Earn What Happens At Christmas (Millworth Manor, #1) Expressed By Victoria Alexander Offered In Physical Book

heb de Nederlands talige uitgave gelezen : Droomprins voor de kerst Candlelight Historische roman,
De weduwe Camille Channing heeft een buitenlandse prins op het oog als haar volgende echtgenoot, Ze wil hem voor zich winnen door hem een traditioneel Engels kerstfeest aan te bieden, Ze huurt een toneelgezelschap in om de rollen van familieleden te spelen, Maar dan staat opeens haar jeugdliefde Grayson Elliott na elf jaar bij haar op de stoep, Hij wil het spelletje wel meespelen en doet zich voor als een verre neef, Tot overmaat van ramp duiken er steeds meer echte familieleden op, En is die prins eigenlijk wel wie hij zegt te zijn

Dit is een heerlijke komedie met leuke dialogen.
Ik zou heten een half sterren geven als het kon, Afgerond naar beneden omdat het verhaal vaak wat in herhalingen vervalt, I love holiday themed books, and this is the first I have read by Victoria Alexander, but I can assure you it will not be my last.
What Happens At Christmas was a deliciously, hysterical, heartwarming tale that quickly put me in the holiday mood, I adored the characters the author brought to life inLondon and would love to meet them all again,

We first meet Camille, Lady Lydingham and her twin sister Beryl, Lady Dunwell in the Ladies Tearoom at Fenwick and Sons, Bookseller.
While they were not drinking coffee my beverage of choice I was so delighted that woman even then knew the coolest place to hang out was in a bookstore that serves hot beverages! Camille is a wealthy widow who is scheming to have a prince from an obscure country propose to her.
Both she and her sister married the first time for financial security and this time she wants to marry for adventure.
She is plotting to create the perfect Dickenss Christmas to host the prince at their country home, Beryl sees this as yet another one of Camilles clever plots that always seem to go awry but none the less she finds herself assisting.
In their discussion Beryl confesses that she and her husband are smitten with each other and that maybe this time Camille should marry for love.
The events that take place between Decemberand Christmas day had me laughing and turning the pages as one complication after another arouse.
The biggest complication of all occurs when a man whom she once loved shows up on her doorstep after eleven years.
.

I adored Camille she really does not know what she wants and has to figure everything out the hard way.
She is oh so clever and the trouble this girl creates was brilliant, Long ago her heart was broken and she has never truly forgiven the man, Beryl is snarky and I loved her remarks and fierce loyalty to her sister, Gray, an orphan raised by his uncle as the second son, took off to the Americas after the woman he loved

rejected him.
He has made his way and is quite successful but has never forgotten the woman who broke his heart, I loved the interaction between Camille and Gray and at times wanted to shoot them both, While the prince was also vying for Camilles hand he became a secondary character, The cast of characters who appear at Camilles country estate were all unique and I enjoyed their mannerisms and the complications they added.
Alexander takes the time to add depth to even the secondary characters and I so appreciate that about her,

What Happens at Christmas had a very clever plot and the twists the author added at every turn had me completely enthralled.
It was so much fun to see what event would occur next, and I quickly connected with the characters right down to the butler.
I have always loved feisty, strong heroines who seem to get themselves in a pickle and Camille was remarkable, There was not as much sexual tension as I would have liked, and we are only treated to a mildly steamy scene.
I loved the romance and the race to get my happilyeverafter,

If you love historical romance and holiday themed novels with feisty heroines and lovable heroes then What Happened At Christmas is definitely for you.
Victoria Alexander has been added to my must read holiday books authors list,

I want to thank Kensington for providing this ARC in exchange for my unbiased review,
sitelinkKimba Caffeinated Book er The farce was mostly welldone but a bit too overthetop, I had a hard time with the romance, they were both idiots and Camille was unreasonable, They're an interesting family for sure I may try another book in the series,.stars

This was a very amusing Christmas story,

Camille, Lady Lydingham, wanted the fairy tale life so when she met a prince who was travelling, Camille put a plan into motion designed to charm Prince Nikolai Pruzinksy of Greater Avalonia into proposing to her and making her a princess.


The problem was that she didn't feel that her family was the "right sort" to endear the prince to her, as they were quite eccentric.
So Camille decided to hire a troupe of actors to portray a proper and respectable English family, While Camille and her married twin sister Beryl, Lady Dunwell, put their scheme into motion, Camille's first love Grayson Elliot came by.


