Tuesday 15 October 2019

BLOGTOUR: The Christmas Calendar Girls - Samantha Tonge


About the book

This Christmas fall in love with the town of Chesterwood...
Christmas is meant to be a time of giving, so with Chesterwood food bank under risk of closure Fern knows just what to do to save it. She's going to get the town to create a living advent calendar.
Fern, and her best friends, call for help from the local community to bring this calendar to life. When Kit, the new man in town, offers his assistance Fern's heart can't help but skip a beat (or two).
As they grow ever closer, Fern must admit that Kit's breaking down the barriers she built after the death of her husband. But his past is holding him back and Fern doesn't know how to reach him. No matter how hard she tries.
In this town, Kit's not the only one with secrets. Domestic goddess Cara is behaving oddly, burning meals in the oven and clothes whilst ironing, and Davina's perfect children are causing trouble at school leaving her son, Jasper, desperately unhappy.
Can the Christmas Calendar Girls find a way to bring the community together in time to save the food bank, while still supporting their families and each other? Can Fern find love again with Kit?
This is a story about kindness and letting go of the past. It's about looking out for your neighbours and about making every day feel like Christmas.

Buy links:


My Review:

This is one of those wonderfully festive books that you can really imagine being played out as a gorgeously cosy Christmas film.

More than just a typical feel good book though, there is a level of depth with the readers eyes being opened to a problem that may well be reflective of their own community. I think this book serves a purpose in highlighting the importance of food banks and the jeopardy they often find themselves facing.

What a beautiful idea, a unique take on typical fundraising – bringing to life the advent calendar within the community.  The three main characters, friends, work hard to pull off this incredible feat all in the hope of raising money for their local foodbank, so it can pay the rent needed to keep it going. As well as this each character is facing their own personal issues -whether that’s matters of the heart, possible illness and overzealous Mother in Laws.

Samantha Tonge has written a brilliant story with friendship and community at its heart and a cast of characters that will welcome you in and make you feel like you belong.  There are many ups, there are a great deal of lows; it has drama and misunderstanding, love and grief. You will go through a wide range of emotions throughout the festive journey our ladies undertake.

A wonderfully heart-warming, life affirming tale. I enjoyed every moment and highly recommend. 



About the Author

Samantha Tonge lives in Manchester UK with her husband and children. She studied German and French at university and has worked abroad, including a stint at Disneyland Paris. She has travelled widely.
When not writing she passes her days cycling, baking and drinking coffee. Samantha has sold many dozens of short stories to women's magazines. 
She is represented by the Darley Anderson literary agency. In 2013, she landed a publishing deal for romantic comedy fiction with HQDigital at HarperCollins and in 2014, her bestselling debut, Doubting Abbey, was shortlisted for the Festival of Romantic Fiction best Ebook award. In 2015 her summer novel, Game of Scones, hit #5 in the UK Kindle chart and won the Love Stories Awards Best Romantic Ebook category. In 2018 Forgive Me Not, heralded a new direction into darker women's fiction with publisher Canelo. In 2019 she was shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists' Association romantic comedy award

Follow Samantha
Twitter: @SamTongeWriter






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