The Christmas Wish by Lindsey Kelk

by Alanna Jenkins

My review

4/5 stars

Gwen has had a tough year and decides to go back to spend Christmas with the family she usually avoids, only to get stuck in a Christmas Day loop that forces her to face some of the parts of her life that she's been running away from.

I really enjoyed the Groundhog-Day-style narrative of this book, especially with the festive twist of it always being Christmas Day. Wishing it could be Christmas every day is a common sentiment, but the reality is quite different! The author provided a very good mix of pathos for Gwen and humour at the ridiculousness of the situation, to the point where I actually found the story quite life-affirming, in a subtle way.

This was magnified by the emphasis that the author put on Gwen exploring the relationships she had with each of her family members. I came to this expecting a romance, and while there was some there, the main takeaway for me was that Gwen had ended up where she was in life because she had neglected to invest in the people that truly loved her - this really spoke to me as someone whose main focus in life is their family.  

The focus on family was beautiful, but also the reason why I didn't give the book 5 stars. It was sold as a romance, and while I enjoyed what was there, I would have loved to see more of Dev's character. He was a positive influence on Gwen and a likeable character in general, but he felt like a sidenote for the book rather than a main string of the story.

A lovely Christmas book that made me feel all warm and cosy inside.

Book blurb

How do you fall in love with someone who can’t remember you from one day until the next?

Newly single lawyer Gwen Baker needs a family Christmas to bury her woes, with festive films, country walks and a mountain of chocolate.

Her teenage crush Dev is back in their small village as well – and it turns out he’s just as kind, funny and good-looking as she remembers.

But then Gwen wakes up to discover it’s Christmas all over again. She’s trapped in a snowy Groundhog Day. But would repeat meet-cutes with Dev really be so bad for a heart that needs mending?

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You can buy the book here now. It was published by HarperCollins.

For more on the author, you can head to her website, follow her on Instagram, or check out her Goodreads page.