BLOGTOUR: Magic Under the Mistletoe - Lucy Coleman

About the book:

Christmas and romance are in the air...

 

It's December 23rd and while everyone else is rushing home for the holidays, workaholic Leesa Oliver is dreading switching on her out-of-office for the festive season. And it seems her equally driven boss, Cary Anderson, isn't relishing spending Christmas at his family's country estate either.

So together, they draft an unexpected Christmas contract: They'll spend half of the holidays with each other's families, pretending to be a couple. Leesa knows the insufferably good-looking Cary will make her Christmas more bearable, but what happens after the last of the mince pies have been eaten...?

Leesa signed off on a sensible business agreement, but somewhere, amongst the fairy lights and carols something seems to have changed... It seems there might just be some magic under the mistletoe this Christmas!

My Review:     

Woah, what a festive treat! For festive fans and those romance lovers.

Leesa on a long-haul flight with Cary – a workaholic, picky man who has deserted her back in economy. They are colleagues but only really start get to know each other better on this flight back from Sydney. With bad weather stalling her original plans, Leesa finds herself heading to his family for the night; both characters do not seem enthralled with having a festive filled Christmas though – will this change?

I must admit Cary seemed like a right idiot at first and it put me off. I didn’t want to like him at all…but… I guess by the end he may have won me round a fair bit, I couldn’t help it.. I got swept along with all the characters and even him! I was all for Leesa from the opening page, she seemed like my kind of girl and if it was a hallmark movie, she’d be the character everyone loves – the girl who has been through so much and is scared, the girl who has readers on side from the start.

Lots going on in this story, it kept me interested and I do love when fate seems to have a plan that ensures our main characters get what they deserve, even if they aren’t expecting (or wanting) it at all. Thought it brilliant that the timing of the book takes us on a journey, not just a quick glimpse in time. We see throughout the book there are complete misunderstandings, drama and family issues that save this being what you typically expect.

Lucy Coleman gives us emotion, heartache and sincerity – such an emotional read, that will give you a cosy warm glow.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           About the author

Lucy lives in the Forest of Dean in the UK with her lovely husband and Bengal cat, Ziggy. Her novels have been short-listed in the UK's Festival of Romance and the eFestival of Words Book Awards. Lucy won the 2013 UK Festival of Romance: Innovation in Romantic Fiction award.

Follow Lucy:  

Twitter: @LucyColemanAuth

Facebook: @LinnBHaltonAuthor

Buy links:

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2YIPik8

Kobo: https://bit.ly/2YQx4NZ

Google Play: https://bit.ly/2YPcspf

iBooks: https://apple.co/2YCcMeg

How many books - Target or Pressure?

New Years Eve 2018 and it's about that time, you know what I'm talking about - the time each year where we all rack our brains, think back over the past 12 months and forward to a brand spanking 365 days of gleaming, new opportunities. Many of us make resolutions; to lose weight, stop smoking, save money etc etc. Half hearted attempts at self improvement that generally don't last until the end of January let alone the year. It's also the time book lovers gather together their lists of 'best reads' or 'ones to watch.' 

I've previously spoken about the self imposed book buying ban (The Book Buying Ban - How to tackle the TBR pile) and how sticking that out for January would never be repeated, but there is something I have done this year as I did in 2018 - set a Goodreads reading challenge target. 

I started late in 2018 - around July time - and set what I thought was a ridiculous number of 50 books. My intention was to add the books I'd read before July, as many as I could remember anyway. I was thrilled as I saw the count go up and up, it really spurred me on. The more I read, the higher it got and the more I wanted to consume any old book I could get my hands on (not hard when you have what seems to be a TBR mountain in your bedroom). 

I completed the challenge - people that know me say I did it easily - and at the end of 2018 I'd finished up reading 69 books. To be honest I thought it was a bit of a fluke.

Deciding my target for 2019 was probably more difficult than it needed to be. 

I didn't want to set it too high as I would hate not to achieve it but then I didn't want to set to too low and it seem silly.

When I had a figure in mind I asked the opinion of my sister and my Mum. They watch me read, they think my book buying habits are hilarious. They have a wonderful ability to know what I think of a book as I am reading it - usually by the pace at which I am reading, the face I pull or the fact that when they speak to me it doesn't register and they have to repeatedly call my name to get my attention.

I told them my target was going to be FIFTY again. I though this was realistic as I work full time and often do things at home, I have a little craft business and attend craft fairs regularly so I am often making stock - I thought fifty would be a great number of books for the year. They laughed - real full on laughter - and just shook their heads in disbelief. Both agreed my target should be 80. I wasn't having it, nope, not with how much of my time is used elsewhere - but I did decide to set my challenge at sixty. 

Four months later and I'm sat questioning if the challenge itself is a good thing or if it is putting pressure on yourself to ensure you meet that number.

I adore Goodreads; I love the way you can keep track of what you've read, what you thought of the books, the authors etc. I enjoy how you can see what you're friends and people with similar book tastes have read, enjoyed and reviewed. It's a great way, for me, of keeping track of what I have read because I didn't really before. I have the intention and would start lists or use address books so I could put them in by author but I used to lose interest or the book.

I mentioned that previously I had felt spurred on, motivated to read knowing it would add to

my tally.. but is actually is it a level of pressure that I don't need adding to my life? Am I really enjoying all the books or just zipping through them for the sake of increasing my number?

So far 2019 has been a lovely year, some AMAZING books, some wonderful ARCs have come my way and I've found some great new authors - would I have come across them regardless of the challenge I've put on myself - yes. Have I had the challenge in my mind with almost every book I've read? Yes. 

I've noticed I don't just read now, I also know which "number book" it is. Should that really be what I care about when reading a book, what it takes my tally to? I've also noticed that I compare my number of reads to that of my friends on Goodreads, I just can't help myself.

I'm not a competitive person by nature, not at all but with this I've woken some kind of weird competitive vibe in me that I dislike. I love that anyone reads any amount, I celebrate when I know people love a good book and when they find an author or genre that they like, I actively go out of my way to share the love of a book, pass books on and make recommendations - so why do I care about the number of books anyone else has read?

As of 7th April my Goodreads Reading Challenge total: 

Not even four full months of the year and I have already reached my target. I have read some incredible books  and genuinely, I don't feel like I have ever read for the sake of my target but I do wonder without it, would I have read this many books by now?! More importantly - would I have cared? 

My sister teases that even her target for me (80) is going to look silly by the end of the year but who knows. The reality is that I could amend that Goodreads target but I know I won't. I'll leave it as it is, hopefully as a reminder that it doesn't really matter.

Reading is loving a book, enjoying the stories that are created, the characters that become friends, finding authors that give us tears, heart break, love and hope - it's why we all stick our head in a book, lose ourselves in a different world and do it over and over again. 

Will I even set Goodreads target next year? Probably.
Will I increase my target next year? Probably not.