Book Review: Christmas at The Falling-Down Guesthouse by Lilly Bartlett

Get ready to meet Britain’s Worst Innkeeper.

Put your feet up and tuck into the mince pies, because you won’t have to lift a finger to enjoy this Christmas at the Falling-Down Guesthouse!

Too bad the same can’t be said for single mother and extremely undomestic goddess, Lottie. When her beloved Aunt Kate ends up in hospital just before Christmas, Lottie and her seven-year-old daughter rush to rural Wales to take over her B&B. A picky hotel reviewer and his mad family are coming to stay, and without the rating only he can give them, Aunt Kate will lose her livelihood.

But Lottie can barely run her own life, let alone a hotel. How will she manage to turn the falling-down guesthouse into the luxurious wonderland the reviewer expects? And could the mysterious taxi driver, Danny, who agrees to help her, turn out to be the real gift this season?

Lottie is a single mother to daughter, Mabel. The only other family Lottie has is Aunt Kate who lives in Wales.

When something happens to her Aunt just before Christmas, Lottie and Mabel travel to Wales to run Kate’s B&B. Lottie has to help Kate get an important rating in order to keep the business open. When she gets there, she finds that it is going to be more of a challenge than she thought.

This novella is set over Christmas so it already had me excited to read it. It was lovely to read something Christmassy and has got me in the mood for the festive season nicely.

Lottie is truly thrown in the deep end and I really felt for her as a character. It seems to be one thing after another for Lottie and yet she still tries to keep her sense of humour and attempts to remain calm. Danny is also an interesting character and the two had a good dynamic together. Both are loveable characters.

The setting for this book sounds so beautiful. I wanted to jump into the novel.

From the beginning, the plot had me hooked. I wanted to know what happens to all these people. The story is well-developed. I want to know what happens next through. I was also intrigued by Kate’s life prior to the story.

This novel is about what is important especially as Christmas. A sweet, warm seasonal novella that’s a perfect way to get you into the Christmas spirit.

Christmas At The Falling-Down Guest House was published by Notting Hill Press in October 2017 and is available to buy now. Click here to view on Amazon.

About Lilly…

Lilly Bartlett’s cosy romcoms are full of warmth, quirky characters and guaranteed happily-ever-afters.

Lilly is the pen-name of Sunday Times and USA Today best-selling author, Michele Gorman, who writes best friend-girl power comedies under her own name.

(Christmas At The Falling-Down Guest House was originally published as The Reluctant Elf.) 

by

Laura

I'm Laura. I started Novel Kicks back in 2009 as I wanted a place to discuss books and writing - two loves of my life. As someone who has anxiety, these two things give me, and I am sure countless others, a much needed escape.
There is a monthly book club, writing exercises, prompts, reviews, author interviews, competitions and guest posts. I cover many genres and I hope there is something for everyone.
I grew up by the sea in Dorset and currently live in Poole with my husband, Chris and three cats. I love writing and have a BA (Hons) in Creative Writing from Falmouth University. I am writing my first book. If only I could stop pressing delete. Chris has threatened to stop it from working. Haha.
I have always loved creative writing since I was in first school and would very much like to meet my teacher, Miss Sayers, to say thank you for all the encouragement she gave me then.
When not writing, I love reading, cats, Disney, singing (I can't sing but this doesn't stop me,) and falling into a good TV show or film. If I could step into any fictional world, it would be amongst the characters in ABC's Once Upon a Time.
I love reading many genres and discovering new authors.