Prior to the Christmas period I was struggling to get into the festive spirit. When you’re in your late 20s, you don’t really know any kids who get excited by Christmas and you don’t break up from work until a couple of days before, it’s hard to get into the festive spirit. So when I saw Snowed In For Christmas by Sarah Morgan for sale for 99p on Kindle and then at my local Asda supermarket for only £4, I knew I couldn’t say no. Did it make me feel festive? Weeelll… eh, kinda.
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Snowed In For Christmas is one of many of Sarah Morgan’s Christmas books. She’s found a niche for writing books about families getting away during the different seasons and Christmas appears to be her best-selling season. Snowed in For Christmas is actually her latest Christmas book and so I imagine only became available for a good price because it t’was the season they wanted to get them into people’s hands before the big day.
But despite all of the festive intentions, I was very worried about reading a book that was essentially crap but had some snow. When I asked around people generally enjoyed Morgan’s books suggesting they had a lot of heart to them. So was it actually any good or was it just a love story in Scotland?
Snowed in For Christmas plot – 3.5/5
Snowed In For Christmas is about two different timelines emerging and spending Christmas together: the Miller family who are heading away from their busy lives in London to be with their parents in the Scottish Highlands and Lucy Clarke, a marketer who’s going above and beyond her role to sell some hand warmers to one of the Miller family who owns a fitness brand.
The tale is that essentially the Miller sisters find Lucy’s photo in a magazine and then make up that Ross is dating her so that the attention is taken away from their dramas. When Lucy rocks up, she’s welcomed in with open arms by their mum and grandma but the truth soon comes out that it was all a ploy that has somehow come to fruition.
It’s an incredibly cheesy idea which is inconceivable but you have to hold your sense of reality as it’s a Christmas book. The rest of the book covers the struggles of balancing being successful and in a relationship, the long-lost love of a childhood sweetheart and some other corny bits.
Overall the plot was OK but nothing mind-blowing. The making of gingerbread and baked goods, the roaring fire, snow and descriptions of festive lights added a tone of Christmas to it all so that was nice. But yeah, other than that, it could have been written at any time of the year really.
Snowed In For Christmas character – 4.5/5
One thing I was a bit fan of were the characters. Morgan has made a really enjoyable family here. Despite there being two very successful young people in the family: Alice and Ross, their dynamic with each other and their younger sister Clemmie is very typical of siblings – they’re brutally honest with each other and not afraid to joke around with one another’s lives.
There’s humour in this book aplenty but there are also some mature conversations to be had between the characters which, despite the forgettable and easily changeable plot made the book rather quite enjoyable to read. The mum and grandmother are a constant comic relief whilst also having their own couple of chapters where they talk about their fears as a mother and as an ageing woman.
Yeah, if this book has one saving grace it’s that Morgan clearly has a talent for writing characters with genuine and deep personalities. They all have their fears and concerns about life but don’t forget when they’re in the company of safe people and so can joke and laugh with one another whilst expressing these fears.
Snowed In For Christmas final rating – 4
I’m not sure Snowed In For Christmas by Sarah Morgan quite got me into the festive mood I was hoping for this year but it was very easy to read and had a lot of heart. The plot was weak and overly cheesy but the characters had humour, depth and a good sense of the occasion. It’s not necessarily a book I’ll be recommending to everybody but it’s also one of those books that when asked if someone should read it, I’d say “yeah, it’s quite cosy and an easy read”.
Cheers