The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan

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The Christmas Bookshop Ruined My 2023 Reading Goals!

Okay, it may be a little unfair to say that The Christmas Bookshop single-handedly ruined my goals because I also had to take some time off of reading and reviewing Christmas books to study for my Computer Science Praxis Exam. For those of you who don’t know, teachers in the United States must take and pass Praxis exams to obtain certification. I’ve been an English teacher for 23 years, but there is a push in Arkansas for students to take more Computer Science-related courses, and I’ve always been a bit of a data nerd, so I stopped reading Christmas books to study for the exam that others were calling “The Unpassable Praxis.” Spoiler alert: I passed! (If you’re a teacher studying for the Praxis exam, I highly recommend Mometrix Test Preparation materials.) But I digress!

I’m almost ashamed to admit that I listened to The Christmas Bookshop on Audible three times, and I read the paperback once before I could even start writing the review. My TBR pile made me feel so guilty, but this wonderful is so magical that every time I listened to or read a chapter, I was swept away! So much so, that I wanted to go back, again and again. When I’m reading this book, I’m no longer in the fast-paced, last month of school, dealing with a sweltering classroom as the AC unit is on the fritz and temperatures are rising. I’m in Edinburgh, experiencing thundersnow!

“Snowflakes danced and swirled against the pane, so dense it was as if the house were surrounded by a thick moving blanket. Thunder shook the house, which made Phoebe jump, but Carmen just hugged her closer with the duvet around them both. It was oddly comforting to feel the little warm body close to her, willingly coming in for a cuddle.”

The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan

All About Love

I categorized this book as a Romance, but there is so much more love in this book than romantic love. Carmen Hogan has spent her entire life in her sister Sofia’s shadow. To Carmen, it had always seemed like everything just came easy to Sofia. She didn’t see how hard Sofia worked for everything she got, how hard she pushed herself, or how much she admired Carmen’s ability to have fun. When Dounston’s, the shop Carmen had been working in since her high school days, closed down in a town where everyone was looking for work, Carmen was forced to take a job her sister had gotten her in Edinburgh, in a bookshop that was pretty much doomed, unless it turned a profit by the new year, a fact Sofia conveniently left out when she invited Carmen to come stay with her.

Carmen didn’t want to take the job, to move into the basement of her sister’s perfect house, to help her take care of her three perfect kids while her perfect husband was away on business, to watch her grow rounder with her fourth child. She didn’t want the constant reminders that Sofia had her life together, while Carmen was still sleeping under her old Spice Girls duvet.

The animosity between the two sisters would surely grow worse if they were living under the same roof, wouldn’t it?

But living here, in Edinburgh, with its rich history and streets that looked like a Christmas card, and meeting Mr. McCredie, and working in his dusty, old bookshop, and getting to know her nieces and nephew … Carmen isn’t so sure she’s ready to leave all of this behind when her temporary position at the bookshop ends in January.

Love Triangle

Although romance is almost secondary to the familial relationships in this novel, it is there! Carmen has always wanted someone to whisk her away. Someone popular and handsome and rich, who would make everyone else jealous. At least, that’s what she thought she wanted.

Blair Pfenning, a famous writer and TV personality, is interested and interesting. He could whisk her off to London or L. A. at the drop of a hat. He travels for business, and whenever she’s with him, others cast envious glances at her. Other people are nice to her when she’s with Blair. Everyone, that is, except Blair.

Blair is so charming to everyone else, but for some reason, he can be himself with Carmen. He doesn’t believe the drivel he writes in his self-help books. Carmen knows he’s a bit of a jerk, but she can’t help smiling whenever he texts her. She can’t help getting swept up in the glam and glitter, even as she tells herself she’s not going to, even as he runs off with Sofia’s perfect, blonde nanny (who has a hidden, mean-streak) for the evening after she turns him down.

“Skylar had arranged her face in an empathic look as the doorbell tinged and they entered the shop. And undeniably, with Blair being there, his celebrity was like throwing glitter over the crowd … and he put on his toothy grin and started being charming for everyone. Skylar joined in.

“‘Where’s Carmen?’ he said out of the corner of his mouth. ‘Where is she?’

“Skylar shrugged. ‘Probably scrubbing out some extra toy mice for the window,” she said. ‘Bless.'”

Blair was still looking around, not listening.

“‘She should really read Live the Life You Love,’ said Skylar. ‘There’s an exercise in like, chapter fourteen…'”

“‘She’s fine how she is,’ growled Blair. He grabbed a glass of wine off a tray –didn’t hand one to Skylar — and then turned around full beam to an excited, flushed-looking woman who had decided to buy six of his books for all her relatives…”

The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan

Oke, or rather Dr. Benezet, is a PhD student-lecturer for the term. Unlike Blair, he’s always genuine. He values family and charity, and doesn’t do any of it for an audience. But, Carmen thinks Oke is dating someone else, and Oke thinks Carmen is dating Blair.

“Mr. McCredie was watching her carefully, wondering if she’d spotted it. That Blair –dazzling, silly Blair — was a child, and that Oke, who dressed like a teenager, was in fact a man. He did not speak much, Mr. McCredie, but he didn’t miss much either, and he had grown very fond of his charge, as he rather thought of her. He didn’t want her head turned by nonsense, and he thought a lot of the serious, clever Oke.”

The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan

Will it All Just Disappear After Christmas?

Mr. McCredie’s ancient bookshop, that still displays postcards of Prince Charles’s wedding to Princess Diana and has no current bestsellers in stock, hasn’t turned a profit in ages. Mr. McCredie much prefers reading his cherished books to selling them. If Carmen isn’t able to work her magic, he may lose everything. The best he can hope for is to turn a profit during the Christmas season and sell the bookshop, that is also his home.

What will Carmen do then? Move back home, where there are no jobs? Try waitressing, like her friend Idra?

The current college term is up at Christmas. Will Oke just … disappear … just as Carmen was starting to realize the truth?

“She went outside and up the hill. The castle forecourt was blazing, lit up with footlights so the huge edifice beamed against the snowy sky, and she looked out, tiptoeing like a little girl to see over the wall, to stare out at this city, its Christmas lights glowing, its huge Christmas tree shining, stars and snow and joyous people, even now the scent of someone roasting chestnuts on the air, and sighed. She stayed there for a long time, even as her fingers grew numb and her breath was smoke in the air, thinking about everyone down below, so many people, and someone, somewhere in the teeming crowds, the only face she wanted to see, the only green eyes she wanted to look into…”

The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan

Robin’s Recommendation

It was so hard for me to leave this book that you can expect me to review Other Books by Jenny Colgan in the very near future!