Review: Christmas in London by Anita Hughes

Christmas in London

by Anita Hughes

Publisher: St Martin's Griffin

Pages: 288

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  It’s a week before Christmas and Louisa Graham is working twelve hour shifts at a bakery on Manhattan's Lower East Side. When a young cooking show assistant comes in from the rain and begs to buy all the cinnamon rolls on her tray, she doesn’t know what to do. Louisa is just the baker, and they aren't hers to sell. But the show burned the rolls they were supposed to film that day, so she agrees.

The next morning, Louisa finds out that her cinnamon rolls were a hit, but the star of the show was allergic, and the whole crew is supposed to leave for London that afternoon. They want Louisa to step in for their annual Christmas Eve Dinner TV special at Claridge's. It’s a great opportunity, and Digby Bunting, Louisa’s famous baking idol, will be there. Even if he does seem more interested in her than her food.

And then there’s Kate, the show's beautiful producer. On their first day in London she runs into the skinny boy she jilted at St. Andrew's in Scotland ten years ago. Now he’s a handsome, brilliant mathematician, and newly divorced. Their familiar spark is still there, but so is the scar of how they left things. Kate and Louisa are busy preparing for the show, but old and new flames are complicating their work.


Kritters Thoughts:  For me with Anita Hughes books, there is no in between, I either love them or completely dislike them.  This one just didn't work for me.  There were two female leads - Louisa and Kate.  Louisa, I just couldn't understand nor like.  Kate was fine, but wasn't enough to overcome my dislike of Louisa. 

Louisa is plucked out of obscurity when she is working late in a bakery in New York.  She is asked to fill in for a famous chef and fly to London to film a show.  Kate is a producer on that show and needs this show to go well to ensure her job.  But she will run into her past in London and will have to make some decisions.  

Kate was great.  I loved the drama she had to deal with and loved seeing through her eyes the behind the scenes of shooting a tv show.  She was a strong female character and I could root her on from page one.

Louisa was way too wishy washy for me and all over the place.  Her side of the story didn't seem plausible and I just couldn't get into it.  I felt like her feelings were all over the place and she just seemed too clueless for me.  I like my female characters to be strong and aware of what is going on around them.

So I will still read Anita Hughes books, but I will still be wary of my reading of her.


Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Ebook 2017 Challenge: 69 out of 50

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from St Martin's Press.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.