Married By Christmas

Dec 16, 2012 BestChickLit.com rated it 5 of 5 stars

An excellent read full of warmth, heartbreak, love and . . . lists! Scarlett Bailey has provided her fans with yet another book that is so delicious it is practically edible, along with a perfect way to escape the stresses of Christmas.

Although the book has four main characters, Anna dominates the page time with her amusing panics and distaste for anything, or anyone, below par. She is a joy to read, with the reader getting the opportunity to peel back her layers to see what’s really under all t...more

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Dec 11, 2012 Rainbowblu rated it 4 of 5 stars

“All I ever wanted, as far as I remember is to get married on Christmas day”, says gorgeous Anna adamantly. Anna grew up in a very chaotic environment. The only good memory of those unruly days is the last time she saw her mother, before she was cruelly abandoned. Together they had planned her wedding day, dress, flowers, and all. She was only nine.

Anna then grew up to be an overly anxious planner, and a highly organized freak in every area of her life. She needs to control everything, even her...more

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Nov 12, 2012 Kirsty Maclennan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Anna has been planning her Christmas wedding day since she was 9 years old and nothing is going to stop her from having the day she's dreamt about for so long, not even the fact that the groom forgot to mention he is ....... already married.

With Tom the groom not jumping to the rescue of their big day, Anna takes it upon herself to jump on the first plane to New York City, in search of Tom's wife and the annulment that will get everything back on track.

What she wasn't expecting on the flight was...more

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Feb 04, 2013 JenniferJ rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, christmas, 2013d-170, freebie, kindle, setting-new-york, romance

Loved this wonderful story but never could bring myself to feel sympathetic to Anna. She was just to whiny and self absorbed for me to like her. So what if she had issues as a child...alot of kids have had issues and come out just fine and not used their pasts as a crutch to try to make the world bow at their feet and just give them everything they want because they "have to have to have to" stick to a life's planned list!

Now her best friend Liv I have all the compassion for because she constant...more

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Jan 20, 2013 Jennifer Callanan rated it 2 of 5 stars

After reading the first few chapters I was more confused and disenchanted with the story than I was interested in what would happen. I mean really. Female A gets engages to Male A. Female B, best friend of Female A, admits to the readers that she is in love with Male A. Male A ends up being already married to Female C. Female A agrees to still marry Male A as long as they can get an annulment/divorce before the wedding on Christmas Eve. Like really?!?!?!?! Can this get anymore confusing. I was s...more

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Dec 18, 2012 Beckyloohoo Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ aka Mrs. Acheron Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: reading-romance-challenge

I truly had a love/hate relationship with this book. There were times I really enjoyed it, and times I put it away and started doing laundry. The primary source of my irritation was the main character Anna. She grated on my nerves with her OCD to have the perfect wedding on the perfect day and Lord help anyone foolish enough to want to change anything. Except she discovers something that might ruin it all - her soon to be husband is already married. So she does what any pscho-bride would do. She...more

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Dec 14, 2012 C rated it 4 of 5 stars

“And besides, haven’t you learned by now you can’t always be prepared for what life throws at you?” This little moment of wisdom from one of the characters in ‘Married by Christmas’ sums up the essence of Scarlett Bailey’s latest offering, featuring neurotic but lovable Anna, her ‘decent guy’ fiancée tom, best friend Liv and wildcard musician Miles. Any novel which features the term ‘ample bosom’ within the first fifty pages is going to be a sure-fire hit with me! And I really enjoyed my journey...more “And besides, haven’t you learned by now you can’t always be prepared for what life throws at you?” This little moment of wisdom from one of the characters in ‘Married by Christmas’ sums up the essence of Scarlett Bailey’s latest offering, featuring neurotic but lovable Anna, her ‘decent guy’ fiancée tom, best friend Liv and wildcard musician Miles. Any novel which features the term ‘ample bosom’ within the first fifty pages is going to be a sure-fire hit with me! And I really enjoyed my journey through the pages of ‘Married by Christmas’ which was so beautifully signed by the lovely Scarlett Bailey. It’s a wonderful storyline for a festive novel, heart-warming and yet with enough twists and turns to keep you on your toes at every point. The ending isn’t at all predictable, and any reader will be able to loose themselves in the trials and tribulations that Anna encounters along her journey to the altar.

