Review: The Great Christmas Knit-Off (Tindledale) by Alexandra Brown

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks

Pub. Date: October 13, 2015

Genre: Holiday Contemporary

Source: ARC

Rating: 3.5 Stars

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Blurb:
Heartbroken after being jilted at the altar, Sybil has been saved from despair by her knitting obsession and now her home is filled to bursting with tea cosies, bobble hats, and jumpers. But, after discovering that she may have perpetrated the cock-up of the century at work, Sybil decides to make a hasty exit and, just weeks before Christmas, runs away to the picturesque village of Tindledale.

There, Sybil discovers Hettie’s House of Haberdashery, an emporium dedicated to the world of knitting and needle craft. But Hettie, the outspoken octogenarian owner, is struggling and now the shop is due for closure. And when Hettie decides that Sybil’s wonderfully wacky Christmas jumpers are just the thing to add a bit of excitement to her window display, something miraculous starts to happen…

Review:
I just finished one of my first Christmas books ever. I try to stay away from them... Don't ask me why, I just do. I'm glad that of all the books to read about Christmas and knitting, I chose this one. It was cute but a little bit on the slow side. I was kind of hoping for a little more romance but the story is more about the main character finding herself after tragedy struck.

And boy, what happened to her truly sucked. I can kind of sort of (okay maybe not) understand people cheating; what I truly can't fathom is you're own flesh and blood being the one to cheat and still away a significant other. That to me is so damn selfish, I would NEVER do that to my sister. Granted, she's eight years younger than me but still. That's just a huge no-no.

One thing I loved so much about the book though was the warmth of living in a small town. The author did an amazing job of showing us what it's like most of all; but she also showed us that small towns is like having extended family. I absolutely adored that since I live in the city and all. It's nothing like that. Alas, I enjoyed being able to see Sybil work her way through heartbreak like no other and learn to heal through knitting and beautiful new friends.

The way Sybil feels about knitting is the way I feel about books. It's a passion. I can't wait to dive back into this world that Brown has created in the second book. Even though I mentioned that it was slow, maybe a little too slow at times, I still very much enjoyed the story. I hope that they'll be more than two books and that we get more stories out of the small town people. There's so much you can do!

Overall, if you're looking for a light Christmas read I suggest reading this one. It's an easy read and you'll be able to capture the heart of small town life and quirky characters.

*Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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About the Author:

Alexandra grew up in Brighton and left school at sixteen to run away to London with dreams of being a writer. On realising that she needed a proper job too, she went to work in an office.

Throughout her twenty-year corporate career, she survived many dull meetings by writing a scene or two, until she could bear it no longer and collapsed in a heap and begged her husband to support her while she lounged on a chaise and waited for the muse to arrive. He's now living in hope that she'll become rich and famous so he can retire to sun himself by an infinity pool somewhere exotic.

After escaping office life, Alexandra won a competition run by The London Paper to write the weekly City Girl column, an expose of working life in the City of London. She wrote the column for two years before giving it up to concentrate on her first novel.

Alexandra lives near Brighton with her husband, daughter and two very shiny black Labradors.