03 Nov Flora’s Travelling Christmas Shop by Rebecca Raisin
Festive fun and frolics in fabulous Finnish Lapland!
*****
#Blogtour
Forecasts for Christmas cheer may be all doom and gloom in real life, but you won’t miss out on festive fun when you join Flora Westwood as she travels to the northernmost region of Finland, to Lapland, home of all that’s Christmassy!
And that suits our heroine down to the ground. A Christmas fanatic, Flora would wear seasonal onesies, eat turkey and pull crackers all year round.
Unfortunately, she has never managed to pull that special cracker – every man she meets seems to want to change her ditzy, zany, spontaneous personality.
But that spontaneity may be Flora’s saviour when she loses her latest boyfriend, her job, her home and her friend (who’s off to LA) in one fell swoop, and makes the decision to travel to Lapland, buy a campervan and set up a stall at a Christmas market.
After all, vanlife is supposed to be one long fest of happy comradeship, isn’t it?
Of course, things go wrong almost from the start, but Flora’s adventurous spirit sees her finally arrive at her destination – and immediately fall foul of market manager Connor, an eco-aware Irishman who resembles a Viking god, but whose sense of humour and Christmas spirit has been left behind in Valhalla!
Egged on by her old friend Livvie in LA, and new chums Hanne and Raakel in Lapland, Flora sets out to open his eyes to the wonders of the season in “operation Christmasfy Connor”.
Because Flora knows that Christmas is more than glitter and presents – she understands the hope and promise that comes with this special time of year.
This was a wonderful read! Flora is a fantastic heroine, funny and joyous, with an underlying vulnerability that touches your heart even as you’re laughing at her escapades and shaking your head over her over-enthusiastic, sometimes underhand methods to engage po-faced Connor.
And of course the setting of Lapland is ideal – snowy forests, reindeer rides, husky sledges, Christmas cabins, children singing carols, along with all the traditional Christmas fare on sale at the market – who could ask for more?
There’s even a glimpse of the northern lights – which just makes me want to visit Lapland all the more.
And beneath the hilarity, there is a strong emotional story to be enjoyed – a real Hallmark movie-styled romance, as Flora acknowledges, with a pretty heroine and strong hero who clash from the outset, and a few mean girls to throw some extra spanners in the works!
But will its resolution bring Flora her own happy-ever-after? Or will she end up wrapped up in her festive onesie, drinking eggnog alone once more?
Fast-paced, festive from start to finish (or should that be Finnish?), warm and funny, this is the perfect Christmas romance to start off your 2021 seasonal reading.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Flora’s Travelling Christmas Shop is available from Amazon UK here, Amazon US here and Amazon Australia here, as well as all good bookshops
About the Author
Rebecca Raisin is a true bibliophile. This love of books morphed into the desire to write them. She’s been widely published in short story anthologies, and in fiction magazines. And now she is focusing on writing romance.
Rebecca aims to write characters you can see yourself being friends with. People with big hearts who care about relationships and believe in true love.
Find Rebecca on Facebook @RebeccaRaisinAuthor
Follow her on Twitter @jaxandwillsmum
Catch up with her on Instagram @rebeccaraisinwrites
Thank you to Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me on this #blogtour and to NetGalley for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review
Catch up with the rest of the blogtour through the links on the poster
Read my review of Aria’s Travelling Bookshop by Rebecca Raisin here
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