Book Review: Christmas Under a Starlit Sky by Holly Martin (Blog Tour)

I am so happy to be today’s host in Christmas Under a Starlit Sky blog Tour.
I want to say thank you to Holly Martin for giving me this opportunity.

Blurb:

Step inside a beautiful winter wonderland where love, laughter and cosy nights by the fire will make this Christmas one to remember.

Neve Whitaker loves managing the Stardust Lake hotel. She gets to work alongside her wonderful family and she’s spending Christmas on the most enchanting, snow-covered island in Scotland. So why is her heart so heavy this festive season?

It might have something to do with the gorgeous actor Oakley Rey, the man she finished with before he left for California and the man she loves more than anything. With Oakley’s career in Hollywood soaring, Neve is convinced she’d only hold him back. She had to end it with him – at least that’s what she keeps telling herself.

But now she has a secret she’s struggling to keep, and when Oakley arrives on Juniper Island determined to win her back, Neve is thrown off balance. Will Neve’s fear of having her heart broken again push Oakley away for good, or is it time for her to take a leap of faith?

Review:

Last month I read Christmas Under a Cranberry Sky and complitely fell in love with it.
In that book (first in this series), Holly Martin described perfectly a little town called Christmas, filled my heart with happines and woke up my Christmas Spirit.
When you finish a book that good, it is unusual thing that you except for it’s sequel to be highly enjoyable as well.

Unfortunately, what I expected did not happen.
Christmas Under a Starlit Sky was a solid sequel, but nothing more then that.
It was somewhat entertaining book with the happiest end and a lot of drama.
And that is what ruined the whole reading experience for me: DRAMA, DRAMA, DRAMA.

I couldn’t even enjoy the Christmas setting that Martin described in a really good way (but sensibly weaker then she did it in book 1), because the characters were all into their problems, always fighting or avoiding each other. And keeping secrets.

The main character Neve did one of those things I find manipulative and I pretty much HATE that kind of move(this happens pretty early in the book so I don’t feel like it’s a spoiler): she lied about her pregnancy to her future baby’s father, telling him he’s not a father to “protect” him because, of course, she’s the one who knows what is the best for him.

And practiacally the whole book was about Neve acting like some character from those Latino-American soup operas where the woman pushes away a guy, cries about him because she wants him back, loves him but acts like lunatic and plays the “victim” who believes she’s a hero by “sacrificing” her own happiness… Big eye roll….

Ivy’s story was so much better and more enjoyable.
Honestly, when I read parts about Ivy and Adam, it was like taking a breath of fresh air after being in smoke filled room.
However, I have to stress out that those parts weren’t perfect, but in comparison with Neve and Oakley’s parts, they felt light hearted (and that’s how I like for my festive reads to be).

Writing style is very good, fast paced and I expected nothing less from Holly Martin, judging by her other books I read this year.
She has the ability to pull you into the story with her words and make you read her books faster then you thought is possible, and because of that I admire her.

The ending was really good. It was the happiest ending there could be and I like how it all wrapped up and not one character from the series wasn’t left out.

About the author:

Holly has been writing for six years. She was shortlisted for the New Talent Award at the Festival of Romance. Her short story won the Sunlounger competition and was published in the Sunlounger anthology. She won the Carina Valentine’s competition at the Festival of Romance 2013 with her novel The Guestbook. She was shortlisted for Best Romantic Read, Best eBook and Innovation in Romantic Fiction at the Festival of Romance 2014. Holly lives in Bedfordshire.

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