Make A Christmas Wish: A heartwarming, witty and magical festive treat

A Romantic Comedy with a twist – a book to make you cry but also really think about love.
I thought this was a lovely story. I was ill in bed when I read it today and did cry lots – and my teenage children were a bit concerned when, through my snuffles, I told them it was about a Mum who is a ghost and wants to get back to her family – but in spite of it having that very sad premise – the book itself is full of warmth and kindness and love. It deals with mistakes and regret and forgiveness and is also funny and moving. I could see it as a film too. I liked the way that nobody is perfect – and the central narrator is so human and reluctant to take responsibility for the mistakes she has made – but in the end, as is appropriate for a Christmas story, true love triumphs. This is a romantic comedy – it has all the enjoyable readability of the genre and is full of wry asides and humour – but it has something more too – it reminded me in an odd way of the Medieval play ‘Everyman’ – something about learning about who you are and what love really is.

A short story
I love a short story, it allows me to be able to escape during my busy life and be able to devour a whole story at once, which doesn’t seem to happen often these days!This story is very short, just over 30 pages and is written in letter form. I do really enjoy books that are written in letters/emails they tend to be quirky and fun reads. Unfortunately this book was not fun at all. It became apparent this was written by a child, a child who had lost his mum around Christmas time. The story was set over a period of a year, the fact it was so short didn’t allow me to get into it and I found it quite difficult to discover the story line. Apart from trying to cope with loss and grief there wasn’t much too it, which was disappointing. Saying that it is only a novella and after all it was free.I am going to read the others in the short stories and hopefully things will become a bit clearer. Perhaps I just read these in the wrong order.

Not my style
Unfortunately this wasn’t to my taste. I normally enjoy every book I read as I am so easily pleased but this book was depressing and I realise it was the point to seem like a child wrote it but I didn’t really see the point?Maybe I just didn’t understand it. I respect that it is hard to have lost your mother over Christmas and he was writing to her but I just personally found it boring. Sorry.

Julia Williams is one of my favorite Christmas book authors. (If you even call it that way) Last year I devoured her Christmas -series. So when I noticed a new book of her was out, I could hardly wait to dive into it! And it must be said, make a Christmas wish is a very different book from her previous stories. The Christmas series is very fluffy and funny. A sit back and relax book. But Make a Christmas wish is so much more intense.Lets start this review of with the only little point of criticism that I can give you. The subtitle of this novel is: “A heartwarming, witty and magical festive treat”. Well…. lets say I can’t really agree with that. Heartwarming isn’t really the word I would use. Although it gets very heartwarming when you are about 90% through. Witty, well maybe a little. But it is mostly black humor. (Which I like, don’t get me wrong!) For me this is mostly a very gripping, sad, lovely story that is situated around Christmas. It’s the story of people who lost their way. Loved and lost and are trying to find their way back home.The concept of make a Christmas wish is incredibly original. And only for that this book deserves his stars. The main character Livvy is dead. So yes, one of the POV’s is that of a ghost. Livvy has some unfinished business to attend to before she can move on. The story is told through multiple povs. There is of course Livvy, like I just told you. But there is also Adam, her husband. Joe, their son and Emily, Adam’s (old/new )girlfriend.Livvy is a very complicated character, with lots of layers and a whole lot of growth throughout the novel. Julia Williams really spins an amazing tale and she made me chance sides every 20 pages. Every time you get a little more information. A little more insight and it chances your view of the situation completely. At the start of the book I really liked Livvy. I would have loved to invite her for a cup hot cocoa and talk for hours. That’s the kind of character Julia Williams normally writes about. And my first impression was: “Ha a classic Julia woman”. But then the story unravels and there is so much more to Livvy. At a certain point I really disliked her. I think I almost voted her most horrible book character of 2015. But in a very intriguing, understanding way. Even when I disliked Livvy, I loved how Julia Williams brought her to live. (Well to death.)A Christmas wish for me was the painful story of a family that fell apart before they realized itself. Everybody made mistakes and almost nobody was willing to face up to it. And then it suddenly was to late to make amends.I cried a lot while reading. I am a mum myself and I could really feel Livvy’s pain and anger. Especially when she saw Emily replace her She saw her husband happier then she ever saw him in the past couple of years. Her son growing up without her. And then there was the end of the story and I just broke down and cried my heart out.Make a Christmas wish was nothing what I expected it to be, but it was everything I needed it to be. Another bulls eye for Julia Williams. I really should get into her normal not Christmas books. Another new years resolution!