Portobello Book Blog

It’s exactly six weeks until Christmas Eve and finally I have succumbed to reading and reviewing proper Christmas books! I have read and enjoyed many of Kirsty Ferry’s books so I am delighted that it is her Christmas novella which is the first to feature this year. If you’d like to catch up on any of my reviews of Kirsty’s previous books, just pop her name in the search box.

I hadn’t realised that this was part of the series of books which feature the Tempest sisters although this is a standalone novella. If you have read those books you will spot some familiar faces. Zac Fallon features in Spring at Taigh Fallon and is Angel Tempest’s best friend. I’ll not say too much about that book in case you haven’t read it yet, but if you have, you will be pleased to find out more about Zac.

Zac and Ivy are two people clearly in love with each other but they don’t realise how the other feels and are unsure about declaring their feelings. Ivy used to work in Zac’s tearoom but left Skye to work in a small shop following her dream to sell her own gemstone jewellery in Glastonbury. Zac misses her like crazy and pays an impromptu visit, hoping to show her how much she means to him.

What follows is a ‘will they, won’t they’ tale. There is a series of misunderstandings and missed opportunities with them almost but not quite getting together. I really felt for both Ivy and Zac. Ivy had been so determined to make a go of things in Glasto, as it’s affectionately known, but found she couldn’t be happy because Zac was in Skye. And Zac, who in generally avoided being on the mainland if he could help it, found that being with Ivy wherever that might be was more important to him. If only they could just find a way of telling each other that!

Kirsty Ferry takes her readers to two wonderful settings with the beautiful island of Skye featuring but mostly focussing on Glastonbury with its quirky shops and its focus on Yule and the Winter Solstice as well as Christmas. I was really hoping that some of its mystical powers would work their magic on Zac and Ivy and bring these two lovely people together.

In the season of wishes, will Zac and Ivy’s dreams come true? You’ll need to read for yourself to find out and I highly recommend you do! A lovely romantic story to warm your heart this Yule/Solstice/Christmas – delete as appropriate!

My thanks to Liz at ChocLit for providing a review e-copy of this book. Christmas on the Isle of Skye is published today in ebook and audiobook formats. You’ll find buying options for the various ebook platforms on the ChocLit website here: Christmas on the Isle of Skye

From the back of the book

How far would you go to be with the one you love at Christmas?
The Isle of Skye is a magical place, especially at Christmas, and there’s no place Zac Fallon would rather be. But whilst Zac has everything he needs on Skye, there’s still something missing – and that something is a somebody called Ivy McFarlane.

Ivy used to work with Zac but then spread her wings and moved to Glastonbury. He’s missed her ever since. Now it’s almost Christmas and Zac realises that the Ivy shaped hole in his life is too big to bear. So starts his festive mission to the mainland – but will he back in time to spend Christmas in Skye? And, more importantly, will Ivy be with him?

About the author

Kirsty is from the North East of England and won the English Heritage/Belsay Hall National Creative Writing competition in 2009 with the ghostly tale ‘Enchantment’.

Her timeslip novel, ‘Some Veil Did Fall’, a paranormal romance set in Whitby, was published by Choc Lit in Autumn 2014. This was followed by another Choc Lit timeslip, ‘The Girl in the Painting’ in February 2016. ‘The Girl in the Photograph’, published in March 2017, completes the Rossetti Mysteries series. The experience of signing ‘Some Veil Did Fall’ in a quirky bookshop in the midst of Goth Weekend in Whitby, dressed as a recently undead person was one of the highlights of her writing career so far!

Kirsty’s first timeslip novel ‘The Memory of Snow’, commended in the Northern Writers’ Awards, is set on Hadrian’s Wall, with the vampire tale ‘Refuge’ set on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. She has also put together a collection of short stories, a non-fiction collection of articles and writes Gothic Fiction under the pen name Cathryn Ramsay.

Kirsty has had articles and short stories published in Your Cat, Peoples Friend, Ghost Voices, The Weekly News and It’s Fate, and her short stories appear in several anthologies. She was a judge in the Paws ‘n’ Claws ‘Wild and Free’ Children’s Story competition in 2011, 2013 and 2014, and graduated from Northumbria University in December 2016, having achieved a Masters with Distinction in Creative Writing.

You can find out more about Kirsty and her work at http://www.rosethornpress.co.uk, catch her on her Facebook AuthorPage, follow her on Twitter @kirsty_ferry or pop by her blog at http://www.rosethornramblings.wordpress.com.