Twelve Days of Christmas
£0.00
Price: £0.00
(as of Nov 27, 2025 03:02:48 UTC – Details)
Christmas has always been a sad time for young widow Holly Brown. So when she’s asked to look after a remote house on the Lancashire moors, the opportunity to hide herself away is irresistible – the perfect excuse to forget about the festivities.
The owner of the house, Jude Martland, is also avoiding Christmas since the last one saw his brother run off with his fiancée. But forced to return home unexpectedly, Jude arrives to find that his family are running amok – with Holly seemingly at the centre of it all.
As the blizzards descend, there is no escape. With nowhere to go, Holly and Jude get much more than they bargained for – and a Christmas they will always remember!
Customers say
Customers find this Christmas book to be an addictive, heartwarming festive read that helps get them into the holiday spirit. The story features a dual storyline and wonderful characters, with one customer noting the chemistry between the lead characters. Customers describe it as a brilliant, easy-to-read book filled with laughter, making it a perfect choice for cozy winter evenings.
ChrisE –
Great romp
Interesting and contrasting characters. Jess, the 12 year old, is my favourite!
Mrs. Chadwick –
Great Read 🙂
I decided to treat myself to another of Trisha Ashley books, (she’s one of my favourite authors). I decided to get another one based on Christmas, especially with it being the festive season, (I’d already read “Wish Upon A Star” and “The Magic of Christmas which I loved), so I bought her “Twelve Days of Christmas”.Holly had lost her husband during a past festive season, and she’d recently lost her Grandmother in the run up to the festive season, this wasn’t her favourite time of year as it didn’t hold many happy memories for her.When she was clearing out her grandmother’s things, she found some of her diaries which she started to read, as she wanted to find out more about her grandmother’s life.Her boss phoned up and asked if she was available for looking after a house on the Lancashire moors and a couple of pets, as the couple who normally did it had to pull out due to their pregnant daughter. Holly said yes, as it would keep her away for the festivities of the season, she told her boss that she wasn’t happy that one of the pets was a horse as she’d no experience with handling them.Holly continued to read her grandmother’s diaries, and that’s when she found out her secret.The person she was working for Jude Martland had decided to spend the festive season abroad due to what had happened the previous Christmas, but with Jude doing that he’d upset the rest of his family as he usually looked after over the festive season.Once Jude had found out that he’d someone different looking after his house and pets he started phoning Holly up and tried to cause problems, as he wasn’t happy about the change and by saying as she was there she should be cooking for the family he’d abandoned.Holly was happy until Jude Martland suddenly decided to return home, and that’s when all the trouble started.That’s all I’m going to say about the story as I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who wants to read it.The author has done a great job with the story and has given her characters plenty of depth.This story catches your attention from the first page and keeps it until the end; it’s a constant page turner, which is how I love my books.Personally, I think this is a fantastic novel, which will delight all Trisha Ashley fans. If you’ve never read any of her books it’s a great one to start off with. :-)I can highly recommend this book. 🙂
Nicola –
Fluffy, festive fun- a lovely heart-warming romance
I’d wanted to read this for ages, seduced by the lovely, bright festive cover and its other great reviews- so I was really pleased it was such a bargain price on the Kindle. My advice would be to make the most of this offer whilst you can- you’re in for a real treat with this cosy, romantic read. It’s just perfect for this time of year and made me long for woolly scarves, mittens, hot chocolate and some snow!The story centres on Holly, eight years widowed after her husband Alan unexpectedly died at Christmastime and having also recently lost her grandmother. Holly has tried to move on with her life, but naturally hates Christmas and all that comes with it. A professional house-sitter and chef, she takes the opportunity to escape from it all when she is offered the chance to house-sit in a remote Lancashire manor house during the festive season, but does not expect what happens to her next…Cue madness, guilt-trips and inane festive fun that will leave you wishing Christmas wasn’t so many days away! Overall, this was a lovely sweet romance with a cast of characters that I really came to care about- the writing is admittedly not brilliant and the plot is a bit contrived in places but casting that aside, I still really liked this book. The chemistry between the lead characters was evident and believable and I appreciated the yummy sounding descriptions of the food Holly created too- the few little recipes at the end were also a bonus.I really liked the diary excerpts from Holly’s gran during the war as well as they gave the story a bit more substance and intrigue- I always like intertwining storylines that make sense and this one was pulled off successfully. I have to say that I’m not a massive fan of `chick lit’ any more (most authors I used to like have gone off the boil a bit) but this was one that I genuinely enjoyed, despite it being a little bit cutesy and predictable. I think cutesy and predictable is just what’s needed during the festive season though!I have also downloaded `A Winter’s Tale’ by Ashley (another bargain Kindle read at the moment) and I am looking forward to reading that at some point during the festive season. This is an author I’m glad I gave a try.
