Scarlett Bailey's - The Night Before Christmas - Book Review #1

The Night Before Christmas - by Scarlett Bailey

Ebury Press - ISBN: 978-0-091943-38-7

In this her debut novel Scarlett Bailey captures the hearts of her characters, of which there are many. The story is set around the protagonist, Lydia, and her close girl friends, their husbands, partners and children.

Bailey's descriptive writing captures the imagination of the reader making the remote setting and festiveness jump out from the page. The pace of the story starts off slowly although immersing the reader promptly into the intricate story line. With an easy to follow, and sometimes predictable structure, Bailey gives us a beautiful, sit back - put your feet, chick lit read which warms the soul.

My biggest criticism, which is no fault of Bailey's, is the unacceptable editorial oversights. Some parts are laden with grammatical errors and early on in the book a character is mentioned who hasn't physically been introduced yet. I feel for Scarlett as these mistakes were out of her control and I hate to admit they did put me off slightly. All the typos have now been corrected for all future reprints so do not let it put you off.

Having said that. I paused for reflection, realised that I make mistakes and these mistakes are my own, so I continued a very pleasant read.

I look forward to reading her next novel which is to be called 'Married By Christmas' and should be published within a year.

If you cannot wait till then you can buy The Night Before Christmas from here.

Take care

Kate

xx