The Christmas Bookshop: the cosiest and most uplifting festive romance to settle down with this Christmas (The Christmas bookshop, 1) Paperback – 27 Oct. 2022

I hadn't read any Jenny Colgan before, and when it was chosen for our book club I was fully expecting it to be pulp fiction - twee, saccharine crap - just based on the cover and title.SO WRONG.It's 3am because I just HAD to finish it. Carmen is a brilliant irrepressible, irreverent, fallible human. The dialogue is FUNNY, and charming, and while the story isn't twisty and entirely unpredictable, the relationships are realistic and relatable. Where caricatures are used they are still wonderfully portrayed.I bloody loved it and can't wait to read more of her books!

A cosy Christmas read set in Edinburgh which I loved and the snow and winter descriptions were just right.Carmen is a lovely character, down on her luck and feeling inadequate as she moves into her sisters expensive house in Edinburgh for a job.Mr McCreadie’s bookshop provides the ideal setting for Carmen to find her feet and try and save the bookshop and she is determined to make a difference.She meets two very different men, famous author Blair and quiet Oke and finds herself pulled between the two.I loved the family relationships element of this book alongside the romantic element just what a Xmas book should be and I thought it was a cosy, enjoyable book to snuggle down with under a blanket.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Good book, easy to read.

This is a really uplifting book to settle down with as we head into the festive season. The quality of the narrative drew me straight into the story and in my minds eye I was right there amidst a group of well defined and differentiated characters. Even Edinburgh became another character in the story and made me want to explore the place all over again. The main protagonists and secondary characters interact in ways that feel very genuine to real life and I was rooting for a happy ending romance. Definitely a book I will re-read again so it was definitely worth the purchase price. A couple of things to note though, it’s marketed as a romantic comedy which it isn’t. There is ‘rom’ but no ‘com’. But that doesn’t in any way detract from the story or how happy it made me feel to have read it. Oh, no detailed accounts of nooky either if that’s something you are looking for, but the story really didn’t need it. Definitely a 5 star book for me.

If you want to read about how if you do not go to university and spend 3 years partying and running up a huge debt, you will never get a good job, you will like this, self pitying, misunderstanding and soppy book. However it is easy reading, and fills time if you haven't any thing else to read.

This feels like it's a Christmas redemption sort of a story as Carmen is rather tricky to get to know initially, let alone like, is the main character, and over the course of the book I found myself really warming up to her and loving her.She has a tricky relationship with her sister, and barely knows her nieces and nephews and isn't really that impressed with the job that has been found for her.But as the story progresses you see changes in Carmen, in part due to the attentions of two men in different ways, and in part it's an internal change.I loved seeing how she tries to transform McCreadie's bookshop and in fact is able to to do so much, she just doesn't believe in herself.I was frustrated with Carmen for parts of the book but ultimately really did love her, and was rooting for her.Set in a snowy Edinburgh, with a slight cameo from a character from one of Jenny Colgan's other Scottish based books in passing but enough to make me smile, and all manner of fabulous secondary characters, this is a book that ultimately stole my heart.Thoroughly enjoyed reading it, full of the author's trademark warmth, this really was a gorgeous Christmas story.

Really good book. Brilliant storyline

A perfect festive read set against the backdrop of Edinburgh. For me, this was a nostalgic read, featuring so many familiar spots in Edinburgh. But if you have never been to Edinburgh before, I’m sure reading this will make you want to visit, especially at Christmas! It had the loveliest amount of Christmas in it, with likeable characters, dislikable characters and ones I desperately want to know more about! I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait for the next one!

This is not my normal genre, but maybe it should be. I loved this story. A little Christmas magic in the air. Great characters. And funny! Such a great feel-good read. I don't normally give five stars but this one had me smiling too much not to do so.

Jenny Colgan works her magic again. So glad I treated myself to this and finished it in one night. Perfect for getting into the Christmas spirit, whether you celebrate Christmas or not. And books. Lots of lovely books and family stories

It took me a while to get in to this book but it did have its charms - particularly the developing relationship between the heroine and her nieces and nephew. A bit too heavily laden with details about Edinburgh for those who don’t live there and a VERY unlikely denouement stopped me giving it the full 5 stars.

Loved it! Enjoyed it so much! Books, Christmas and Edimbourgh.... I felt I was walking in the city I visited so long ago.... and the little hidden bookshop in that little street that looked like Diagon Alley in Harry Potter, with so much potential which Carmen sees....The transformation....I have discovered this author and I plan on reading everything she's written! And I read all kind of things but every nw and then I like to read just for the pleasure f imagining other happy stories. Totally reccommendable!!!

Jenny Colgan's books are nice and so is this one. But there is too much Edinburgh in it I feel. Enjoyed it all the same.