One of the main reasons I think that I enjoyed the book quite as much as I did, was because I completely saw myself in main character Anna. Although she is highly neurotic and incredibly high-maintenance (not unlike myself), she’s still a really likeable character, and all that she wants is the best out of life for her, and for those around her. Her friend Liv is equally selfless, and I found her really easy to like too. She has her own struggles that she has to deal with over the course of the novel, and I found myself empathising with her as well as with Anna. I wasn’t as keen on Anna’s fiancé Tom, controversial I know, especially as his character takes on the role of decent guy, dependable, worth fighting for, “Tom was a very decent man on a world where men like him were very hard to come by.” Despite the fact that, yes, nice guys are hard to come buy, I found myself rooting more for Miles. A musician Anna bumps into in her bid to save her dream wedding, and who turns out to be a pretty decent guy too, looking out for her and helping her to see that, yes, lists and plans are all well and good but life is also there to be lived, and enjoyed. I could quite fancy a Miles of my own!

As usual, this author fully develops her characters and so they are really easy to read, understand, and relate to, and this is one of the really great things about the novel, along with the wonderfully fulfilling storyline, but the setting, is as much of a star as these other two aspects! Whilst the story may begin in the UK, Anna’s journey takes her to New York. The streets of Manhattan are described beautifully and every diner, every bar, every store that Anna enters, the reader will feel like they are entering with her. A Christmas novel with a New York setting, what more could one ask for? Whether you are already a Scarlett Bailey/Rowan Coleman fan, I feel sure that you will enjoy this novel. You don’t have to have read anything else by this author, the novel stands up for itself as a one off festive read, perfect escapism from the run up to Christmas full of joy, magic and romance!
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Dec 13, 2012 Mandy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: christmas-books

This book reminded me a lot of the book, "One Day," by David Nicholls. Maybe it's the writing style of the Brits, or maybe it is the constant chaos among the characters while they figure out their love story. This style is a love hate relationship for me. On the one hand I can't seem to put the book down, on the other sometimes I'm thinking,"This is crazy, why am I reading this? Nobody would act this way if they were being treated this way." The way the characters ended up together was fairly pr...more

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Oct 26, 2012 Rea Sinfield rated it 5 of 5 stars

Scarlett Bailey is back again this Christmas with her second release and after she swiped first place last year with The Night Before Christmas I was really looking forward to this book.

The countdown to her winter wedding has begun...
Anna Carter wants the perfect Christmas Eve wedding. It's been on her 'to-do' list since she was a little girl stuck living in a children's home and dreaming of a far happier family life than she'd ever experienced. Now she's found the perfect Georgian country mano...more Scarlett Bailey is back again this Christmas with her second release and after she swiped first place last year with The Night Before Christmas I was really looking forward to this book.

The countdown to her winter wedding has begun...
Anna Carter wants the perfect Christmas Eve wedding. It's been on her 'to-do' list since she was a little girl stuck living in a children's home and dreaming of a far happier family life than she'd ever experienced. Now she's found the perfect Georgian country manor as a venue, to which she will be taken in a reindeer-drawn sleigh. She's got a show-stopping designer ivory-beaded wedding dress. And she's even found her groom. Three years ahead of schedule, funny, sexy, handsome journalist, Tom, had swept her off her feet.

Only, now, two weeks before the wedding, Tom drops a bombshell that threatens to ruin everything.But nothing is going to stop Anna's plans - not even the pesky inconvenience of discovering her perfect husband-to-be already has a wife...

What I love most about Scarlett Bailey is she manages to create such loveable and full bodied characters who stay with you even when you finish reading the book. Anna is a loveable character who you warm to from the start of the book after reading about her upbringing and although she feels like a delicate character at the beginning of the book as the story progresses and she goes on her journey we begin to see another side of her, a fun side where she begins to let her hair down and begins to find her true self. I also loved Liv, your heart goes out to her when you discover her well kept secret, it is a shame that we don’t get to see more of her character especially alongside her best friend Anna just to see the friends interacting and having fun together.