Texanne –
Holly is not a fan of Christmas. She was raised in a home where the popular celebration of Christmas was not the norm. Her husband died near Christmas. And recently her beloved Gran died. It is not a joyful time for her. For several years, she has created her Christmas time to be a time when she is alone.She is a house sitter and when her original job falls through, she is offered a wonderful opportunity. She will be alone in a manor house in the middle of nowhere in Lancashire. It is just the way she wants it. It will give her an opportunity to write her cook book. She is a professional chef and hopes to create a wonderful book.Being in the middle of nowhere, is accurate. Being alone, is not even close to reality.There are family members who have always spent Christmas together at the manor house. No matter how Holly attempts to let everyone know she does not plan to cook dinner for a group of strangers, things just seem to roll along.Holly finally surrenders and promises to cook dinner on Christmas day. Of course the fact that family members start moving into the house is just a coincidence.Then of course there is the absent owner of the house. Jude is a world famous sculptor who is visiting in America. He does not know Holly and does not trust her to take care of his treasured horse and dog. The fact that he wants her to take care of his family members as well is a given.The phone calls between the two are classic. Holly is normally polite but with Jude she seems to automatically feel the need for sarcasm. Jude is a quiet man who treats his family very well. Speaking to this woman he does not know and cannot trust seems to bring out his inner snarl.This is a story of love. There is a love for family as well as the love between friends. And there are relationships between a woman and a man, which may or may not include love.Holly and Jude are wonderful characters. Each of them have a history which includes pain. And each of them have a history which has created strong people who are successful in their fields. Both are intelligent, witty and charming. With one another the intelligence and wittiness is evident. There is little charm in evidence.The secondary characters are wonderful. Jude’s family includes several generations who all love one another. The mutual love does not prevent anyone from being snarky and snippy with one another.The humor is gentle in this story. There is a great deal of information about cooking and caring for animals and being snowed in during a blizzard. At times, some of all this felt like overkill.But, I loved this story. It is a Christmas story which is truly about preparing for Christmas, dealing with family situations, and constantly cooking for Christmas visitors.In other words, this is based on how life can be at Christmas.I have found Ms Ashley and I definitely want to continue to enjoy her books.
Frances –
I love Trisha Ashley ! Even if you can guess the ending as you start reading, the story is lovely, the dialogues are witty and, there are always a lot of good feelings (as in all her books). It is certainly a “feel good book” and, you spend enjoyable hours reading it.
Linda –
This is a great story with wonderful and believable characters. I truly have read it many times and probably will again. Thanks Trisha, for sharing your stories with us.
Helen –
Lovely story, up to her usual excellent standard.
Kindle-Kunde –
Holly Brown ist eine passionierte Köchin, die gerade an einem Kochbuch schreibt. Im Sommer kocht sie – mit recht gutem Honorar! – als Partyköchin, im Winter passt sie, um ein wenig entspannen zu können, als Housesitter auf Tiere und div. Häuser aus…….Ein Auftrag in einer entlegenen Gegend kommt ihr gerade recht: vor einigen Jahren ist genau zu Weihnachten ihr Ehemann Alan verunglückt und seitdem meidet sie alle Festivitäten.Doch es kommt anders als sie denkt: schneller als sie schauen kann, hat sie plötzlich eine ganze Familie bei sich im Haus und ist mitten in den Vorbereitungen für Weihnachten drinnen – und wie sollte es auch anders sein: es schneit, und schneit und schneit………Ich liebte dieses Buch gleich nach den ersten Seiten: ein kleines englisches Dorf, liebenswerte Gestalten, eine starke und etwas sturköpfige Heldin, die es liebt zu kochen, viel Schnee, Humor, lustige Szenen, viel Weihnachtsvorbereitung, einiges an Romantik, aber auch ein wenig Drama —– was will man mehr von einer feinen Weihnachtsgeschichte??? Richtig geeignet, um es sich daheim gemütlich zu machen, wenn es draußen dunkel und grau ist und von einem Weihnachtsfest in alten, riesigen Herrenhäusern zu träumen, mit vielen schrulligen Gestalten, die doch irgendwie alle sehr liebenswert sind.Ich mochte auch die vielen Beschreibungen des Essens, wie Holly kocht…….sehr stimmungsvoll! Und am Ende des Buches sind auch noch 4 Rezepte abgedruckt, um die Gerichte nachkochen zu können!Ich werde ganz sicher wieder Bücher der Autorin lesen!