Christmas at Lilac Cottage

White Cliff Bay, Volume 1

By: Holly Martin

Narrated by: Emma Newman

Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's Summary

Penny Meadows loves her home - a cozy cottage decorated with pretty twinkling fairy lights and stunning views over the town of White Cliff Bay. She also loves her job as an ice-carver, creating breathtaking sculptures. Yet her personal life seems frozen.

When Henry and daughter Daisy arrive at the cottage to rent the annex, Penny is determined to make them feel welcome. But while Daisy is friendly, Henry seems guarded.

As Penny gets to know Henry, she realizes there is more to him than meets the eye. And the connection between them is too strong to ignore.

While the spirit of the season sprinkles its magic over the seaside town and preparations for the ice sculpting competition and Christmas Eve ball are in full swing, can Penny melt the ice and allow love into her heart? And will this finally be the perfect Christmas she's been dreaming of?

Like a creamy hot chocolate with marshmallows, you won't want to put this deliciously heartwarming novel down.

©2015 Holly Martin (P)2016 Bookouture

Unrealistic plot line

The narrator is really good. The characters are cute. But the whole book takes place within the span of a WEEK! first meet, then deep, life altering love within 7 days. Really?!

Laugh until you cry

At first, I didn't think much of the story with the scene when they met. Then, spilling all the sordid bits of their life story within hours of meeting. It is as much a story of a nice, gossipy small town that pulls together when it needs to. there were a couple of howlingly funny scenes where I laughed until I nearly cried: penny explaining the sex noises from her room to 16 year old Daisy, trying to have sex in the car, and the crime report for the town. Penny also did a great job in telling Daisy why not to rush into sex, but also providing her with condoms.

Sweet but Too Many Angst

Sweet story, showing much promise but falling short overall because of too many teenaged angst for an adult woman. Fast Christmas read/listen, with a slightly insecure female and a grouchy single father of a 16 year old female. I like that the female is an artist, an ice carver and the male is a wood carver and furniture designer. At times I wanted to hurry through the contrived parts and other times I enjoyed the story. It's a happy ending and ultimately a sweet story but I won't read it again. About half of this story I listened to on Audible and once the narrator relaxed into the story I loved her narration.

Christmas at Lilac Cottage

I either read or listen to this EVERY Christmas…..it’s THAT good. It’s Sweet, Cozy, it’s FUN…and all together a FEEL GOOD read!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Ice Sculptor, Single Dad in Small Town

This book sounded like it had all the elements for a sweet, cozy Christmas story, and in some ways it was. Many of the elements were right, but the author made the mistake of throwing in crude language, residents of a small town bent on seeing a young woman go to bed with a handsome single dad on her first date (which she did), and excuses for lies. The story still has redeeming qualities, a teenage boy who chooses to raise his daughter alone and puts her welfare above his own, and a young woman who loves, accepts and teaches this teenager to value herself and to use her artistic skills. I am a sucker for cozy Christmas stories, but this wasn’t one. This author is talented but as for me, the book would have been so much more enjoyable without resorting to sex talk and foul language.

Meh ..

Well, if you are looking for a book that has a ton of Christmas in it and nothing else I think you will like this book, the main reason I didn't like this book as much as I wanted is that it was unnecessarily long, I was bored from half of it when Penny already got together with Henry .. but the story kept dragging and so many things happened that I really didn't care for .. so yeah it was an ok book for Christmas

The narration was ok .. she could've been better but I had no major complaints about her

Best Feel Good Book

I throughly loved this book! I normally don’t read romance or anything remotely close. But from the beginning I could not stop listening!

so love this book!!!!!

love it this book one of the best so far dont let your kids be in the same room with some parts tho lol cant wait to read the next one

Heartwarming, perfect Gentle read

Wonderful book to read when you want something relaxing, positive and happy. Nothing tragic or dark in it, so it’s the perfect thing to read when you need something soothing and cheering.

sweet story

Love this sweet story. You will like it too. Would like more like it. l like Christmas related stories

Delightful

A slow start but delicately funny. I liked the constant twists and guessing. Holly writes with great description that it plays wonderfully on the brain with my imagination. It's a story to relate to with messages so real. I loved it.

Awful narration ruins a passable story

Didn't get to finish as the narration was annoying, the accents were terrible and were not consistent to the characters.
Story predictable .

Poor performance

The reader I feel did not convey the story in an interesting way with a monotone and uninspiring voice

loved the book

enjoyed all of the book. amazing how someone can write a book with a few characters and make a story...the narrator was very good in adapting each moment of of the books character including the funny areas....a very enjoyable book from beginning to end

Christmas at Lilac Cottage

What would have made Christmas at Lilac Cottage better?

A better narrator and less unnecessary use of the word 'clearly' . Clearly, clearly, clearly eventually I would groan whenever the word came up.

If you’ve listened to books by Holly Martin before, how does this one compare?

This is my first (and last) Holly Martin.

What didn’t you like about Emma Newman’s performance?

I thought the narration was really uninspiring and actually I got so tired of the word clearly and the tedious reading I changed book before the story finished.

Awful narration

The narrator was so awful it put me off finishing the book. This could have been a nice light chick lit but it felt juvenile because of the narrator.

I Loved this Book

I wasn't sure what to expect because it's the first book by Holly Martin that I've listened to.
I want disappointed at all.
It was a true romance that wasn't gushy. The plot wasn't complicated, it was just addictive to listen to.
I would definitely recommend it.

A Warming Romance

A nice gentle romance, perfect for a miserable Winter's day, in front of a nice toasty fire. A very nice read.

Just what I wanted

Really enjoyed this. I had the book but no time to read so downloaded the audio book. Just a perfect winter read.

Wonderful feel good book

A wonderful feel good book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. A lovely story based around great characters