The storyline is very easy to fall into and is very exciting, never quite knowing if Anna’s dream wedding will take place. I love the setting Scarlett creates in New York it is some where I have never been but she writes with such excitement and energy the place feels so alive I am now eager to visit although not looking for a missing ex wife I hope!

The only thing this book was lacking for me is the festivity, I was hoping for a more Christmassy feel to it but I am a bit over enthusiastic when it comes to Christmas, and I think we were spoilt with last years The Night Before Christmas which was overflowing with festivity.

Another great read by Scarlett Bailey which would make a great little stocking filler!(less)

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Dec 08, 2012 Agi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-releases, 2012

as I have already said, I had problems with this book at the beginning. Anna was not my type at all and although I understood why she is so control - freak, it just played on my nerves. There was too many talking, long, long sentences, so clever in its way that I just couldn't get through all the words and got to the point, I mean - plot.
Actually, the first half of the book was a little like this, but then it turned for the best. The unexpected trip to NY, all the adventures there and Anna getti...more

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Feb 07, 2013 Siew Ee rated it 3 of 5 stars

A quick-read, entertaining, occasionally funny chick-lit romance fiction. The premise is not original, but the story has good elements, and the cast of characters is likeable and easy to relate to. For such novels, there are usually no surprises or suspense, and you read it to see how the characters arrive at their happy ending by the end of the book. For me, the ending fell just a little flat because it was not convincing or realistic enough. Perhaps, if more page time were devoted to the emoti...more

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Dec 05, 2012 Kirsty rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: received-for-review, christmas, read-for-review

This review copy was kindly sent to me by Ebury Press.

Perusing my Goodreads shelves, you will be able to surmise that chick lit isn't really my thing. I do love a good festive read though, and I've heard a lot of good things about the author, so I felt that there was no real harm in trying this novel.

It is marketed as 'a warm and funny romantic comedy' - a blurb which I would usually balk at. The prologue of the novel opens in the Chilterns, where Anna Carter and her boyfriend Tom Collins are...more This review copy was kindly sent to me by Ebury Press.

Perusing my Goodreads shelves, you will be able to surmise that chick lit isn't really my thing. I do love a good festive read though, and I've heard a lot of good things about the author, so I felt that there was no real harm in trying this novel.

It is marketed as 'a warm and funny romantic comedy' - a blurb which I would usually balk at. The prologue of the novel opens in the Chilterns, where Anna Carter and her boyfriend Tom Collins are staying for Christmas. Anna is busy voicing her anxieties about spending her first Christmas with Tom's family: 'This is my favourite time of year and I don't want that to change because I've killed your family with salmonella or offended your granny with the wrong jumper'. She goes on to tell him, 'I know I'm a nightmare. I'm controlling and overanxious and constantly organising everything that moves'.

Whilst I am of the mind that protagonists with flaws are the best kind, Anna is not a likeable character in the slightest. She has had her dream Christmas wedding planned out since she was a child, and Tom's sudden proposal takes her by surprise because be utters it 'a full year too early' for her liking. Anna is too immaculate and pristine to be believed, and I found her petulant, spoilt, demanding and irritating in the first chapter alone. Other characters - Tom and their mutual friend Liv, for example - felt flat and undeveloped. They are incredibly patronising towards one another.

One positive of the book was that it is festive from the outset: 'It was a perfect Christmas scene - snow-globe worthy - of the village, gilt-edged with snow, the spire of the tiny jewel of a church sparkling in the crook of the hill'. Unfortunately, the rest of the novel was not to my taste. The editing was not as good as it could have been, and a lot of the sentences do run into one another. Elements of it are unrealistic and far fetched, and Anna takes her obsessions too far.

