Author: Karen Swan
Format reviewed: Ebook
Source: Netgalley
Publisher: Pan
Publication Date: 31st October 2019
Rating: 5 Stars
The Christmas Party is a delicious, page-turning story full of twists and turns. At an elegant country house party, shocking secrets and unexpected romances hide just beneath the surface . . . A must-read for the festive season by Karen Swan, the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Christmas Secret and Christmas at Tiffany's.
When Declan Lorne, the last remaining knight in Ireland, dies suddenly, an ancient title passes with him. But his estate on Ireland’s rugged south-west coast is left to his three daughters. The two eldest, Ottie and Pip, inherit in line with expectations, but to everyone’s surprise – and dismay – it is the errant baby of the family, Willow, who gets the castle.
Why her? Something unknown – something terrible - made her turn her back on her family three years earlier, escaping to Dublin and vowing never to return. So when Willow quickly announces she is selling up, her revenge seems sweet and the once-close sisters are pushed to breaking point: in desperation, Pip risks everything to secure her own future, and Ottie makes a decision that will ruin lives. It’s each woman for herself.
Before moving in, Connor Shaye, the prospective new owner, negotiates throwing a lavish party at the castle just days before Christmas – his hello, their goodbye. But as their secrets begin to catch up with them, Ottie, Willow and Pip are forced to ask themselves which is harder: stepping into the future, or letting go of the past?
When Declan Lorne, the last remaining knight in Ireland, dies suddenly, an ancient title passes with him. But his estate on Ireland’s rugged south-west coast is left to his three daughters. The two eldest, Ottie and Pip, inherit in line with expectations, but to everyone’s surprise – and dismay – it is the errant baby of the family, Willow, who gets the castle.
Why her? Something unknown – something terrible - made her turn her back on her family three years earlier, escaping to Dublin and vowing never to return. So when Willow quickly announces she is selling up, her revenge seems sweet and the once-close sisters are pushed to breaking point: in desperation, Pip risks everything to secure her own future, and Ottie makes a decision that will ruin lives. It’s each woman for herself.
Before moving in, Connor Shaye, the prospective new owner, negotiates throwing a lavish party at the castle just days before Christmas – his hello, their goodbye. But as their secrets begin to catch up with them, Ottie, Willow and Pip are forced to ask themselves which is harder: stepping into the future, or letting go of the past?
Within just the first third of this book there are near death experiences, death itself, a broken family, an unexpected set of results from a will reading, and clearly all members of the hiding secrets but at that stage you have no idea just what they are.
To say just that first perhaps third of the story is eventful would be an understatement and doesn't even scratch the surface of everything that happens in this book, and the story of the Lorne sisters, who are no longer as close as they once were.
I did find this a bit tricky to get into, only because I was trying to get all the characters straight in my mind, but then suddenly around that 30% mark or so, everything just clicked in my mind. and I was utterly hooked and couldn't get enough of this story.
There isn't really a quiet or dull moment in this incredibly tightly written and plotted story, everything seems to move the story along, and although its all takes place over a relatively short space of time,
I loved the three sister's completely distinct and different personalities, Pip, the horse mad one, Ottie who runs a camping site and has a secret that will upset many people when it comes out, and Willow who had been living in Dublin away from the family a hadn't been home for a few years until a critical phone call drags her back to the family home.
Karen Swan is fabulous at writing Christmas books and this is probably me second favourite of them, to only Christmas Under the Stars. An utterly brilliant book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.
Thank you to Pan and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.
To say just that first perhaps third of the story is eventful would be an understatement and doesn't even scratch the surface of everything that happens in this book, and the story of the Lorne sisters, who are no longer as close as they once were.
I did find this a bit tricky to get into, only because I was trying to get all the characters straight in my mind, but then suddenly around that 30% mark or so, everything just clicked in my mind. and I was utterly hooked and couldn't get enough of this story.
There isn't really a quiet or dull moment in this incredibly tightly written and plotted story, everything seems to move the story along, and although its all takes place over a relatively short space of time,
I loved the three sister's completely distinct and different personalities, Pip, the horse mad one, Ottie who runs a camping site and has a secret that will upset many people when it comes out, and Willow who had been living in Dublin away from the family a hadn't been home for a few years until a critical phone call drags her back to the family home.
Karen Swan is fabulous at writing Christmas books and this is probably me second favourite of them, to only Christmas Under the Stars. An utterly brilliant book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.
Thank you to Pan and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.
