Guest Review: The Christmas Cottage by Sarah Morgan

Will this Christmas finally bring comfort and joy?

A PAINFUL SECRET

Imogen loves her job as an events organiser, and her colleagues are in awe of her. But Imogen isn’t the person she pretends to be, and she’s hiding painful truths about her past. But as long as she can keep on top of her work, Imogen can put everything else to one side.

AN ACT OF KINDNESS

And then Imogen makes a catastrophic mistake at work, and finally realises it's time to reset. When her favourite client, Dorothy, invites her to spend Christmas with her and her family, in her cottage in the Cotswolds, it sounds like the perfect way for Imogen to take stock.

FINDING HAPPINESS AT CHRISTMAS

Imogen soon settles into idyllic cottage life, especially with the prospect of a new romance on the horizon … but when long-buried secrets and unwanted faces from the past resurface, Imogen’s new peace is threatened. Will Imogen end up alone this Christmas, or can she find it in her heart to forgive and move on?

Review: I always enjoy a Christmas book by Sarah Morgan. The reader is presented with all the essential elements of a story set at Christmas on top of the usual high quality narrative from this author. This book has a very attractive cover depicting a snowy country scene indicative of the setting for this story.

Individual chapters of this book are voiced by one of three female characters. Imogen is an events planner living in London. She is highly skilled at her job and works hard to provide clients with their often exacting requirements. She has had a difficult past and is hiding the reality of her life outside work from her colleagues by inventing a fictitious existence. However, it is becoming difficult to keep up the pretence. Dorothy, Imogen’s favourite client, lives on a large estate in the Cotswolds, where she looks after animals in need of a home. Sara is Dorothy’s daughter, who lives near her mother with her husband and two young daughters. When overstretched Imogen eventually makes a dreadful mistake at work, she is given leave from her job and is grateful when Dorothy offers her use of a luxurious cottage on the estate over the Christmas period. She is soon enjoying spending time with the family and with the handsome local vet, Miles. That is when a secret that Dorothy and Sara have been keeping from Imogen comes to light. The implications of what they have been hiding are enormous for Imogen and she is thankful for support from Miles. Can she forgive the others or will she go running back to her life in London?

This was such a good story, containing a wide range of elements that had me hooked from start to finish. There is drama throughout the book and so many secrets, including one massive one that had me gasping with its enormity. To balance out all the drama, there is a gentle romance, a family Christmas with all the trimmings, a beautiful setting and some well-developed characters. Imogen was such a workaholic that I feared for her health, especially with pressures put on her outside work as well. Thank goodness for Miles; he was just what she needed to get her through. Although Dorothy and Sara were both strong characters, I’m not sure that I liked the way in which they behaved. I think this is another triumph for Sarah Morgan and a festive book that would make a welcome addition to anybody’s Christmas stocking.

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