One major thing I have learnt from reading this book is that chick lit is not for me.(less)

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Jan 18, 2013 Carly rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: for-review

I was going to say that Married by Christmas is the best Christmas book I have had the pleasure of reading this year, but it's more than that, I think it's one of the best books I have read this year! The only reason I didn't give it the big 5 stars is because the whole book was a little bit on the predictable side and I knew what was going to happen from the off. Saying that I still loved watching the way everything panned out and Scarlett Bailey's wonderful writing had me fully engaged even t...more I was going to say that Married by Christmas is the best Christmas book I have had the pleasure of reading this year, but it's more than that, I think it's one of the best books I have read this year! The only reason I didn't give it the big 5 stars is because the whole book was a little bit on the predictable side and I knew what was going to happen from the off. Saying that I still loved watching the way everything panned out and Scarlett Bailey's wonderful writing had me fully engaged even though I had an inkling what was going to happen. The characters are fantastic and I connected with them quite early on. I enjoyed watching the way the 2 leading ladies see each other, they think they don't match up to one another when it's not like that at all, they are just different. The storyline is full of fun, laughter, highs and lows. I connected with main character Anna instantly and like I've never connected with a character before, mainly because I have some of the same OCD issues and I could totally relate to her.

Anna has dreamt and planned for a big Christmas wedding since she was a little girl. She made all sorts of plans with her mother as a child just before she ran away and left her all alone on Christmas. But now years later she is actually getting married and she wants everything to be perfect, maybe it will take the sting out of the unhappy memories surrounding Christmas time. Anna is a complete control freak and she makes lists for everything, she even makes lists for the lists, so you can imagine her horror when her husband to be drops a bombshell - he is already married!!!

Can Anna still have the wedding of her dreams??

Well, lets just say they are more than a few bumps along the road, some of them pleasant and some of them darn right funny! I loved Anna's journey and the way she changed for the better throughout the book! The ending was amazing and I really couldn't of been happier for everyone involved!

Married by Christmas is the ultimate Christmas read and I will 100% be pulling it back off the shelf again this time next year, I highly recommend you do too!

4.5/5 Stars!

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Jan 02, 2013 ETA: soon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: z2-freebie-kindle, t-holiday, 4-rom-contemp, z1-reviewed, 5-ntm-or-debut

(★★★½) MEMORABLE QUOTE: "...Anna Carter organising a wedding is going to be one of the single most terrifying things I have ever witnessed—or experienced—and may in fact bring about the end of the world as we know it..."

MARRIED BY CHRISTMAS was my choice for a GR group holiday challenge. Embarrassingly like the main character, Anna Carter, I picked it for a couple of sensible reasons—namely, Scarlett Bailey was NTM, pre-existing interest (I already had it), and the promise of humor (due to "pesk...more (★★★½) MEMORABLE QUOTE: "...Anna Carter organising a wedding is going to be one of the single most terrifying things I have ever witnessed—or experienced—and may in fact bring about the end of the world as we know it..."

MARRIED BY CHRISTMAS was my choice for a GR group holiday challenge. Embarrassingly like the main character, Anna Carter, I picked it for a couple of sensible reasons—namely, Scarlett Bailey was NTM, pre-existing interest (I already had it), and the promise of humor (due to "pesky inconvenience" used in the blurb). And like Anna, I got much more than I expected—I laughed, I snorted, I wanted to slap some of them upside the head a few times, but most of all, I really enjoyed the self-deprecating humor in this heart-warming book.

Maybe I needed a full novel after a diet of quick holiday shorts during the past few busy weeks. Maybe it was my affinity for British humor, or that I love Manhattan during the holidays. Maybe it was, quite simply, serendipitous (to help offset a sick child and clients ruining my week off). Whatever the reason(s), MARRIED BY CHRISTMAS hit pretty much all of my buttons at time of reading. Most especially because it addressed this question: What do you do when you finally have everything that you thought you ever wanted and worked for, only to realize that you want something entirely different?

I admit that I had some doubts at the beginning but very quickly, I was drawn into the distinct British humor and phrasing. All of the characters were well-drawn and so relatable—quirks, insecurities, and all—that I had a real face to go with each of them. (But I won't reveal who the OCD Anna and meddling mum are in my life *snicker*). Although I was a bit apprehensive about the major hiccup to the perfect marriage (because really, what would you think about a groom-to-be suddenly having a wife?), the author handled it quite cleverly and used that aspect to highlight and contrast the broader storyline.

MARRIED BY CHRISTMAS was a pretty fast read for me, largely due to the engaging storytelling. It certainly helped that it was well-written, with POV switches well-defined and correctly done for the most part. The fact that the ultimate outcome was very predictable (I guessed it way before the 50% mark) didn't matter because unlike some other books, the fun of this one was in learning how everyone got there.

