Home For Christmas

By Cally Taylor


Beth Prince has always loved fairytales and now, aged twenty-four, she feels like she's finally on the verge of her own happily ever after. She lives by the seaside, works in the Picturebox - a charming but rundown independent cinema - and has a boyfriend who's so debonair and charming she can't believe her luck!

But Beth has a problem – in fact she has a couple of problems. None of her boyfriends has ever said they love her and it doesn't look like Aiden's going to say it either. So she takes things into her own hands, only to discover that Aiden has something very different in mind.

Things aren’t going that well at work either. Beth loves the Picturebox and has some fabulous ideas for increasing trade. But her elderly boss has never taken her up on any of them and now she wants to sell out to a chain.

Beth is a really empathetic character who specialises in getting herself into embarrassing situations, and things don’t get off to a great start when she shows herself up in front of Matt Jones, the regional director of the multiplex cinema group. The reader will really feel for her as it turns out that there’s more than one reason why she might want to impress him.

As well as a disintegrating love life and a fight to save the Picturebox, Beth also has a pushy mother and a mishap-prone best friend to contend with. The plot is well thought out and takes Beth into some situations that it’s very hard to see how she’ll get out of.

This is a delightful romantic excursion with a bit of ambition and heartbreak thrown in. There are some laugh-out-loud moments, some cringe quietly moments and some try not to sniffle moments as well. In fact, a perfect mix for a romantic comedy.

Highly recommended as a Christmas present for your own loved one, or for yourself! I absolutely loved it, and once I’d started it I couldn’t put it down.

Reviewed by Helen M Hunt

'Home For Christmas' is published by Orion on 10 November but it can be pre-ordered now.

You can find out more about Cally Taylor on her website here.