Synopsis
When a Christmas promise becomes hard to keep …
Pip Smith knows she owes it to her family to hold on to the festive traditions that have been a comfort since the year everything changed – but this Christmas she’s going to need a miracle to keep everyone in her life happy.
After she’s dumped by her fiancé, an invitation to visit a friend in Hong Kong in the run-up to the festive season seems to offer Pip the perfect escape – and she’ll be home for Christmas, of course. Except her escape ends up becoming far more complex than she intended, when she becomes involved with arrogant American Ryan Hawke and his niece, Shelby – a little girl whose most heartfelt Christmas wish is for a proper family.
Will Pip keep her Christmas promise – or will it be more of a compromise, with the help of a little hope and mistletoe?
Linked to One Summer Weekend but can be read as a standalone story. This is Pip’s story
Juliet Archer
Juliet Archer writes award-winning romantic comedy for Choc Lit and Ruby Fiction. She has been known to spend many happy hours matching irresistible heroes with their equally irresistible chocolate counterparts – watch out for the dark nutty ones!
Her debut novel, The Importance of Being Emma, won the Big Red Read Book of the Year 2011 Fiction Award and was shortlisted for the 2009 Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance. Her second novel, Persuade Me, was shortlisted for the 2011 Festival of Romance Best Romantic Read Award.
Juliet was born and bred in North-East England and now lives in Hertfordshire. She gives talks all over the UK and in the USA about the classic authors who inspire her work. She is a member of the Society of Authors and the Jane Austen Society. Her non-writing career has spanned IT, acquisitions analysis, copy editing, marketing and project management, providing plenty of first-hand research for her novels.
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This lovely story introduces Ryan, Phillipa and Shelby to each other and us the reader. It is a family romance which is delightful to read. I loved the way their histories were gradually revealed to us, and each other. As Pip (Phillipa) arrives in Hong Kong you go with her into her new life. By the end of the book you are hoping their Christmas wishes and all fulfilled.
Pip is trying to get over her ex-fiancé Darren cheating on her with another teacher in the same school.
She quits her job & decides to go & visit her friend Tara in Hong Kong. Tara is working as a nanny for an American businessman Ryan & his niece Shelby.
Things take an unexpected turn when Tara decides to go to Vietnam for six weeks, hoping that Pip will take over while she’s gone. Pip sees herself in Shelby (both Pip & Shelby have lost their fathers in tragic circumstances).
I liked how the author showed different ways of getting through grief. I really enjoyed this book & it was very well written.
A Christmas novel in sunny Hong Kong.
Distressed from her broken engagement, Pip Smith, gladly accepts a suggestion from her old friend Tara to visit her in Hong Kong, where the sun will be shining and Pip can start to think about her future. She plans to have a relaxing two week holiday in the sunshine, catch up with her friend’s news, before returning to her family in Lancashire for their traditional Christmas celebrations.
Old friend Tara is employed by wealthy American Ryan Hawke as a nanny for his six-year-old niece Shelby, he’s now Shelby’s guardian and both are mourning the recent death of her father and his brother. Not understanding how to cope with a small child, Ryan continues to travel constantly running the family business.
Ryan returns home from a trip unexpectedly when Pip is visiting Tara and Shelby at the Hawke house, due to misunderstandings they immediately dislike each other. Under Ryan’s disapproving frown, Pip befriends the little girl realising the child is desperately lonely and missing family life. Then Ryan makes an offer Pip can’t refuse, of course she’ll still be home for Christmas, won’t she.
For anyone who dislikes cold winter weather, grab this novel – it’s set in the sunshine.
Loved this novel – the wonderful characters and story set against the exotic backdrop of Hong Kong. Pip is an ordinary girl who thought she’d escape her heartbreak by visiting her friend in Hong Kong. Little did she think that she’d end up working there instead, looking after the cutest child, Shelby, and answering to her tyrannical uncle, Ryan. However, is there more to Ryan than she first thought? And how will Pip balance her promise to Shelby with her own strange family commitments at Christmas? I thoroughly enjoyed every page of this novel – a perfect Christmas read!