I highly recommend MARRIED BY CHRISTMAS for anyone seeking a humorous romance about friendship and love and everything in between, with heart-tugging moments, a well-meaning but TMI mum, and a most definite HEA.(less)

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Feb 12, 2013 Lorenzio Phillibuster Fireworks rated it 4 of 5 stars

Anna Carter has planned her entire life since she was 9 years old. She dreamt of a magical, fairytale Christmas wedding and nothing is going to stand in the way of it. Not even the fact that fiancé Tom forgot he’d already been married to someone else, and forgot to divorce her afterwards. Anna has less than a week to fly to New York, find Tom’s forgotten wife and demand an annulment in time to save her perfectly planned wedding.

Anna likes structure and predictability and making plans and writin...more

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Nov 11, 2012 Leah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-2012, for-review

Last year I read Scarlett Bailey’s debut novel The Night Before Christmas, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. So when I was told she would be working on a new book, I was thrilled. Scarlett Bailey then announced she was actually Rowan Coleman which was surprising, as I’d never suspected it. So I was pleased to dig into my copy of Married By Christmas with this new information about its author, and I quite liked the idea of Anna wanting to be married so much that she was willing to do anything it took...more Last year I read Scarlett Bailey’s debut novel The Night Before Christmas, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. So when I was told she would be working on a new book, I was thrilled. Scarlett Bailey then announced she was actually Rowan Coleman which was surprising, as I’d never suspected it. So I was pleased to dig into my copy of Married By Christmas with this new information about its author, and I quite liked the idea of Anna wanting to be married so much that she was willing to do anything it took to marry her fiance, Tom. Not to mention the beautiful Christmas-y cover.

Married By Christmas is a rollercoaster of a ride. The synopsis doesn’t give much away, only alluding to the fact Anna’s fiance is a married man and that she hankers after a Christmas wedding. Don’t get me wrong, it made me want to read the book, but man, that’s a sparse synopsis as far as synopses goes. So I was pleasantly surprised that there’s a lot more to the book than just Anna hankering after a Christmas wedding and her fiance having a wife. Like Anna flying off to New York in search of Tom’s wife. It was entirely unpredicted, and I didn’t see it coming at all. It was an amazing part of the novel and when you compare it to Anna’s OCD personality, well, it’s just not something she would normally do, but, in actual fact, it works brilliantly and I loved the adventure of it all. I loved that for once, Anna just went with her idea, not stopping to really think about it and talk herself out of it. I thought the plot was just fantastic, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially with Miles who was an unexpected addition to the novel.

Anna is a Marmite character – you’re either going to love her or you’re going to hate her. She’s obsessed with making lists, and everything being just so and some will find it really irritating. I could, in a sort of way, see why Anna struggled to find and keep a man, but actually, I liked Anna. Rather than find her annoying and irrating and all of those things, instead I found it sad that after the life she had endured she still felt that she needed control of everything 100% just to make sure nothing would go wrong. So it is a massive surprise when Anna ups sticks and heads to New York, in search of Charisma Jones. Even more so when Miles, a man she had a very unsuccessful date with once upon a time, ends up helping her along the way. I thought Anna’s foster family were lovely people, especially her best friend/sister Liv, who’s pretty much Anna’s rock and the only person who knows everything there is to know about Anna.

I just thoroughly enjoyed everything about Married By Christmas, the proposal that introduced us to the novel, the revelation about Tom, the wild New York goosechase, it all just flowed so effortlessly. Scarlett Bailey/Rowan Coleman writes like a dream and I adore her books, under both author names. She has very much proven that she can write serious books and more light-hearted affairs and Married By Christmas is a million times better than A Night Before Christmas, proving that even after so many novels, she can still top herself. I wasn’t 100% sure of Miles in the beginning, but I warmed to him as the novel went on. The whole novel was just filled with wonderful characters – even Charisma Jones, believe it or not! – and the backdrop of New York was perfect and utterly unexpected. I very much recommend the book and I hope that Rowan Coleman keeps up her Scarlett Bailey persona as the Scarlett Bailey books are so fun and so Christmas-y, and I absolutely adored Married By Christmas.
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Jan 14, 2013 Abbey Liddle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favourite-chick-lit-reads

