Nice story to escape into for a few hours

I enjoyed the story and the author had created some great characters but I wasn't a fan of the way it was narrated. I think the lead character, Carmen, definitely has an edge of sarcasm to her, but the way it was narrated meant that almost everything she said sounded petulant, disrespectful (who talks to a new boss like that?!) and just made her not very likeable to me. Maybe that's the way the author intended it to be spoken but I think the sarcasm was way too heavy and just got in the way for me.

8 people found this helpful

Great Christmas story

struggled at the start with the narrator's voice...but loved the storyline. Another great story..thanks

8 people found this helpful

Yay Jenny Colgan!

I really enjoyed this one.
A Christmas mix of a story and not too sweet, with a measure of cynicism, sarcastic humour and the usual romance. This is full of literary spice in the form of references to Christmas themed books, mysterious characters and intriguing details about all sorts of things. She's totally taking off the idea of a celebrity, self help industry but in an inoffensive way. I wonder if this is what JC really thinks of such things as yoga, healthy eating, spirituality and self help books, I guess I'll never know.
I also really liked the fact that the main character Carmen was something of an underdog and was totally relatable as a downtrodden younger sibling.
I think this is one I'll listen to again.

4 people found this helpful

Such an enjoyable Christmas read.

Was sad when it finished, wanted a little more of what happened next. I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next in the little bookshop.

3 people found this helpful

Annoying protagonist/ narrator

The protagonist was an unsympathetic, immature, whinging character to the point of the story that I reached before (for the first time in many years of Audible membership) I returned the book. Other characters were by that point equally flawed, and If this was the intention then the narrator portrayed them all perfectly. Perhaps there is later development of the characters and more Christmas spirit later in the book, but I was too disinterested in the characters to stick with it.

2 people found this helpful

Disapointing

Unfortunately this was a disappointing listen. I have enjoyed Jenny Colghans books in the past but this lacked the usual warmth in the characters and story.

2 people found this helpful

narration is absolutely awful

Such a shame as the story is good but the narration is dreadful. As all the other reviews stated Carmen the lead character is read in a very sarcastic way, she sounds like a spoilt brat. It's hard to warm to her character. Real shame. This audiobook needs completely re-recording. There are a couple of errors that threw me too, like confusing the lead characters name with camera in one chapter. I had to re wind to work it out. Very disappointed, was looking for a feel good christmas story.

1 person found this helpful

Just a gorgeous listen from start to finish

Loved the story and the narrator was so easy to listen to. Very enjoyable

1 person found this helpful

Brilliant

I loved this feel good book. It was perfect for a good cosy Christmas read 👍😊

Entertaining

It was a very entertaining book and at times found myself laughing out loud.
I throughly enjoyed the children's characters, I can just see it happening.
And it wasn't the usual girl meets boy, girl falls in love. It was a bit different and that was a pleasant surprise too