A Fairytale For Christmas By Chrissie Manby

[amazon_link id=”1473639743″ target=”_blank” ][/amazon_link]‘A Fairytale For Christmas’. is the latest book by Chrissie Manby.

It’s the festive season and the members of the Newbay Theatre Society, more commonly known as the NEWTS, are preparing to put on a show. Being cast as Cinderella is the realization of a dream for newcomer Kirsty, not least because she hopes starring in a panto under the direction of her boyfriend Jon will bring them closer together.But Kirsty soon learns that it’s not all glitter and good cheer behind the scenes at the amateur theatre as bitter rivalries nurtured through decades, wardrobe mishaps and suspicious near-fatal accidents threaten to derail the production. And then there’s Prince Charming himself. Will working together with Jon bring Kirsty her happy ever after… or reveal their love to be nothing but a ‘showmance’?

With the festive season upon us, there’s an influx of Christmas themed books and I’ve had the joy of reading Chrissie Manby’s latest seasonal offering, where we meet cruise line performer Kirsty and single father Ben, whose wife, Jo recently died.

We previously met Kirsty before in one of Chrissie’s earlier books called ‘A Proper Family Adventure’ where Kirsty and her best friend, Jane were on a cruise ship holiday, which should have been Jane’s honeymoon but tragically her husband died so she brought her best friend along instead. It’s on this holiday that Kirsty plucks up the courage and fulfils her dream of performing and enters a singing competition which results in her landing a job at the cruise ship.

‘A Fairy Tale For Christmas’ follows on in Kirsty’s life where she has given up on her job on the cruise ship for love, when she meets stage manager Jon, whom she fell in love with. Jon’s determined to put on the best pantomime ever when he returns home to Newbay and becomes the director of the seaside town’s production of ‘Cinderella’ where Kirsty has been cast as the leading lady.

She’s loving the opportunity to act and sing, but misses the glamour and fun of the boat and feels that there’s a shift in their relationship now that they’re no longer on water. Jon is critical of her size and constantly nit picks making her insecure of her appearance.

Meanwhile Ben, is adjusting to life as a single parent with the help of his mother Judy, they want the best for his daughter Thea, so when she auditions for ‘Cinderella’ they support her wholeheartedly. But when the opportunity for Ben arises to take part in the production as the unfortunate Buttons, Ben’s secretly delighted to thread the boards.

Both Ben and Kirsty make a delicious couple, both have huge and warm hearts and their tender and fun interactions make for sweet reading, as they get to know each other on and off the stage. Kirsty is a vibrant character, after years of trying, she’s finally achieving her dream of performing and is at her most happiest when she’s on stage. Ben is sweet and charming and is relationship with Thea really does make for poignant reading. I found Jon to be a particularly vile character, a two faced charmer that cracks jokes that are really digs at people, I found him to be a dislikable and pompous man.

Like Chrissie’s previous novels, the story is cleverly written with plenty of fun and relatable characters that makes for warm festive reading. The chapters are short and snappy so one chapter is never enough and the book can easily be consumed in one sitting!

Filled with Christmas cheer, a sweet Cinderella and a downtrodden Buttons, ‘A Fairy Tale For Christmas’ is another captivating story from one of my favourite authors.

You can pre-order [amazon_link id=”1473639743″ target=”_blank” ]A Fairytale For Christmas Amazon [/amazon_link] from and will be available to buy from good bookshops from 3rd November 2016.