Review: Lizzie's Christmas Escape by Christie Barlow

Every Christmas Lizzie promises herself that things will change and she will leap into the new year a new woman. And yet here she is again, at the beginning of December and nothing is different. Her girls have grown up and left home, her husband Henry is slumped in front of the TV and she is alone in the kitchen, seeking refuge in the cooking sherry and talking to her Gary Barlow calendar. She’s also been very diverted by handsome new neighbour Marcus and she knows she shouldn’t be …

So when best friend Ann suggests a weekend away in the country, Lizzie jumps at the chance. Will this Christmas escape give Lizzie some much needed perspective and allow her to mend her marriage? Or will Marcus prove to be too much of a distraction? 

Kindle Edition, 348 pages

Published October 21st 2016 by Bookouture 

Genre: Women's Fiction

Kristine's Thoughts:

** I received an advanced readers copy from Bookouture via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!**

The cover of this book advertised "A sparkling, feel good Christmas romance" so I was excited to curl up with my first holiday book of the season. Who doesn't like a feel good Christmas romance? Early reviews were also very positive which enhanced my expectations of this book.

I have to say that I must be the exception to the rule because I didn't feel like there was anything sparkly or feel good about this story. Even the title was a little misleading. Lizzie's Christmas escape did not happen until the second half of the book and was only a small part of the story. I kept waiting for all the funny bits that other reviewers talked about and they never came. Were we reading the same book?

This book was about adultery, making excuses and feeling sorry for yourself. I cringed on so many occasions and I found Lizzie to be extremely hard to like. There were times when I wanted to reach my hand through the book and knock some sense into her. The only thing that rang true with the marketing is that the Christmas season did happen to occur within the pages of this book. It was more of a women's fiction than anything. In my opinion it didn't even come close to chic lit or a feel good holiday romance.

I probably would have enjoyed the book if it were not packaged as a Christmas story. It was too depressing and filled with way too much drama and bad choices to be sparkly or to feel anything but sadness. Take out Christmas, sparkly, feel good and get rid of reviews that say it was even remotely funny and there would be a fairly decent (yet depressing) story of Lizzie's mid life struggle after her children leave the nest.

Unfortunately because of the cover and synopsis I was expecting one thing but got something completely different and because of that it did impact my rating of the book.

About the Author

Christie Barlow the author of A Year in the Life of a Playground Mother decided to teach her children a valuable life lesson and show them that they are capable of achieving their dreams. She is just a Mum who wrote a book to prove to her children whatever you want to do in life go for it. The book she wrote to prove a point is now an Amazon #1 bestseller in the UK and USA.  

Connect with Christie

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