Chocolate Shoes and Wedding Blues & The Magic of Christmas by Trisha Ashley.

Chocolate Shoes and Wedding Blues.

Trisha Ashley.

(Avon, May 2012.)

Tansy Poole inherits a run –down shoe shop in the village of Sticklepond – Cinderella’s Slippers is soon established, stocking the footwear to make any fairy-tale wedding come true.

If only Tansy’s personal life was as heavenly. With a fiancé trying to make her fit into a size eight wedding dress as well as the discovery of shocking family revelations, Tansy soon takes shelter in the shops success.

A link to her past also moves in next door, in the shape of ex fling, the actor Ivo Hawksley who is there to nurse his own broken heart.

Soon they discover that secrets shared begin to forge a special bond between them.  

Loved it, loved it, and loved it. I’m a fan of Trisha’s previous novels – The Twelve Days of Christmas, Chocolate Wishes and The Magic of Christmas. As with some of her other stories, this book is set in the town of Sticklepond. What I like about that is, although the main characters may be different, previous characters that I liked from past novels are on the periphery, so it’s really like catching up with old friends such as Chloe, Raffy, Poppy and Felix from Chocolate Wishes and Sophy from A Winter’s Tale. You get a glimpse at what happened to them beyond their own tales.

I found this book easy and relaxing to read with wonderful twists and turns that kept my interest. I read this book almost in one session and couldn’t put it down and it also had the addition of some of Trisha’s recipes which is always a bonus.

The ending had a twist which surprised me as all the way through the book I had made my mind up as to what was going to happen; the ending wasn’t at all what I thought it was going to be.

I did find myself really liking the characters and I wanted Ivo, Bella and Tansy to have a happy ending. There are poignant moments as well as humorous ones and has warmth that Trisha Ashley effortlessly delivers.

If you liked this then you may like:

The Magic of Christmas.

Trisha Ashley

(Avon, 2011)

Set in the Lancashire village of Middlemoss, Lizzy is on the verge of leaving her cheating husband when tragedy strikes. Luckily, Lizzy finds distraction in caring for her son Jasper, the Christmas Pudding Circle where her best friend Annie is also a member, as well as her rivalry with local cookery writer Nick.

The whole village is gearing up for the annual Boxing Day mystery play but who will play Adam to Lizzy’s Eve? Will it be Nick or the handsome soap actor, Ritch and which one of them will win her heart?

This book was previously published as Sweet Nothings but has been reworked with new extra material thrown in. I’ve not read Sweet Nothings so was coming to this book with no prior preconceptions of the story or the characters. As with The Twelve Days of Christmas, its subject matter did automatically appeal to me as I love Christmas. I began to read this book around Christmas 2011 (having put it off until then as I really wanted to soak up the atmosphere of the plot.)

Lizzy was a wonderful character and she does undertake quite a journey throughout the course of the book and comes into herself a lot and out of the shadows. Her fellow members of the Christmas Pudding Club are also very likeable too and there are believable villains that you’ll love to hate and whose behaviour shocked me.

Set in the village of Sticklepond (as with previous novels,) you’ll finish this book with a nice, contented smile.

If you’re a fan of Trisha Ashley’s novels or you like warm, friendly characters with a community feel, then you’ll love this book.

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by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.