Review: Christmas in London

Summary: Set during London's most festive time of year and filled with delicious food Anita Hughes' Christmas in London is about love and friendship, and the season's most important lesson: learning how to ask for and give forgiveness.

It’s a week before Christmas and Louisa Graham is working twelve hour shifts at a bakery on Manhattan's Lower East Side. When a young cooking show assistant comes in from the rain and begs to buy all the cinnamon rolls on her tray, she doesn’t know what to do. Louisa is just the baker, and they aren't hers to sell. But the show burned the rolls they were supposed to film that day; so she agrees.

The next morning, Louisa finds out that her cinnamon rolls were a hit, but the star of the show was allergic, and the whole crew is supposed to leave for London that afternoon. They want Louisa to step in for their annual Christmas Eve Dinner TV special at Claridge's. It’s a great opportunity, and Digby Bunting, Louisa’s famous baking idol, will be there. Even if he does seem more interested in her than her food.

And then there’s Kate, the show's beautiful producer. On their first day in London she runs into the skinny boy she jilted at St. Andrew's in Scotland ten years ago. Now he’s a handsome, brilliant mathematician, and newly divorced. Their familiar spark is still there, but so is the scar of how they left things. Kate and Louisa are busy preparing for the show, but old and new flames are complicating their work. -- St. Martin's Press

I am not getting a ton of reading done right now, but I did make it a priority to read CHRISTMAS IN LONDON by Anita Hughes over the Thanksgiving weekend. First of all, I adore holiday books and wanted to read something light that would get me in the mood for Christmas. Second, I knew I needed to read it early so I could share my thoughts with you in time to get this book before Christmas!

CHRISTMAS IN LONDON tells the story of two women who travel to London the week before Christmas for their jobs and ending up finding love along the way. Louisa is a baker who works long hours in a Manhattan bakery to save enough money to one day open her dream bakery. When Noah, a cooking show assistant, comes in from the rain and wants to buy all of her newly baked cinnamon rolls for the show, Louisa doesn't feel as if she can sell all of the store's specialty. However, Noah gives her an offer she can't refuse!

Louisa is thrilled to learn that her cinnamon rolls were a huge hit, but the star of the show was allergic to her secret ingredient and her lips blew up. Needless to say, the star can't appear on air looking like that... and even worse, she can't go to London to film their annual Christmas Even Dinner TV social at Claridge's. Noah offers Louisa the chance of her lifetime -- he wants her to go to London and film the show. To make things even more tempting to Louisa, her foodie idol Digby Bunting will be there!

Kate is the show's beautiful producer who is extremely career driven. However, her very first day in London provides some distraction for her. She runs into Trevor, her best friend (and love interest) from her days at St. Andrew's in Scotland over ten years ago. He is now all grown up and a famous mathematician... and newly divorced. Both Kate and Trevor still feel the attraction, but there is a lot of leftover baggage from how they parted.

Needless to say, these two women headed to London to help their careers and quickly realize that there are more important things in life than work!

I thought CHRISTMAS IN LONDON was delightful. It's a very sweet story about love and friendship that takes place in a fabulous setting. What could be better than London at Christmastime? I enjoy Ms. Hughes' novels, and I think fans of her books won't be disappointed with this one. I will say that the story is kind of/sort of predictable, but I think that's fine. CHRISTMAS IN LONDON is meant to entertain and tug on the heart strings... and it does!

One of my absolute favorite things about Ms. Hughes' books are the settings. She does a fabulous job of bringing different locations to life, and London in the book sounds positively heavenly. I could visualize the city perfectly with her vivid descriptions, and I loved how she had the characters visit many of the major tourist spots. In addition, Ms. Hughes is so good at describing food. Seriously! I was thrilled when the characters worked in the food industry because I just knew that there would be amazing descriptions of desserts and pastries!

I also really liked both of the main characters in this book as well as their love interests. They were young and very driven, but they also were sensitive and kind. Their romances were sweet and had just enough tension to make them interesting. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the biggest fan of romance, but these two women's stories were interesting and heartwarming.

CHRISTMAS IN LONDON is a lovely story that's guaranteed to get you in the holiday spirit. Recommended to fans of romance and contemporary women's fiction.

Thanks to Get Red PR for providing a review copy of this novel.