The Twelve Dates Of Christmas

This book wins the award for best cover of 2015. It it glorious in every way and when it dropped through my letterbox I did a lot of staring and stroking. It is DIVINE.

The story tucked inside is just as beautiful and festive which I devoured super fast. I love anything remotely Christmassy and I knew as soon as I started reading Lisa’s novel that this was going to be a real treat. The Twelve Dates Of Christmas started out as a set of serialised novellas (don’t tell anyone but I loathe these, I JUST WANT THE WHOLE STORY DAMN IT) so I was OVERJOYED when I heard they were going to be bound together in one single tome because I love being able to read it all in one go, call me greedy, but I just want it all, instantly.

The Twelve Dates Of Christmas follows the lovable Claudia who faces the prospect of spending Christmas on her lonesome after her rather annoying boyfriend Seth decides he can do much better than her (he can’t btw, you fool Seth). Armed with a duo of friends who rival the very best, she embarks on a string of festive dates in an attempt to make Christmas seem a little less lonely. With Penny and Nick beside her, Claudia realises that maybe Christmas is going to be OK after all.

I love Lisa’s writing style. She has such a keen sense of humour that never fails to make me laugh. Her characters are completely brilliant and whenever I read anything she’s written, I can’t help but want to slot myself into her fictional worlds with her characters – they’re the kind of people you want to be best friends with. Claudia is no exception and despite her questionable choice in DIY underwear, she was a character I just wanted to befriend and fist bump every time she did something awesome.

Penny and Nick were ace additions to the plot – they both brought such love and light into Claudia’s life and again, I just wanted to gather them into a large, festive hug. Nick was my favourite character of them all, charming, witty, gorgeous and just a quite a lot perfect. He was such a joy to read about and I fell in love with him. Like, proper love.

It wouldn’t be right to not mention the festive element to this book. I felt like I was in a winter wonderland as I turned the pages of The Twelve Dates Of Christmas. Everything was sparkly and wintery and I could feel the Christmas spirit throughout. Lisa sets her scenes so well, I always had such a vivid picture in my head which made the book even more of a joy to read. This is one of those books where you can just surrender your imagination to the words in front of you and be whisked off on an exciting journey. I didn’t ever feel myself slipping out of this fictional world and that just shows how well Lisa writes.

I loved this book so so so so so SO much. It was festive and sparkly and full of love, laughter and had the most satisfying ending in the entire universe. I sat with a Cheshire Cat style grin on my face as I turned the final page. I love it I love it I love it.

Grab yourself a hot chocolate, a cosy blanket, a pair of fluffy socks, a HUGE jar of mince pies and snuggle down with this gorgeously festive book. It is sure to put a smile on your face.