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LAST CHRISTMAS
Clare Swatman
Boldwood Books
Publication Date: August 27th, 2024
346 Pages
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Genres: Romance | Women’s Fiction
Claire Swatman is a hit-or-miss author for me I enjoyed The World Outside My Window and A Love to Last a Lifetime but I found The Lost Letters of Evelyn Wright lacking. I picked this one up as a Christmas in July read but I got so behind it ended up as a Christmas and August book but that’s okay because this really isn’t a Christmas book. Each chapter takes place in December of every year from 2002 to 2010 but that’s it as far as Yuletide goes. The book is about Bea and whether she goes to live in New York or not also which man does she end up with Dom or AJ? The chapters alternate between Stay and Go…it’s very reminiscent of the Gwyneth Paltrow movie Sliding Doors.
The book was okay I just wish I liked it more because the premise was wonderful and Clare Swatman managed to keep each chapter fresh, a lot of times books like this can feel redundant. The problem I had with the story was our female lead, Bea, why couldn’t she just be on her own? She left England because of sexual harassment and not feeling fulfilled in her relationship, she should have just worked on herself. Secondly in both scenarios, she keeps flip-flopping back and forth between two men. Love triangles make me feel so frustrated and reading about these two men suffering at this woman’s hands just made me angry.
What I really did like and loved was Bea’s relationship with her best friends, that was the best part of the whole book, the relationship she had with these people and how they were always there for each other gave me all the feels. The ending was a little too neat and tidy for my liking in both scenarios. I like a happily ever after as much as the next person but these were just too perfect. I would have preferred one of them not working out quite so well. I’m assuming the author was trying to make a point about the fact that no matter what we do destiny will always decide our fate.
Even though I didn’t enjoy this book as much as some of the authors others it was still a good book in my opinion and I would read another by Ms. Swatman. If you haven’t read anything by her I suggest you start with The World Outside My Window or A Love to Last a Lifetime.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advance Readers Copy.
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