Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

by Maureen Reil

Avery Dawson is back for the holidays, for the first time in five years. So what has changed in her absence she wonders? As Avery makes her way through the snowy fields and across the icy lanes, towards her semi-rural village to return to the cottage she still calls home.
There’s someone in particular that Avery would love to see again. Only he’ll have to wait until she’s ready to explain, what made her return in the first place. But perhaps they could re-kindle their romance for this season of goodwill, once they do catch-up, who knows.
There’s just one problem with this idea, well, several actually so this year is not turning out to be the merry little Christmas Avery thought it could be. Seeing as the festivities can not only bring out the best in people, but also the worst too.

Genres: Christmas, Amazon

107 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 23, 2019

About the author

Maureen Reil writes comic commercial fiction and has had over 35 books published, so far, but she's always working on a new manuscript so she wishes to add to that tally with lots of new titles before she's done and dusted. She was born in the city of Liverpool and resides in semi-rural Lancashire UK, but longs to live by the sea. It was always a dream of hers to become a novelist and thanks to her readers, she has fulfilled that ambition, so she couldn't be more grateful if she tried. And Maureen hopes you enjoy reading her books as much as she enjoys writing them.

Reviews

[Kelly-Marie Pollock · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't necessarily a bad book, but it wasn't brilliant either. It was simply 'OK'.
It was a very quick read and a little bit rushed in places.

None of the characters felt particularly whole, however their speech pattern and traits were quite realistic.

The editing and format was a bit all over the place too which was a shame as if that was fine tuned then it would make a big difference.

I didn't dislike it but I wasn't really captivated with it either. I found myself skipping lightly over several pages at a time and not missing anything substantial in the plot.

In short it was a fine festive read but not one I'd probably read again.

I really do appreciate books that use normal speech patterns, phrases and the odd profanity, as to me that helps round out otherwise flat and one dimensional characters, and this little book did manage to do that, so well done to the author.

For all these reasons I've rated it 3 stars.

[Linda Jensen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was just eh, ok to me. The main character admittedly is an anxious person, but all throughout the story she seemed to play the victim, make way too many assumptions, and just all over kind of whiney. The writing itself wasn't the greatest either. All too often the author kept putting in side notes that I felt were either not necessary, or the structure was getting overdone and annoying. For example, when writing a side thought it was often written as a) blah blah blah and b) blah blah blah, or the author would put something in parenthesis that just wasn't needed. Bordering on man-splaining. Maybe it was just me getting annoyed, but I just felt it wasn't always necessary to explain things, or needing the break in writing the way it was done. Yes, it was a short read/novella, I still feel it lacked substance. Luckily it was a free read on kindle.

[Sophie Narey (Bookreview- aholic) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good cosy read

This was a nice short sweet book to give you that festive feeling. It has some great characters , a few background characters that don't really add A lot too it. The storyline is quick and easy to follow the only part I disliked was the fact it kept repeatedly telling you about events that you hadn't forgotten.

Overall a good cosy read!

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book felt like a runaway monologue inside the mind of a squirrel on cocaine.

[tracey cloxton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cheesy little Christmas story, ex lovers meet again, lots of little blips and an easy read for the festive season

[Wendy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yikes, what a terrible short story. The only reason I kept reading was the fact that it's a short story about Christmas, and I wanted to see how the main character's HEA happened. It read like it was attempting to be Bridget Jones Diary, but fell so flat. No character was really developed, no real relationship details from the past or present led the reader to understand or see the chemistry in the couple, and Avery's bizarre obsession with Cooper's "relationship" with Lena despite no evidence just made her seem desperate and unhinged. Her quest to track down who almost hit her also did nothing for the story except for revealing her to be impulsive and obsessive and make it even more confusing why Cooper would find her attractive. Basically, don't waste your time, even as a free book. Hopefully better editing and character development in future books can help the author connect with readers.

[Emily Ralph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short but not very christmassy

A short story but could of been more Christmassy. Felt like the story was laking in places. Wasn't a fan on the main character talking to us as if we was next to her. Ok read in between better books

[Mary Aris · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible writing

This is full of run on sentences. Completely rubbish writing! I usually don't diss any book, but I had to give an honest review.

[Fiona Nelson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Abysmal editing!

I stopped reading after the first page. The punctuation was the worst I have ever seen! I could not stand to read any more! I would give it no stars if I could.

[Robin Dix · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's like one huge run on sentence. Not so great.

[Kelly Friman · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book is narrated by the main character and she’s not very likable. I found myself super annoyed with her very quickly. There are also many typos, grammatical errors, and misspelling. Thankfully it’s only 125 pages.

[Gayle Scarratt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful little novella... Oh boy did I laugh out loud. Just wonderful, I could totally relate to poor Avery at times. Well worth a read. The only reason it's a 4 star is because it's a novella xxx

[Barbara Hunter · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst book ever!!

I did not like anything about this book!!! The language was awful for a Christmas story. I will never read another book by this author!!!

I would Not recommend it to a friend!!!
It doesn't even deserve 1 star!!!

[Josephine Pizzimenti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Different

What an unusual story. Funny too. A hapless, clumsy and accident prone lead who jumps to conclusions too fast. Enjoyable easy read

[Reba · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unnecessarily wordy without adding to the plot or the main character's personality/likability.