Portobello Book Blog

I’m pleased to be kicking off my Christmas reading with a book by Kirsty Ferry, an author whose work I unfailingly enjoy. In Holly’s Christmas Secret we get two Christmas romances for the price of one! There’s lots of festive loveliness packed in the pages of Kirsty Ferry’s latest Christmas offering.

In the present we are introduced to Sorcha and Locryn. Sorcha runs the tearoom at the Pencradoc estate and be warned you will either want to bake or eat or perhaps both as you read about her delicious festive baking! Locryn is an antiques dealer who is preparing a Victorian themed Christmas festival at Pencradoc, The Spirit of Christmas Past – an appropriate name in more ways than one as it turns out. Both have been drawn to Pencradoc and as the story unfolds, it becomes clear there’s a good reason for that!

In the part of the story set in the past, Holly Sawyer has been invited to a grand Christmas party at Pencradoc by her art school friend Elsie. While feeling out of place among the well to do guests, she meets author Noel Andrews. Noel is captivated by Holly and not at all phased by the fact that they might be considered to be on different social classes. This is a couple destined to be together if ever there was one.

I thoroughly enjoyed both stories with perhaps a sneaking fondness for the storyline set in the present, probably because of the rather lovely sounding Christmas festival. As always, I enjoyed the way Kirsty Ferry slips between the two time settings and connects them with some ghostly goings on making the past brush shoulders with the present. The romances in both parts of the books are beautifully done and so sweet to read. The kind that brings a smile to your face

We almost certainly won’t be able to celebrate Christmas 2020 in the way we usually would – no big celebrations, no markets or festivals, so get yourself in the festive mood by settling down with a mince-pie and hot drink and lose yourself for a few hours in Pencradoc.

My thanks to Liz at Choc Lit for my review e-copy of the book. Holly’s Christmas Secret is available now as an ebook or audiobook download. You will find buying options for various ebook platforms on the ChocLit website here: Holly’s Christmas Secret

From the back of the book

It’s almost Christmas at the Pencradoc estate in Cornwall which means that, as usual, tea room owner Sorcha Davies is baking up a festive storm. And this year Sorcha is hoping her mince pies will be going down a treat at ‘The Spirit of Christmas Past’ exhibition being organised at the house by new local antiques dealer, Locryn Dyer.

But as Locryn and Sorcha spend more time together, they begin to uncover a very special story of Christmas past that played out at Pencradoc more than a century before, involving a certain ‘Lady’ Holly Sawyer, a festive dinner party and a magical secret encounter with a handsome author …

Book 3 – Cornish Secrets. Book 1 – A Secret Rose. Book 2 – Lily’s Secret.

About the Author

Kirsty Ferry is from the North East of England and lives there with her husband and son. She won the English Heritage/Belsay Hall National Creative Writing competition and has had articles and short stories published in various magazines. Her work also appears in several anthologies, incorporating such diverse themes as vampires, crime, angels and more.

Kirsty loves writing ghostly mysteries and interweaving fact and fiction. The research is almost as much fun as writing the book itself, and if she can add a wonderful setting and a dollop of history, that’s even better.

Her day job involves sharing a building with an eclectic collection of ghosts, which can often prove rather interesting.