The Christmas Wish by Lindsey Kelk: Book Review

The Christmas Wish is a time loop story that has a London woman visiting her family in their countryside home. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

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From The Publisher:

Newly single lawyer Gwen Baker is hoping that a family Christmas—countryside, a mountain of food and festive films—will salve the sting of her career hanging by a thread and her heart being trampled on. Because everyone else has their life sorted: even Dev, her boy-next-door crush, is now a tall, dark and handsome stranger with a fiancée. She can’t help wishing her future was clearer.

Then Gwen wakes up to discover it’s Christmas day all over again. Like Groundhog Day but with eggnog. And family arguments. On repeat.

As she figures out how to escape her own particular Christmas hell, Dev is the one bright spot. He might be all grown-up but underneath he’s just as kind and funny as she remembers.

Maybe, just maybe, her heart can be mended after all.

But how do you fall in love with someone who can’t remember you from one day to the next?

My Thoughts:

With her trademark style of combining humour and romance, Lindsey Kelk has written another holiday novel that needs to be included in your Christmas to-be-read list. The story features an intelligent, albeit clumsy protagonist that had me laughing all the way through.

As much as anyone could love Christmas Day, who wants to have it repeated on an endless loop? That’s what happens to Gwen Baker who returns to her family home for Christmas. After losing both her long-term boyfriend and home at once, all she’s hoping for is a relaxing holiday. But each day when she wakes up she restarts Christmas Day with unique variations to each one (thank goodness because there are some horrific events that happy along the way).

Her family is a hilarious multi-generational mixture of characters. The dynamic between these characters makes for some very amusing dialogue. Gwen only confides her time loop to her cousin Manny as she tries to determine how to progress to Boxing Day.

Dev, the “boy next door” has also returned home for the holidays for the first time in many years. Gwen has always had a crush on him and the only good thing about this time loop is she gets to spend time with him throughout several of the Christmas Days. Could Dev also feel an attraction for Gwen?

The Christmas Wish is a highly entertaining book and I recommend it to those readers who enjoy Romantic Comedies or Women’s Fiction.

What I Liked:

• The lovable protagonist that you can’t help but cheer on
• The imaginative and well-executed use of the time loop
• The flashbacks to Gwen’s childhood contributing to a satisfying romance

Acknowledgments:

Thank you to Edelweiss+ and HarperCollins for the DRC of this book in exchange for the honest review provided here.

Other Books I’ve Reviewed by Lindsey Kelk:

On A Night Like This

In Case You Missed It