Book Review: Winter's Wishfall by Ceri Houlbrook

You're never too old to believe . . .

After losing her job, boyfriend and flat just a few weeks before Christmas, Ellie Lancaster makes some resolutions:

1. Exact revenge on ex.

2. Be unboring.

3. Find a job.

With #1 complete, Ellie manages to tick off #2 and #3 simultaneously by accepting a mysterious archiving job on a tiny Scottish Island that doesn't seem to exist on any map.

In the new year, her equally new bosses - celebrity baker Clementine Jones and her straight-laced twin brother Cole - introduce Ellie to the archives: a vast network of underground caverns, filled with scrolls dating back centuries, each addressed to the same person, in a multitude of languages: Dear Father Christmas . . .

Despite the strangeness of it all, Ellie quickly falls in love with her new life - but things are never simple, and just as she and Cole seem to be overcoming their mutual distrust, Ellie makes a fourth resolution - one that threatens everything she's come to hold dear. As the big day itself draws near, she has one chance to put things right and bring about her own Christmas miracle . . .

GENRE: Contemporary Christmas Fiction

PURCHASE LINK: Amazon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ceri Houlbrook attained her doctorate in Archaeology from the University of Manchester, having focused on the archaeology and heritage of the British coin-tree. She is also a lecturer in Folklore and History at the University of Hertfordshire. There she worked with Professor Owen Davies on how anxiety and fear of the supernatural manifested itself materially in the domestic spaces of the 18th-20th centuries. As part of this project, Ceri was co-curator on the Spellbound exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and co-wrote Palgrave Macmillan book, with Owen Davies, Building Magic: Ritual and re-enchantment in post-medieval structures.

Her primary research interests are contemporary folklore and the material culture of popular customs and beliefs. She has published previously on the British phenomenon of coin-trees and the history and folklore of concealed objects. Her interest in contemporary ritual practices extends also to love-locks.

Review

What a charming, magical read! This book had plenty of my favorite things - fantasy, mystery, quirky characters, a slowburn romance, found family, twins! Plus the Christmas bit wasn't overdone. It's THERE, but the story isn't only set around the holidays.

This book has a lot of heart, too. And I don't just mean the romance, which I'm sure will have plenty readers yearning for a Mr Jones. Many moments and relationships tugged at my heartstrings, some of which I can't talk about lest I spoil the mystery.

I also appreciated the representation and the societal issues being highlighted, as it was tastefully done and not preachy at all.

Definitely one of my favorite books this year!

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️️⭐️️

Also By the Author

• Magical Folk: British and Irish Fairies, 500 AD to the Present - The first scholarly history of British and Irish fairies in over half a century. Expanded with a fairy map of Britain and a survey of the most recent sightings claimed by twenty-first century Brits.

• Unlocking the Love-Lock: The History and Heritage of a Contemporary Custom - A padlock is a mundane object, designed to fulfil a specific - and secular - purpose. A contemporary custom has given padlocks new significance. This custom is 'love-locking', where padlocks are engraved with names and attached to bridges in declaration of romantic commitment. This custom became popular in the 2000s, and its dissemination was rapid, geographically unbound, and highly divisive, with love-locks emerging in locations as diverse as Paris and Taiwan; New York and Seoul; Melbourne and Moscow. This book explores the worldwide popularity of the love-lock as a ritual token of love and commitment by considering its history, symbolism, and heritage.