucked and she probably hadn’t really loved him for a while, but that’s still pretty fast to move on.

I really liked the location. I love a Christmas book set in a small village and some of the characters were great. Mae was a particular favourite, she did everything she could to provide for her family and you can’t fault her for that. Owen and Evie were also great. I didn’t even hate Llew. The snooty woman with her uncontrollable off-lead dogs can do one though. Nothing I hate more than your typical ‘don’t worry, they’re friendly’ dog owner. 

What I was hoping to be a lovely community-driven festive fun fest (great alliteration from me), was basically the opposite. I liked the cast of characters, other than Jem, she kinda sucked, and the dogs were wonderful, but Christmas at Hollybush Farm was a bit of a drag. I don’t think I’ll be picking up any Jo Thomas books in the future. They aren’t for me.

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