The Cornish Cream Tea Christmas by Cressida McLaughlin

Thank you to Anne of Random Things Tours for inviting me to join the blog tour for this festive book. Thank you to Harper Collins/Harper Fiction for a copy of the book to prepare for the review. My thoughts are my own and not influenced by the gift.

Synopsis:

Hannah Swan is looking forward to Christmas for the first time in years. Her new job as an eco-consultant is taking her – and her geeky colleague, Noah – to the beautiful Cornish village of Porthgolow for the first time.

They’re are helping the Crystal Waters Hotel to ramp up its green credentials, though after a bumpy journey, Hannah can’t shake off the feeling that Porthgolow is strangely familiar. Never able to resist a mystery, her interest is piqued when the hotel’s staff and customers report odd noises and sightings, believing the hotel to be haunted.

When bad weather cuts off Porthgolow, Hannah and Noah are looking at a Cornish Christmas. It gives them plenty of time to work out what is really going on, but will their yuletide escape send shivers up their spines? Or will it be as warm and toasty as a glass of mulled wine?

My thoughts:

Having started to reduce my book blogging commitments as I returned to work, an email about this book from Anne at Random Things Tours popped into my inbox. Despite not having read any books by Cressida McLaughlin before, the gorgeous cover design and mentioning Cornwall, Cream Teas and Christmas in the title, meant that I had to email straight back to Anne to offer to read and review.

I’m so glad that I did reply, because I loved the book. As I said above, I haven’t read any books by Cressida before, so I have missed the first two books in the series, but that didn’t stop me understanding and enjoying this book. I’m also pleased to see that there is a fourth book in the series out in 2021, but I won’t name it here (spoiler alert for this story).

Hannah travels to Cornwall for work, but finds herself falling in love with the area, the food, and the people. Of course, this is set in a non Covid world, and it was lovely to be able to visit the Cream Tea bus with Hannah, to spend time at the Crystal Waters Hotel and the Seven Stars pub.

The story was a welcome escape from 2020, full of travel, food and new friendships. As regular readers of my blog know, I love it when a dog is an integral part of the story, and there are six dogs in this story.

One of my favourite festive reads of 2020. Grab a copy, a cream scone and a hot chocolate (or a gingerbread latte), and curl up with Hannah, Noah, Sprite and all the other fabulous characters. Just watch out for the ghosts…

Author Bio:

Cressy was born in South East London surrounded by books and with a cat named after Lawrence of Arabia. She studied English at the University of East Anglia and now lives in Norwich with her husband David. When she isn’t writing, Cressy spends her spare time reading, returning to London or exploring the beautiful Norfolk coastline.