Review – All I Want For Christmas by Esme Taylor

Sometimes the best gifts are unwrapped…

A saucy Christmas novella to heat up your winter nights!

Ella is dreading Christmas. She vowed to change her life this year, and although breaking up with her boring boyfriend was the first step, she’s been too scared to take the next, and her life has become small.

But then, when working at a Christmas party, Ella meets Joe. The attraction is instant and convenient: neither is interested in more than a fling. While Ella’s been stuck, Joe’s been running. He’s been travelling for a year and has no plans to stop, but he’s home to spend Christmas with his huge, loud family. His father wants him to stay and join the family business, but Joe’s not yet ready for that kind of commitment and isn’t sure he’ll ever be. But as the snow and the presents pile up – and Ella and Joe’s clothes come off – Ella realises she needs to start living again. And that maybe all she wants for Christmas is Joe…

Publisher – Hot Keys Books Unlocked

Date Published – 7th November 2013

Pages – 73 pages

Format – Kindle Edition

Category – Adult Fiction / Romance

Source – Bought via my kindle

 ** Please note Tales Of Yesterday Reviews are written as spoiler free as possible**

As I have failed so badly at reading any of my December / Christmas reads due to being distracted by pretty books coming through my letter box I thought I would make the effort and finally read one….although this one was not on my original list…erm!  It still counts though right? Right?! *gives cheeky grin*.  Anyway I am so glad I remembered this Christmas Ebook Novella!  A short but heart-warming Christmas love story – what more could I ask for?!

This short story is set around Christmas time and is about Ella who’s planning to spend Christmas on her own due to losing her parents earlier in the year.  Since losing her parents she has tried to completely change her life, but finds that maybe she has stopped living her life in the process.  Ella lives and works with her two best friends, Amy, who eats raw bread instead of toast for breakfast and Lee, who looks slightly like Dermot O’Leary (mmmmmmm).  Then Joe, the nephew of Ella’s boss Patrick, comes along with a bump and turns Ella’s world upside down and put the steam back into steamed Christmas Puddings!

This is an absolutely brilliant, romantic, adult fiction love story filled with friendship, romance, moving on and lots of Christmassy feelings.  The opening of this story grabbed my attention from the offset with a great reference to Dirty Dancing and great Christmas songs and Christmas film references, snow and a touching snowball fight that is sure to melt anyone’s heart.

I loved literally all of the characters and they were all individual and unique in their own ways which for me made me love the story even more.  They were all just so real and likeable that it made it impossible for me not to grin whilst reading.  Normally when I read a short story it always feels unfinished in some way but with this book yes I could have kept on reading, but the story pulls you in that much that you do not even realise or remember that it’s a short story.  The humour was absolutely spot on for me as well giving me more than a couple of good chuckles in the mix.

I cannot not talk about this novella without talking about a new discovery that I have never heard of before!  MOVIEOKE!  Basically the characters in the book work for a company that runs Movieoke nights where by you pick a scene from a film and act it out.  So basically Karaoke but acting!  I am fully intrigued!  I HAVE to try this someday!  I did a bit of research on the internet and it seems that Movieoke is a thing!! (click here) and I found a great article about Movieoke – here.  I think Jim at YAYeahYeah needs to set this up for #drinkya ?!  He he he

I also cannot finish this review without popping a little author bio up which I only normally do on promo posts, but this author bio holds a little tied with a red ribbon surprise in the form of that Esme Taylor is a pen name for her adult fiction and is such super fabulous author!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Esme Taylor spends her days dreaming about romantic scenarios (lately involving Benedict Cumberbatch and even more so lately about Harry Styles, but subject to change) and is thrilled to have the opportunity to write them down. She’s been writing fiction since she was a teen (romantic scenarios featuring George Michael), but didn’t finish a novel until 2004 (romantic scenario featuring a thinly-disguised Matt Damon). She lives in Lancashire with her husband (looks a bit like Christopher Eccleston) and two children and is the author of three YA novels under her own name, Keris Stainton.

All I Want For Christmas is most defiantly for older readers and I know that there is another Esme Taylor short called Baby One More Time which I am going to read around Valentines Day.  I love the way Keris writes as she completely pulls you in as a reader and creates such fab, realistic characters and great stories.

You can by this ebook here

If you would like to know more about Esme Taylor / Keris Stainton and her wonderful adult fiction and superb YA books please check out her website – www.keris-stainton.com or follow her on twitter – @keris

Have you read this ebook novella?  What did you think?  Did you know that Keris Stainton uses a pen name?  Do you think you will read this book after reading this review?  I would love to hear from you!  Please feel free to click on the reply button at the top of the page to leave a comment or why not tweet me on twitter using @chelleytoy

Happy Reading