Grayson had decided that Camille was the one that got a way and he came to woo her back.
Unfortunately he walks into this grand spectacle of a Christmas holiday with Camille's faux family, Both Prince Nikolas and Grayson wanted to prove they were the right suitor, Her twin sister just wants her to be happy, The rest is just comedic genius,

I wasn't expecting to enjoy this story so much but it was funny, Camille was very likable even though she was a bit of a dreamer, I give her a A for the trying in earnest to pull of a ruse of this magnitude, It required nerves of steel and sheer willpower to remain committed when parts of her story were falling part, Camille and her sister improvised so well, I almost expected them to decide to go into the theater afterwards,

I liked the drama because it felt like watching a live play with the blunders, bloopers and improvisation.
The romance was also sweet and heart felt, I was pleased with how the love story was resolved, The audiobook narrator did an awesome job with various voices, I was never bored in this story, If you want an entertaining Christmas story and a second chance romance, I highly recommend this one,
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Christmas historical romantic farce, This was the first book I read in my annual Christmas romance reading marathon, It was quite entertaining. I could not really like the heroine or her family much as they seemed to be very shallow, But, as it was a farce, I would guess the characters need to be silly for it to actually be humorous.
The heroine set up quite a tangled web of deception, and it got more tangled as it went along, I could not respect the intelligence of the heroine, nor the morals of her family, but I was pleased with the hero and the way everything was tidied up at the end.
I really enjoyed this. Camille and Grayson. As well as a couple other hidden love stories, This story starts out with a shallow heroine and a run away hero for eleven years, Rated.

to come Lady Camille Lydingham loves her family, but she wants to impress Prince Nikolai of Greater Avalonia and her family can't fulfill that role.
So she hires actors to impersonate her family and the servants of the manor,

As Camille tries to impress and win over Nikolai, she doesn't anticipate the wrinkle that Grayson Elliott puts in her plan.
Everything that can go wrong does,

This story brought quite a few LOL moments and I enjoyed it,
.delightfully farcical!

What Happens at Christmas is such a fresh, amusing story! The characters are quirky, the story is unique.
. . I really enjoyed it. Elizabeth Wiley does the narration and she has a lovely voice, and while she gave a lively performance, I had trouble distinguishing between characters including, at times, the men from the women.


I'm givingto the story,to the narration bottom line:,stars.

ed for sitelinkAffaire de Coeur Magazine
You are cordially invited to Christmas at Millworth Manor.
. .

Camille, Lady Lydingham, requests the pleasure of your company at a festive house party, as she endeavors to coax a marriage proposal from Prince Nikolai Pruzinsky of Greater Avalonia.


The hostess's relatives will be in attendancein this case, a troupe of actors hired to impersonate a proper English family in order to fool the Prince.


Gatecrashing, distractingly handsome first loves like Grayson Elliott are most unwelcome,

Games will be played,

Motives will be revealed,

Mayhem may ensue,

And hearts will be wonand lostin the most romantic, magical season of all,

Please RSVP

"Cleverly conceived and flawlessly executed: the perfect holiday treat, " The Chicago Tribune

"Alexander's divine Victorian Christmas confection provides an abundance of wit and warmth, " Publishers Weekly starred review I had to give this five, because it was such a pleasant surprise amid my stack of Christmas books.
I still find myself smiling about it two days after finishing, It's a delightful story set inin an English country manor, The characters are endearing and enjoyable, and combined with the plot and setting, brought to mind a lighthearted version of Downton Abbey and the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt characters of Anne Perry's novels.
I didn't expect to enjoy it so much! I highly recommend it if you're looking for a thoroughly enjoyable story.
What a wonderful read!
Not normally a fan of Christmas stories, however this book will have to go on my list of alltime favorites.
From the first page until the very end I was pulled into the setting, the lives of the characters and the events as they were unfolding.

The story centers around Camille who decides to hire actors to play the role of her family in order to impress a foreign prince who wants to experience an English Christmas.
When a man from Camille's past knocks on her door her plans are thrown into utter chaos and that is only the beginning.

The characters were wonderfully developed and I can't remember the last time I laughed so much while reading a book.

