Synopsis
This year we’re just going to have a nice, normal Christmas …
Last year’s Christmas at Wrea Head Hall didn’t quite go to plan which is why Jess Croft is determined this festive season will be the one to remember, for the right reasons. And she has plenty of reasons to be hopeful, she’s going to marry the man of her dreams, Jack Stone, seven days after New Year’s Eve.
However, as family secrets are revealed in hidden letters and two unexpected guests turn up on the doorstep, Jess is left wondering whether her life will ever be the same again.
Can Jess and Jack still experience a peaceful festive season that they had imagined or are there some problems that even Christmas can’t fix?
Sequel to Lynda’s best selling novel House of Secrets
Lynda Stacey
Lynda, is a wife, step-mother and grandmother, she grew up in the mining village of Bentley, Doncaster, in South Yorkshire.
She is currently the Sales Director of a stationery, office supplies and office furniture company in Doncaster, where she has worked for the past 25 years. Prior to this she’d also been a nurse, a model, an emergency first response instructor and a PADI Scuba Diving Instructor … and yes, she was crazy enough to dive in the sea with sharks, without a cage.
Following a car accident in 2008, Lynda was left with limited mobility in her right arm. Unable to dive or teach anymore, she turned to her love of writing, a hobby she’d followed avidly since being a teenager.
Her own life story, along with varied career choices helps Lynda to create stories of romantic suspense, with challenging and unpredictable plots, along with (as in all romances) very happy endings.
Lynda joined the Romantic Novelist Association in 2014 under the umbrella of the New Writers Scheme and in 2015, her debut novel House of Secrets won Choc Lit Search for a Star competition.
She lives in a small rural hamlet near Doncaster, with her ‘hero at home husband’, Haydn, whom she’s been happily married to for over 20 years.
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The first choc lit book I have read from Lynda Stacey and I thoroughly enjoyed..An easy read and I would buy another of Lynda’s books. A good christmas book with a mix if suspense.
“House of Christmas Secrets” is a sequel and although it’s a perfect read on its own I would recommend people to read the other one first. This book just reveals to much in my opinion about “House of secrets” which could take away the fun of reading it afterwards. This said, I’ll still give it a go later on ’cause I do love the characters in this book.
“House of Christmas Secrets” is written quiet fluently and it isn’t a typical Christmassy book, which is great for me. Yes it involves Christmas decorations, food, Carol singing and Santa, but it so much more. It’s not only a love/family story, but it’s also a suspense novel. Not an edge of your seat thriller, but it spiced things up and it gave me a reason to keep on reading. It got me hooked! And that’s great, that’s how a book should be, so well done Lynda Stacey. I definitely going to read another book written by you.
Thanks Choc Lit/Netgalley for the book.
Jess has been through a lot in the last year and now that things have settled down, she looks forward to marrying Jack right after Christmas. But, the universe has more in store for Jess with the arrival of two long-lost relatives and more danger towards those that she loves most.
I enjoyed this novel very much – it had romance, thrills, and a little bit of tears.
I was provided a free advance copy of this book in return for an honest review and I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this holiday thriller.
House of Christmas Secrets is a continuation from House of Secrets about life in Wrea Head Hall. The setting is just before Christmas and after two dreadful years everyone is determined to make this Christmas in the family hotel a special occasion for themselves and their guests. Madeline has drawn up plans for the festive season, everything is organised to the last detail, so nothing should go wrong. Of course it does.
Lynda Stacey always gives her readers shocks and surprises, so expect the unexpected. A great read, whatever the time of year, without a cliffhanger.
This book is a sequel to ‘House of secrets’. I was a bit afraid that I would not be able to follow the story because I did not read part one. But there was no need to worry. In this book you receive the right amount of explanation without it being to revealing. It makes you only want to read the first book as well.
It was very fluently written and once I opened the book, it was very difficult to put it down.
If you are looking for a book filled with love (but not the sickly sweet kind) mixed with a dose of suspense, you will enjoy this one.
Please, dear author, tell me you are working on part 3
House of Christmas Secrets makes a return to Wrea Head Hall Hotel. Yes we’re back with familiar faces – Maddy, Bandit, Nomsa, Emily, Poppy and of course, Springer Spaniel Buddy.
Madeline is engaged to Bandit and lives in the Lodge. Sister Jess lives and works in the hotel with Assistant Manager Jack. Nine days after Christmas they are due to tie the knot.
The hotel is buzzing with activity; Christmas decorations are going up, guests arriving, food being prepared. A children’s choir booked to sing around the tree. It has been eighteen months since the trauma and upheaval in Maddy and Jess’s lives and everyone is looking forward to a nice normal Christmas.
I really don’t want to say any more as it’s the kind of story where if you reveal one thing, it leads to another and before you know it, you’re knee deep in spoilers. I will say that what Lynda has created here, is another engrossing domino effect read. One action affects another. It should be the happiest time of Jess and Jack’s lives but certain events begin to pull them apart. It starts with Jess losing someone close to her, next she’s faced with an unexpected arrival from her past. Finally there’s news which puts hers and Jack’s relationship into a bit of a flat spin. This, however, is only one fragment of the story. And there is so much more – romance, reconciliation, danger and acts of bravery. The characters are diverse too – ones you’re rooting for and others you absolutely hate. All in all it’s an entertaining and engaging read – another hit from Lynda Stacey.