The Twelve Dates Of Christmas By Lisa Dickenson

[amazon_link id=”B00N9AVNTA” target=”_blank” ][/amazon_link]’The Twelve Dates Of Christmas’ is Lisa Dickenson’s first Christmas novel.

Claudia is a girl in a rut. At 30, her life is stale and the romance with long-term boyfriend, Seth, has disappeared. Determined to inject some festive spark back into their love life, Claudia and Seth go on their first date in a very long time to the Royal Opera House. But when the night ends in disaster, Claudia suddenly finds herself facing life – and Christmas – alone. Life alone is exciting, scary and full of soon-forgotten exercise regimes and ill-advised attempts at crafting sexy underwear. It’s also filling up with dates, surprisingly. With best friends Penny and Nick at her side, a surplus of festive markets, mulled wine and Christmas tunes, Claudia attempts to face all this change with gusto. One thing’s for certain: this year, Christmas is going to be very different .

‘The 12 Dates of Christmas’ was originally released last year as a six part digital series and the lovely people at Sphere Publishers have re-released it again, this time as a complete novel for those who missed out the first time.

The story is written in the third person as Claudia, our leading lady tries to inject a bit of romance into her relationship with Seth on their date night. But it all turns sour when Claudia rejects his sexual advances resulting in him calling time on their relationship. Heartbroken and just in time for Christmas, Claudia then finds herself going on 12 dates with a series of friends and blind dates resulting in hilarious scenes and interesting characters.

As Claudia nurses her wounds and moves on, she suddenly finds herself experiencing unexpected and unwanted emotions towards her best Nick, the hero of the story. Handsome, kind and funny, he is always there for Claudia particularly when she’s down and provides a quip or a shoulder to cheer her up. During her twelve dates, Claudia finds herself getting closer to Nick, their dates are hilarious filled with good humoured and tender moments.

I really enjoyed this book, I enjoyed the pace it flowed at and settled into it straight away. The characters are great, Claudia is relatable with concerns about life and suddenly being alone. She had bigger dreams for her future, aspiring to be a ballet dancer but after an injury, that didn’t happen and she has regretted it ever since. Living in her best friends Penny’s shadow, she would love nothing more than to the stage. Sweet, witty and with an attraction to bad dates, she makes a wonderful lead. Seth, her ex is an undesirable character that gives the story a nice unexpected twist with his arrogance and vanity.

Fun from the very beginning ‘The Twelve Dates Of Christmas’ is a cleverly written, uplifting story packed with hilarity and festive cheer that will have you feeling warm throughout.

You can buy [amazon_link id=”B00N9AVNTA” target=”_blank” ]The Twelve Dates of Christmas: The Complete Novel[/amazon_link]