Fun and lighthearted this book is a must read! A comedy of errors fake family meets real family, Second chance romance. I loved this madcap Christmas story! How I laughed out loud with this book! I honestly do not think I have laughed so hard while reading a book in such a long time.
I was so invested in this entire setting, as well as the lives of the characters, that I could not stop reading until I had finished.
At first I got such a cozy feel right off the first page and then I started to realize the wit and spark that all of Victoria Alexanders characters carried I was blown away with my first time reading this author, and it will most certainly not be the last.


Camille, Lady Lydingham, is recently widowed and has her sights set on a new man, a prince to beat all! At the start of Camilles story we are placed right in the middle of a scheme that she has devised in order to have Prince Nikolai fall right into her arms.
Are you ready for her scheme This is the best part, Lady Lydingham has hired a stage of actors to fill in for her family this holiday season, Yes, you heard right. The entire Christmas season will be carried out with people who are not her real family, Except for her twin sister, Beryl, who claims that she would not miss this event for anything in the world.
So this is where our fun begins, Prince Nikolai is very fond of Charles Dickens and has requested a Christmas that rivals the ones in Dickens beloved novels.
And this, my lovely readers, is exactly what Camille seeks to give him,

What Camille doesnt expect is a visit from someone from her past, Enter Grayson Elliot. Oh, the romance and tension that was filling the air when these two shared any room or conversation, I loved Alexanders writing when it came to romance, what passion and intrigue! I fell in love with their back story and each of them.
When we first meet Grayson we learn that he has not seen Camille in eleven years, but still you can feel his love for her has never faltered.
You have to be dang good at what you do for this to have an effect on your readers!

Thank you to the publishers at Netgalley for providing me with a ecopy of this book in exchange for my honest review A cute Christmas romance.
“Being willing to forgive is not the same as being weak, Indeed, it takes a great deal of strength to accept someone elses acknowledgment of their mistakes, ”

This was my first book that I picked up for my Christmas book marathon and I am so very glad I did! This was probably not only one of the sweetest and most adorable books I have ever read, but the humor was amazing as well, which was really nice because I wasn't expecting that!

I absolutely loved this book, will gladly read it again and again, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a beautiful and sweet Christmas book.
Despite witty and funny dialog/banter, most of this book was boring boring boring, I just couldn't get into it and skimmed my way through, I am glad it's over, This was a thoroughly enjoyable read filled with warmth, humour and quite accurately painted family relationships, I liked that the heroine was in her thirties rather than a debutante or ingenue, and also that she had been content in her first marriage to a man who was kind and decent.


The theme running throughout the novel is one of second chances not just for Grayson and Camille, but also for Beryl and her husband, for their parents and the sisters' relationship with each other and their errant father.


Camille and Grayson are very likeable characters, and the farcical element of the story is handled deftly and with a sure hand.


A smileinducing holiday for any time of the year, It is with a heavy heart that I only give this an average rating, What Happens At Christmas had such promise: a silly but entertaining plot, easy going leads, and an interesting secondary cast.
However, while I enjoyed this story up to themark, it then went downhill as the same arguments were repeated over and over and the silly plot went on for so long that it veered into the unbelievable and I just wanted everything to end.


I'm not going to rehash the plot it really does happen as the book blurb says, but I will add that there were several secondary characters who ended up being more interesting than the leads! Camille's twin sister Beryl and her husband Lionel.
. . I could have read their story instead and I was always aching for them to be on the page we sadly only get one scenethough it was a good one.
Winfield, Gray's cousin, is also very funny and I enjoyed the banter he had with Gray whenever he was around.
I see that I couldn't finish his book, . . but I did like his prequel novella,

Now Camille and Grayat first, I liked them, They were intelligent but trapped in a farce and seemed to still find humor in the ridiculous, However, Camille was really selfcentered and could never understand how she had hurt and continued to hurt Gray with her words and actions.
Gray for his part was fun at the beginning, but soon he just became a bit bland when he was in the mix of all the other chaos going on in the book.
I just really didn't understand how they so obviously loved each other despite not being able to communicate on a fundamental level.


Other story lines: we have small backstories for every actor, Camille's mother, Camille's sister Beryl as well as her marriage with her husband, Lionel, Camille's sister Delilah, Uncle Basil, Winfield, Camille's father, a prince, and even five children at one point.
It was a jampacked book and the main romance suffered as a result,

This was a cozy and at times funny story, but I think it would have been betterpages shorter and with a heroine that had a little more selfawareness and a hero with a bit more spine.
I'll still be continuing with the series and trying out Delilah's book next and hopefully get more of Beryl and Lionel there!.
.