Christmas Under a Cranberry Sky – by Holly Martin

Original Cover

My own copy

The blurb:

This year spend a wonderful Christmas on Juniper Island, where love can melt even the iciest of hearts…

Piper Chesterfield lives a glamorous life travelling the world and reviewing the finest hotels. She calls nowhere home, she works alone and that’s how she likes it. For long ago Piper decided that to protect her heart she should lock it away.

So when Piper’s next assignment brings her to the newly opened Stardust Lake Hotel for the festive season, the last person she expects to face is Gabe Whitaker, the man who broke her heart so completely she could never love again.

But Piper isn’t the only one who has been frozen in time by heartbreak. Gabe hasn’t forgotten the golden-eyed girl who disappeared from his world without a trace.

Now fate has reunited them on Juniper island, can the magic of Christmas heal old wounds? And can this enchanting town be the one place Piper can finally call home?

Curl up with this gorgeously romantic tale and let the glistening snow and the roaring fires of Stardust Lake Hotel get you in the festive spirit this Christmas.

My Opinion:

*Book provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

This is the first Christmas book I read this year, I read it at the end of August, so pretty early and I remember sitting outside with 30°, so quite the opposite of the weather in the book. However, I have to say that this is the perfect book to get into the festive spirit.

The story follows Piper Chesterfield, called Pip, who writes hotel reviews and arrives on Juniper Island. Well, there is a surprise in store or her, when she arrives. The hotel boss, is the only love of her life Gabe, who she run away from 12 years ago, when she was 17. Yes, she saw him with another girl and it just happened after the traumatic death of her dad. It’s important to know that Pip was actually adopted and her adopted mum died, so her adopted dad was not really a dad for her, he didn’t want her.

Growing up she had Gabe and his family though. Friendship turned into love, but then it all changed.

12 years later, there they are and they sparks between them fly immediately, the first moment the see each other again, as if nothing has happened. But of course, a lot has changed and there were some misunderstandings as well. Obviously they had a lot to talk about, especially the past. Gabe has a daughter now and his life is on this island with his daughter Wren and his employees, some of whom are his brother, sister and also some friends.

For them it’s weird to see Pip again, so much has happened and they don’t want to see Gabe lose her again. He was heartbroken 12 years ago. Pip is not 100% honest about the reason she is on Juniper Island, I mean she cannot tell them that she is reviewing the hotel, can she?!

I love the fact that their feelings came back so fast and how they got together again, of course still with an uncertainty in the background, she would leave again. Their feelings deepened really quickly and they were both falling for each other again. We got to read about both of them and their feelings, which was fab. I really adored their scenes, I have rarely seen a couple with so much chemistry, they are really made for each other.

And then I couldn’t get enough of Wren, she is such a sweet and cute girl and Gabe was amazing with her. She warmed up to Pip quickly and that was great to see. They shared some wonderful moments together, also with Gabe, but of course there was also some drama and action.

Wren is so adorable, I would say she is the secret star of the book and together with Gabe and Pip she builds a wonderful set of characters.

Pip had a tough time to convince Gabe’s siblings, Neve and … that she is her to stay, Wren is a young girl and doesn’t always follow all the rules.

Holly has this great talent to create unique scenes full of love, passion, heart and atmosphere. Every moment is different and they all build a storyline that flows and is very interesting.

This story is MAGICAL, and on more than one level. The characters are authentic and relatable, the setting and the location are amazing, I wish I could spend my next Christmas on Juniper Island. The igloos, the ice place, the market, the loges, the reindeer and so much more, the perfect combination to get you into the festive mood. I can’t wait to get back to Stardust Lake Hotel in book 2, the ending of this one made me so excited to part two, it’s all about Neve and I actually hope we still get our share of Pip, Gabe and Wren.

Thanks Holly for creating such an amazing, magical, festive, adorable, wonderful and cute story! It0s the perfect story to get into the festive mood and it’s one you cannot put down, the beginning is gripping and exciting, you just want to find out more.

Rating: 5/5

My possible cast:

Pip: Ellie Ottaway

Gabe: Henry Cavill

Wren: Madeleine McGraw

Holly on Twitter: @hollymartin00
Website: https://hollymartinwriter.wordpress.com
Goodreads - Amazon UK - Amazon US

Sky’s Musical Corner – The Performances of CHESS

Friday, September 16, the premiere of CHESS in the theatre of my hometown. I had a lot of friends and family members coming that day and yes I was nervous, but I was even more excited. The premiere was awesome! And actually I wasn’t even that nervous. People ask me that all the time, but as soon as I step on stage it’s all gone and I just enjoy. The opening night went really well, everything worked. Yes, there might have been some small technical things, but all in all. That’s things the audience doesn’t even realise, because they don’t know how it’s supposed to be. My family and friends LOVED the show and it was so fab to hear their feedback. There were also lots of colleagues of our choir in the audience and some of them are not big on musicals, but even they said that it was very professional and almost ready for Broadway. It’s great to hear that, because we all worked so hard. I even had some of my students come see the show. Sadly, they had to leave early and we saw them walking down the stairs during the last song, they really enjoyed it though and that’s the main thing.

The second night always tends to be a bit of a more relaxing show, with the actors not focusing that much, but that wasn’t the case at all. I even think that it was better than the premiere. Some people always seem surprised to see me on stage as well, because they know my mum and they remember me as the shy little girl. Well I’ve grown up, I’m not shy anymore and the stage is like my second home.

On the Sunday we had a different cast for the two women: Florence and Svetlana. It’s also special for use, because we get to see someone else backstage and the atmosphere is also different, not in a negative way ;). It felt that day that we were all a bit tired and didn’t have as much energy on stage. I think the audience didn’t notice, but we did.

So, it was good we had a few days of just nothing in the evening. Yes, I had to work, but I was able to go to bed early.

Then there came Thursday, the day of the private performance. The audience was very different that day. Not that many people and it was a very different ambiance. They still really enjoyed it, the CEO came on stage in the end and you could really feel their excitement then. For us it was more of a dress rehearsal, but it still went really well.

Friday it was finally time again to rock the stage and once again it was fab! I love watching the show from the different angles backstage and then I’m ready to rock Chess. It’s still just a great feeling to perform these songs and the reaction of the audience makes it even better. We had a full house that evening and we got another Standing Ovation (the 5^th already). This time I had my old drama teacher in the audience and he said that he’d never seen something that professional from an amateur group.

I was really excited for the Saturday show, because we had a lot of people come to that one and of course I had coughing fit during one of the songs. The performance still went really well and people absolutely LOVED it, also my music teacher colleague from school, which was so fab to hear. 

Then it was already time for the last show :(. This was very special in several ways. During every songs all that went through our heads, was that we just sang them for the very last time. I had to cry during the last song of the first act (Anthem), but I was backstage. I felt exactly the same during the second act and I really had to stay strong. This performance went really really well and it was definitely a brilliant ending. 

Seven performances later it was time to say goodbye. The performances, and I mean every single one of them have been great. We ended the last one with a fab cast party. It’s not only the singing and performing I have to say goodbye to, but also all these amazing people from the cast. Of course we’ll see each other again, but not that often. We are like a big family now and it’s been great being a part of it. I will miss everything.