The Gingerbread Christmas Village by Kiley Dunbar #Review

 

Here we have another festive and uplifting read from Kiley Dunbar. The Gingerbread Christmas Village was published by Hera on August 31st.

Everyone deserves a Christmas treat...

The annual Wheaton gingerbread exhibit (a model village made of gingerbread) and grotto has been an important part of the sleepy Cotswold hamlet’s Christmas celebrations for decades.

For years the gingerbread exhibition drew visitors from across the region and each year the model town grew more elaborate and ambitious but recently, interest has been dwindling. The gingerbread grotto needs to be rehomed or close forever.

Sixty-four-year-old Margi, the event’s founder, has had enough of village life (and its total lack of eligible men) and is planning to sell up and head to Birmingham to live closer to her niece.

She has lost her spark and her Christmas spirit and decides this will be her last gingerbread village, but despairs when she finds her only support is her old friend, Izzy, her niece Lucy from Birmingham, and Fern, the shy young farmer’s daughter. Oh, and Patrick, the gorgeous, reliable school caretaker.

As if this wasn’t enough, Lucy is determined to get her out dating again and persuades her to try some online dating apps but Margi’s had her heart broken too many times and wonders if she has just missed her chance.

Can they save the Gingerbread Grotto and can Margi get her old spark and her Christmas spirit back?

A cosy, totally feelgood seasonal read that will have you smiling. The perfect read to snuggle up and have you feeling festive! Fans of Jenny Colgan and Trisha Ashley will love this book.

 My Thoughts

I would say that this has to be the most uplifting of the festive books I have read this year. It has a cast of slightly quirky individuals and at its heart, a central character, Margi, who has a warm and generous heart and a love for her community. Margi is also feeling a bit overlooked and invisible, having been abandoned by her second husband. At the beginning she is letting what she perceives as society’s expectation of women of a certain age dictate how she acts. Her first visible act of rebellion is when she lets her hair go grey. The creation of the annual Gingerbread Village is important to her but at the same time has become a burden as fewer and fewer residents have volunteered. However, it becomes the catalyst which touches many people’s lives.

    Community, friendship and love are all at the centre of the story.Margi has to be brave and recognise what is important to her and what really matters in life. She has to learn to live in the present. This story has moments which will make you laugh and some which are touching. Margi isn’t the only character who has to learn to let go of others’ expectations. There also a few other love stories on the side where grasping the moment leads to happiness. 

In short: love and happiness all the way

About the Author

Kiley Dunbar is a Scot living over the border in Northern England where she teaches English and creative writing, devours romance novels, fusses over Amos the Bedlington Terrier, and loves two little Dunbars. She thinks making imaginary people find happiness and fall in hopelessly in love has to be the best job in the world.

 

Social Media Links –

'Kiley Dunbar Author Book Page' on Facebook

website and newsletter: www.kileydunbar.co.uk 

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 Book links:  Amazon UK   |  Kobo     |  Apple  | 

Thanks to Kiley Dunbar, Hera and Rachel of Rachel's Random Resources  for a copy of the book and a place on the tour.

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