Title: Married By Christmas
Author: Scarlett Bailey
Publication Date: 25th October 2012
Publisher: Ebury

The countdown to her winter wedding has begun...
Anna Carter the perfect Christmas Eve wedding. It's been on her 'to-do' list since she was a little girl stuck living in a children's home and dreaming of a far happier family life than she'd ever experienced.
Now she's found the perfect Georgian country manor as a venue, to which she will be taken in a reindeer-drawn sleigh. She's got a show-stoppin...more Title: Married By Christmas
Author: Scarlett Bailey
Publication Date: 25th October 2012
Publisher: Ebury

The countdown to her winter wedding has begun...
Anna Carter the perfect Christmas Eve wedding. It's been on her 'to-do' list since she was a little girl stuck living in a children's home and dreaming of a far happier family life than she'd ever experienced.
Now she's found the perfect Georgian country manor as a venue, to which she will be taken in a reindeer-drawn sleigh. She's got a show-stopping designer ivory-beaded wedding dress.
And she's even found her groom. Three years ahead of schedule, funny, sexy, handsome journalist, Tom, had swept her off her feet.
Only, now, two weeks before the wedding, Tom drops a bombshell that threatens to ruin everything.
But nothing is going to stop Anna's plans - not even the pesky inconvenience of discovering her perfect husband-to-be already has a wife...

Now I have always been a big fan of Scarlett Bailey I have loved her books The Night Before Christmas and Santa Maybe on e-reader, when I heard she was bringing a new book out with another Christmassy feel I couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy.

When I first saw the book I just knew I needed a copy, The book was a lovely vibrant red and just had a Christmas feel with it.I just couldn't wait to read.
We meet some lovely characters in this book, Anna Carter who was taken into care when she was little because her mum abandoned her. Liv and her family take in Anna and adopt her, soon Liv and Anna become best of friends..
Years on and Anna is planning her perfect Christmas with her best friend/step sister to help her but when her ever so lovely fiance Tom tells her something that could just ruin her dream altogether...

I really did love not because it has a Christmas feel but also because it can certainly pull st your heart strings this book, make sure you have tissues at the ready. Scarlett definitely pulled it out of the bag once again, It was written perfectly and made you soon warm up to all the characters were all amazing in their own little way.
The best heroine in the book would have to be Liv because i felt really sorry for her at times but was happy when she found happiness hehe she came across as just a normal girl who had no worries but just wanted her own true love hehe.

This book is a fantastic and funny read and was a splendid read for Christmas 2012
You will all enjoy am sure.
Grab a copy now!!(less)

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Nov 29, 2012 Dizzyc rated it 4 of 5 stars

Anna and Tom are due to get married within weeks in Anna's dream Christmas Eve wedding. Anna is obsessive about every detail of this wedding making the reader wonder if it is more about the wedding rather than the marriage.

We get to find out why Anna is as obsessive and controlling as she is when we delve into her background.
Tom is ready to accept Anna, warts and all only there is the little matter in the fact that Tom is still married to another woman and forgot to tell Anna, until now.

Anna be...more

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Dec 21, 2012 Chelsey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Anna has dreamed of a Christmas wedding all her life. And she plans to stop at nothing to make it happen this year. She and her groom are deeply in love, her best friend is helping her coordinate what is sure to be the wedding of the year, she has five thousand lists that she is checking off one by one, and she even has Reindeer, yes, Reindeer! Everything is in order for our over achieving Anna, until she finds out that Tom isn’t quite who she thought he was, and this isn’t exactly his first mar...more Anna has dreamed of a Christmas wedding all her life. And she plans to stop at nothing to make it happen this year. She and her groom are deeply in love, her best friend is helping her coordinate what is sure to be the wedding of the year, she has five thousand lists that she is checking off one by one, and she even has Reindeer, yes, Reindeer! Everything is in order for our over achieving Anna, until she finds out that Tom isn’t quite who she thought he was, and this isn’t exactly his first marriage. He isn’t divorced and this puts a big damper on her Christmas Eve wedding. She ultimately goes into a huge panic and vows that she will have this Christmas wedding, just the way she has always planned it.

