Review of The Night Before Christmas by Scarlett Bailey

The Night Before Christmas is Scarlett Bailey’s debut novel and is published on the 27th October.

I absolutely adore everything to do with Christmas, so you can imagine my excitement when I was offered the chance to review this book before publication.
The novel is set in a beautifully refurbished large country house hotel in the Lake District. Lydia and her three friends from university all arrange to meet at Katy’s new house with their boyfriends and husbands for the perfect Christmas. However, as soon as they arrive a huge snow storm sets in and they find themselves snowed in for Christmas. Perfect you might think for a cosy Christmas in front of the fire? Not quite and soon tempers are flared when Lydia discovers that her ex-boyfriend is present, along with her current boyfriend and Will the gorgeous local who comes to fix the boiler is stranded with them.

I settled down to read this on one of the colder days of the month with the fire going and I really felt that I was being transported into this gorgeous Christmassy world.
The characters are so likeable and I found that each had their own good points. Lydia, the heroine, was my favourite alongside Katy whose desperate attempts to be a modern day domestic goddess had me laughing out loud.

The story is really fast paced and there is not a dull moment, from the stunning setting to the hilarious scenes, this is the ultimate Christmas read. Set over the week leading up to Christmas, it is written almost like a countdown to the big day. I also really enjoyed the way that there are lots of other sub-plots to the story that are covered in equal detail and not just glossed over.

Scarlett Bailey has written a fantastic novel and she has created a winter wonderland scene with characters that actually feel real. This book is a really stunning debut and I can’t wait to read future works by this author. Make sure that you put The Night Before Christmas on your Christmas lists this year – you will not be disappointed.

I also can’t fail to mention the beautiful cover, I love it!

Thank you to Ebury for sending me a copy of The Night Before Christmas to review.

You can follow Scarlett Bailey on twitter @ScarlettBailey or find her on facebook.