The Christmas Invitation

I love Trisha Ashleys books and have read all several times. However I was very disappointed in The Christmas Invitation. (PARTIAL SPOILER ALERT) It seemed as if she went back to the full outline of one of her previous books and merely changed the details. The plot line was the same, the character types were similar, and the setting was essentially identical. Those who have read that book will surely recognize it in these comments. Trisha, you can do better!

Once again, Trisha Ashley gives the reader a wonderful Christmas gift to revisit year after year. We revisit the Lancashire area from some of her previous stories, which for me, always feels like a visit back home. While the setting is familiar, in the way that a comfortable and warming quilt is, the characters are what set the tale apart. Meg, recovering from a serious bout of pneumonia and a bad relationship, accepts a commission to paint a portrait in the run up to Christmas. One catch: she does not come from a background which celebrates the holiday, since she grew up on a commune embracing a more pagan approach to life. This would be her first traditional experience of the more traditional rites of the season. Its a bit daunting for her, but very tempting. The fly in the ointment would be that her complicated and requited crush from university days, Lex, just happens to not only be the nephew of the woman who has engaged her to do her portrait, but he lives nearby and is close with his aunt and uncle. Running into him is awkward and unavoidable, so hard choices must be made. Will Meg and Lex untangle the misunderstandings that have colored their lives since their last meeting? Filled with well-imagined, fully fleshed out characters with a bit of quirk and the blessing of having had less-than-fairytale lives, each trip into Trishaworld leaves me filled with laughter and a feeling that I have traveled with her on a visit to the village where I could easily settle in and stay indefinitely. Cant wait to see where she is taking us next!

Trisha Ashley is an auto-buy for me and this one delighted me just when I needed it. Her characters remain people I\’d quite like to know and I expect her Lancashire is one I\’d love to visit. It\’s always fun to meet characters who appeared in earlier novels doing short cameos and I enjoyed that this time, too. I do sometimes wonder if her heroines are overly angsty but I\’m old now myself and perhaps see things differently that I did when I was their age. This one will happily be added to the comfort-reread list. Thank you, Ms. Ashley.

This is a lovely Christmas story about Meg, a portrait artist, who comes to Lancastershire for the holidays to paint the portraits of a distinguished older couple. She\’s settling in quickly when she realizes that their nephew Lex is a man with whom she has an unhappy past. There was a huge misunderstanding that was never resolved between them. Fortunately, among the clan invited for the holidays is enough people to act buffers and to soothe the way for reconciliation. With a little work and a lot of holiday cheer, Meg and Lex overcome their past differences to find something more. A lovely holiday story.

I love this book! This is going to sound nuts but Ive read it 5 or 6 times since it dropped to my Kindle app in October. I love the main and secondary characters, the setting and the storylines. Ive read most of this authors books and I prefer the ones where the lead has a skill she can use to support herself. This one is an artist and I very much enjoyed reading about her creative process. My other favorites are Twelve Days of Christmas, A Winters Tale and The Little Teashop of Lost and Found in case this author is new to you.

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