I laughed. So much. I am not exaggerating when I say that Anna was my favorite character and so many of her one liners had me chuckling at twelve o’clock last night. She was such an over-achiever and went by her lists like they were her religion. Everything was precise about her and you always knew what you were going to get. When she found out that the man she was supposed to marry had already been married before, and to a stripper no doubt, her big concern was the reindeer that she had already booked for her wedding. I just thought this was hysterical. I liked the twist in the story and it was nice to see a character like Anna go out of her comfort zone in order to make her wedding dreams become a reality.

The storyline was so charming and easy to keep up with; it carried a very nice pace throughout the entire book. This was my first read by Scarlett Bailey and I am hooked. She has the ability to throw the slightest twists into the story to grab you that much more. I loved the romance aspect of the book, but it took me until the second half of the book to really get into that scene. Tom was not the ideal groom, at least in my eyes, and I just did not enjoy my character. Then when Anna meets Miles I thought to myself, this is more like it! I loved Miles and I don’t want to spoil too much about his role in the story because I wouldn’t have wanted it to be spoiled for me either.

I really wanted to get this book read by Christmas and I am so glad that I sat down last night to finish it. The story is set in New York at Christmastime and this is on my list of things to see and do before I die. I have heard that New York at Christmas is completely jaw-dropping and it seemed that way in Anna’s story as well. If you have time at all this holiday season to sit down and read, then I will greatly recommend this book to you!

***Thank you to the publishers at Ebury for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review***
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Nov 11, 2012 Kevin I Heart.. Chick Lit rated it 5 of 5 stars

Review originally on I Heart.. Chick Lit.
www.chicklitkevinxx.blogspot.com

I never got the chance to read Scarlett Bailey's debut novel, The Night Before Christmas, but I envied the reviewers who got to read it last year and saying how good it was, so I decided to try and see if I could get a copy and thankfully, the author agreed! Since Scarlett's books, so far two of them, are mainly about Christmas, (secretly, I think she's Lady Santa, she's only active and out and about during the festive seas...more Review originally on I Heart.. Chick Lit.
www.chicklitkevinxx.blogspot.com

I never got the chance to read Scarlett Bailey's debut novel, The Night Before Christmas, but I envied the reviewers who got to read it last year and saying how good it was, so I decided to try and see if I could get a copy and thankfully, the author agreed! Since Scarlett's books, so far two of them, are mainly about Christmas, (secretly, I think she's Lady Santa, she's only active and out and about during the festive season), I thought it was fabulous, warm - what Christmas should be - but in a form of a sparkly, RED book!

Before I go into discussing about what a lovely book it is, can we take a minute to appreciate the gorgeous, Christmassy cover of the book? I know it's wrong to "judge a book by its cover", but come on, who wouldn't pick up a book with an outstanding, attractive cover which screams, "BUY ME!"? Kudos to the design team for whipping up something so beautiful and festive, perfect for Christmas! (Like, duh.)

First of all, what I really like Scarlett's book is that, she has a real, genuine flair for words and her passion to write, not many authors give me this feeling. The way she writes, with a significant flow, allows me to understand, that she enjoys writing as much as her readers enjoy reading. Maybe it was my over-analysing, as I'm a literature student, but by reading Married By Christmas I know for one: she loves to write and she loves Christmas.

Married By Christmas is about Anna Carter, a perfectionist, a crazed-list maker who can't stand things not going her way. What I loved about Anna is how organised the lady is! Jeez, making lists of list, determined to get things going her way! And ta-da, her boyfriend proposes, yay! Only to unleash the bridezilla she is, which was such a treat to read about. Especially her custom-made, sparkly, snowflake wedding gown. Scarlett writes with such clear, well-observed detail, even describes the minute, intricate snowflake design of the wedding dress, capturing the beauty of it. Many have tried writing in such a way, only managed to do half the job.

