I am so excited to share my review of Christmas at Hembry Castle by Meredith Allard . Thank you to The Coffee Pot Book Club for your invite to take part in the tour.
Christmas at Hembry Castle
By Meredith Allard
An unlikely earl struggles with his new place. A young couple’s love is tested. What is a med-dling ghost to do?
In the tradition of A Christmas Carol, travel back to Victorian England and enjoy a lighthearted, festive holiday celebration.
Christmas is one of my favourite times of the year. It is also the time of year when I do an incredible amount of reading as I try and catch up with my to-read list because Christmas means new books! Christmas is also a time for celebration and for joy, and for festive short stories!
After the death of his older brother, Frederick inherited the title of Earl of Staton, even though the title had never been meant for him, and he was not prepared to take on such a role. And still mourning the death of his wife, Frederick has only his daughter, Daphne, and his mother left. But little does Frederick know, Richard’s death did not take him far.
As Daphne attempts to arrange her wedding, she begins to find her beloved, Edward, putting off the task of setting a date. He is determined to finish writing his Christmas story first, and refuses to marry until he has received his first paycheck. But as he starts to drift further from Daphne, she begins to wonder whether he really wants to marry her at all.
Every writer has their own style of writing, and I love coming across styles that are so very different from what I have read before. The detailing and absolutely stunning descriptions that the author has used in this book brings everything to life on the page, without my imagination having to do much work at all. At times, I felt like I was watching an episode of Downton Abbey (I know it’s the wrong era, bear with me) instead of reading a book, as it had all the drama and intrigue, and the writing was so exquisite that I was utterly hooked. Plus, it has a ghost, for extra measure!
I absolutely loved Daphne, she was such a delightful character to read about. She fell in love below her station, to the grandson of her family’s housekeeper and butler, but when love strikes, it doesn’t matter whether the person is rich or poor. I really liked reading about Edward as well, who loves Daphne dearly. But Edward has some skeletons in his closet, and there is one thing in particular that he must tell Daphne before they marry, but working up the courage to do so is something that Edward struggles to do. Daphne and Edward make such a lovely couple, understanding each other in a way that they haven’t been understood before, that I spent the entirely to this book crossing my fingers that Edward would be able to find a way to tell Daphne, and that everything would work out alright for them. It is a Christmas story, after all, and I really wanted a happy ending!
With Daphne and Edward struggling to keep their relationship together, and Frederick trying his best to keep everything running smoothly, Richard can do nothing but look in on the family he left behind. Or can he do something else, can he help his family as he should have helped them during his living days? Richard seems to regret his life, and leaving his family behind with his death, and I felt incredibly sorry for him as he looks in on the life he should still be living. Richard is a strange sort of ghost, the kind I haven’t come across in literature before, as he still feels the cold, footsteps sound out as he walks around, and he is capable of drinking a cup of tea – this seems like quite a different view on ghosts than I am used to, but it seems almost typical that an English ghost can still drink tea.
I know this book is meant to be a kind of twist on A Christmas Carol, but I didn’t quite see it. Sure, there are ghosts, and it is Christmas, but the story is entirely different, other than a meddling ghost. A Christmas Carol is mentioned by the characters several times, but I thought this story was not in the tradition of A Christmas Carol, but rather an entirely new story, which deserves to take its place next to all the other famous Christmas stories. Who knows, maybe this story will also get a Muppet’s movie about it, and it will play on loop around the holiday season (and in the summertime) because children love it so. I also love that movie, but I must say, it gets a little tedious when it is set back to the beginning for the fortieth time.
If you would like a read that will not take you long (and evening or two, perhaps) and will make you thoroughly ready for Christmas, you need to read this book! It will give you that cosy feeling that means you simply have to curl up with a big fluffy blanket and a cup of tea, and read until you fall asleep.
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I am so glad you enjoyed Christmas at Hembry Castle. Thank you so much for hosting today's tour stop.
ReplyDeleteMary Anne
The Coffee Pot Book Club
Thank you for the wonderful review of Christmas at Hembry Castle. I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
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