Portobello Book Blog

I read a couple of Jane Lovering’s books earlier this year and really loved them both. She is just brilliant at capturing the emotions of her characters. So I was really pleased to see that a Christmas novella is due to be published on Friday this week, and with such a beautiful cover. And I am delighted to say it is just as good as her previous books! 

I thought The Art of Christmas was just lovely – in fact I’d love to have seen it as a full length novel. Harriet’s husband Jonno died almost two years ago and she is just starting to move on with her life. She decides to sell his collection of graphic novels and meets Kell Foxton, a sci-fi nut and shop owner. He was a brilliant character – funny and caring and with a daft dog, Frodo. The descriptions throughout the book were excellent: ‘the attic was powdered with dust and mascara-ed with webs’ was just one phrase on the first page that jumped out.  There is a unexpected secret at the heart of this book which is sensitively revealed.

The Art of Christmas was a totally believable story, very well written with lots of humour and emotion. My only criticism is that I would love it to have been longer! A lovely novella to put you in the mood for Christmas and give you a warm, happy feeling inside.

Thank you to the publishers ChocLit for providing a review copy via Netgalley. The Art of Christmas will be published on Friday 13th November and you can pre-order your copy here: The Art of Christmas

Book description

What if the memories of Christmas past were getting in the way of Christmas future? It’s been nearly two years since Harriet lost Jonno, but she’s finally decided that it’s time to celebrate Christmas again.  Then she finds a stash of graphic novels belonging to her comic book-loving husband in the attic, and suddenly her world is turned upside down once more.  With the help of eccentric comic book dealer Kell Foxton, she discovers that the comics collected by Jonno are not only extremely valuable, but also hold the key to his secret life – a life that throws Harriet’s entire marriage and every memory she has of her husband into question. As Harriet grows closer to Kell, she begins to feel like she could learn to love Christmas again – but first, she needs to know the truth.