I won't reveal what Anna does, whether she does a completely crazy, out-of-the-world attempt to save her wedding, upon discovering her fiancé's AWOL wife or cries her sorry heart out. I'll leave it to you to discover what Scarlett has cleverly written with careful plotting. I admit, I was caught up in the story that I deprived sleep for a few days just to race to the ending, but that was really tiring, demanding school schedule, classes and assignments and impending examinations. However, I got the chance to finish reading it last night, at 2!, to tell you what a wonderful book it is. If you believe, the magic of Christmas would sweep you along and you'd be so caught up by Anna's complicated predicament!

Honestly, if I want to, I'd gush endlessly about how I loved the setting and the characters and the hunt for a particular someone, all to save her one and only Christmas wedding. But do not take this story lightly, don't think of it as a light, fun and fluffy chick lit, which you could easily read and feel happy about it, because Married by Christmas is really, really deep. In the façade, you might think it's about an control-freak, perfectionist turning into a bridezilla to walk down on the aisle in her Christmas-inspired dress and live happily ever after. No, it deals with loss, crushed hopes and believing yourself and opening up to new things you never thought you'd want to.

All in all, if I have to pick the best Christmas read this year, Married by Christmas would be the top contender to bag the title. I really enjoyed reading Scarlett's orchestra of words, bringing beautiful harmony to the Christmas spirit, and the plot was really what you'd want to read about, to light up the feeling of dull, wintry snowy days. Although it doesn't snow here in Malaysia, but I could literally feel the heartwarming atmosphere Christmas could offer.

Rating : 5/5(less)

1 like · like · see review

Dec 27, 2012 Cindy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle-free-books

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 27, 2012 Rebecca (everyday reader) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: modern-day-romance, kindle-books, christmas

An uptight, type-A, wounded young woman is having her dream Chritmas Eve wedding with a guy who is more friend than husband material. Doubts won't go away for either of them. He reveals a big secret and she goes to NYC to fix it. While she's gone, she falls for someone else and he relizes the one he loves is his fiance's best friend. All turns out well though. Great read!!

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Dec 14, 2012 Katya rated it 4 of 5 stars

At first I wasn't crazy about the main character and her constant "I may be beautiful but am I good enough?" inner dialog...like another reviewer said, she's not a likeable character... but by the end of the book she had grown on me. Her friends, new and old, brought a lot of color to the plot.

This was a cute story about following your heart!

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Nov 21, 2012 Book-shelf Shelf rated it 4 of 5 stars

Another brilliant Christmas story from the wonderful Scarlett Bailey. Although i have to say i enjoyed last years so much better, but this one was still an amazing book with a lot of life lessons there to be learned. Now i am just hoping that we get another brilliant advent calender book this year too.

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Dec 17, 2012 Sherri Hayes rated it 1 of 5 stars

DNF

I read about 20% of this book, and realized I was skimming more than I was reading. Its not a bad story, but it is very wordy. I ended up skipping to the last chapter to see if it would end the way I thought it would, and even that last chapter seemed to drag.

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Dec 07, 2012 Iria rated it 4 of 5 stars

Fun, light and humorous Christmas story.
My favorite character in this story is Liv. Her loyalty and friendship towards Anna is admirable. My least favorite character is Tom. Very predictable ending, however, I loved the happily ever after in this book.

My ratings:
Story 4.
Editing 3

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Feb 11, 2013 Chris Kinsella rated it 4 of 5 stars

Pretty funny. Main character's history was kind of overstated (how many times does the reader have to be reminded about the reason her Christmas wedding is sooooo important!). Still, overall a cute read.

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Jan 05, 2013 Rachel Shawcross rated it 5 of 5 stars

Easy to read with a few twists in the plot. A book that makes you shout "come on" and " seriously Anna" at it in frustration and angst. But with loveable characters and laugh out loud bits, it's more than worthy of a read!

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Dec 31, 2012 Donna Irwin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My last book of 2012, and I thoroughly enjoyed it!!
And if Rowan Coleman hadnt revealed her alter ego, I woujldnt have had the fun of reading this and Santa Maybe!

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Dec 05, 2012 Penelope Irving rated it 3 of 5 stars

A perfectly readable, Christmas-themed chick-lit with some festive New York colour to vary the British setting. A bit plodding in places and wholly, wholly predictable, but fun enough.

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