Book Review : Christmas at Carrington's by Alexandra Brown

Title : Christmas at Carrington's

Author : Alexandra Brown

Publication Date : December 2013

Publisher : Harper

Source : Sent by the publisher (Thanks!)

Overall : 5/5

Georgie Hart loves Christmas time at Carrington's Department store. Running the luxury handbag department, Georgie adores helping customers in the hunt for the perfect gift for the perfect someone. And this year is no exception - now she has the hunky Tom, Mr Carrington himself, to spend the special day with.

But when Tom springs a surprise, Georgie's plans are thrown into chaos. Carrington's is getting a fresh lease of life in a hot new reality TV show, featuring formidable retail guru, Kelly Cooper.

As the first show airs, Georgie is shown in a far from flattering light. Worse is to come when Kelly's vile daughter appears to get her claws into Tom. Georgie fears this will be the worst Christmas ever, but Santa still has a little surprise for her stocking this year - she'll just have to wait until Christmas to find out...

I enjoyed the first book (Cupcakes at Carrington’s) of the Carrington’s trilogy greatly and adored the characters. I was so happy about the Christmas themed second installment! It’s my favourite time of the year! I love beautiful Christmas decors, fake snowflakes (no snow where I am! *sobs*) and Christmassy books! The pinkish cover, just gorgeous! I loved the cute pink and silver combination. I read this book after Christmas and New Year (it’s March already, goodness!) and it sent me back to December. It’s Christmas all over again. Let me assure you, you’re not crazy to read a Christmas themed book in March.

Since I heard the news about Christmas at Carrington’s and saw the cover, I was so excited for this book. Thank god Alex and the fab HC team sent me a copy! Christmas at Carrington’s starts with a happy beginning and Georgie is finally happy with her (delicious) one, Tom! She’s looking forward to Christmas and all ready for fun and spending time with Tom. Everything is Christmas perfect until a reality show came along. She has no idea about it until she watched the first episode and she looked like a complete clown. The TV show makes everything in Carrington’s more complicated and Georgie has no choice but to be in the show.

Pretty cover aside, I truly loved the story and was hooked from the very first page. Therefore, I could tell you that my over-excitement was not greeted with disappointment! This sequel was perfect, the dramas and gossips made everything lighter. I caught up with the fabulous Carrington’s team and their lives on Mulberry. I read half the book in one sitting, it’s really that good! It made me feel as though I was meeting some old friends and gossiping over tea. Caught up with the amazing staffs of Carrington’s and I was introduced to some new characters from the TV production company. The inclusion of TV show in this book made it more interesting! Alex’s description of each character made me feel as though I knew them and I could see Alex’s love for bags through Georgie. Georgie’s life transformed when she started filming the reality show and became the IT girl of Mulberry land. She wasn’t the girl we knew from Cupcakes, now, she’s a celeb and her life is about to change forever. Georgie, the girl everyone wants to be or be with. I felt as if I was sucked into Carrington’s and went through all of those with her. Alex also managed to shape the department store into a 3D image for readers through her words. I personally felt as though I have been to Carrington’s and shopped there. Just magical. Georgie felt like a sister to me, if only she’s real. I could talk to her about bags all day and probably stalk Anya Hindmarch. Haha.

Eddie, Georgie’s GBF is my favourite character and his existence in this story made everything better! He’s Tom’s BA. Ed’s fabulous and I loved him more in this book. His crazy jokes always left me laughing and it’s as though I’ve met him so many times. I could never get enough of his craziness and his dramatic gestures. Some of the lines had me laughing like a mad person, too funny. Sam was featured more in Christmas at Carrington’s and she’s a wonderful character. Their friendship was so real and made me want to hug them both. She’s a friend every girl needs and her cakes made me drool! I’m sure every reader will fall in love with all these characters!

Christmas at Carrington’s is another fab piece by Alexandra Brown and readers wouldn’t be disappointed! A five star festive read! It’s good to get lost in such a beautiful Christmassy book with a mug of hot chocolate. Glamorous, humorous and light read for all time of the year! Can’t wait for the third and last book of the Carrington’s trilogy – Ice Creams at Carrington’s! It’s out in June! Whoop! Three months from now, guess I’ll do some baking to kill time.

Till next time! xx