Book Review - Together By Christmas by Karen Swan

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Title: Together By Christmas

Author: Karen Swan

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Pan

Publication Date: 29th October 2020

Rating: 5 Stars 

Together by Christmas is a moving read of twists, turns and heart-wrenching dilemmas by international bestseller Karen Swan, author of The Christmas Secret and The Christmas Party. As the snow falls, an unstoppable love story unfolds . . .

When Lee first came to Amsterdam, it was with a newborn baby and a secret. Five years later, her life is approaching normal: her career as a celebrity photographer is flourishing, her son Jasper is growing up, and they are enjoying the run-up to Christmas with their tight circle of close friends.

But all this changes one morning when Lee finds a book in the basket of her bicycle – and scrawled inside it, a desperate message. Who left it for her, and why? Lee feels compelled to help and tracks down the book’s author, Sam. With an instant, undeniable connection it seems they might have a shot at a real future together.

Until her past comes calling. As the snow falls and ice thickens on the city’s canals, the secret Lee has never told resurfaces. Suddenly everything she holds dear hangs in the balance. Christmas is a time for being together – but what if the truth means she ends up alone?

It is not often when I pause for a lunch break, with a book, decide that I'll read just one more chapter, and then just one more chapter and eventually I conceded that I was clearly not being budged from the pages of this book, and 3 hours later, I'm sitting here in wonder at just how amazing Karen Swan is. 

I mean she's always been a must read author for me, and I love her books, but this has to be her best yet without a doubt. And definitely my new favourite amongst her Christmas books, with the possibly exception of Christmas Under the Stars which was also totally amazing. 

There is just so much to this book, and I'm not even sure the blurb does it complete justice to the amount of threads, and tricky subjects that are covered.  There is just such a depth to this book that I wouldn't be able to explain even if I tried. 

The prologue was completely unexpected, in that it transports us to a situation I have never really seen before in the books I read, and for that alone it made me sit up and realise that this was no ordinary book. 

The amount of research Karen Swan must have done is astounding, and everything came across as what I believe must be realistic, if not believable at least. Everything to do with Lee's past and her connection to Harry Cunningham intrigued me beyond belief, and some of the key info is drip fed to us, keeping me needing to turn to the pages to see what would happen next. 

And this book is set in Amsterdam over Christmas, so we get to learn about Dutch Christmas traditions too, which was really interesting, and I always love seeing who Christmas is celebrated in other countries. 

I'm reluctant to say much more, I went into this blind, just really having noticed a location on the blurb, and knowing it was by Karen Swan, and absolutely loved and it worked so well, I was continually intrigued and needing to find out what would happen next.  There are moments of real adrenaline and I was very much invested in all the characters lives. 

This was just the book I needed to read when I did, to remind me that when a story is written so well, it can completely grip me, even when my concentration levels have been iffy recently.   Just wow, this is not just a book for the Christmas reading season, but could easily be read year round, and is just amazing. 

Thank you to Pan and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.,