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Rainbow Cove Christmas #1
His Christmas Feast
'A promising start to the Rainbow Cove Christmas series...'
- Goodreads review
One gourmet party. Four potential couples. The taste of love?
After his girlfriend runs off with another man, French chef Christophe Duval swears to stay away from women. That all changes when his sexy neighbour Emily Brighton turns up at the lavish Christmas party he throws at his country home in Marandowie. The trouble is, Emily is the queen of mixed signals and Christophe is along for a rollercoaster ride like no other. Will he ever understand her? Will he ever tame her? Or will the fence they set out to build between their two properties keep them apart for good?
- Goodreads review
One gourmet party. Four potential couples. The taste of love?
After his girlfriend runs off with another man, French chef Christophe Duval swears to stay away from women. That all changes when his sexy neighbour Emily Brighton turns up at the lavish Christmas party he throws at his country home in Marandowie. The trouble is, Emily is the queen of mixed signals and Christophe is along for a rollercoaster ride like no other. Will he ever understand her? Will he ever tame her? Or will the fence they set out to build between their two properties keep them apart for good?
- GenresRomance
200 pages, ebook
First published November 1, 2019
6 people are currently reading
15 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 21, 2019
I wanted to like this and it did start promising however, it went downhill pretty quickly. Emily of the sad Christmas back story lives next door to French chef, Christophe. And apparently her sad Christmas back story is an excuse for her to be a total bitch to a guy who pretty much should be the perfect neighbour. (No dogs or all night parties or any other reason is really given as to Emily's issues - there was the wonky fence which resulted in him seeing through it to her in her pjs in the backyard, I guess. This doesn't seem enough for her bitter attitude.)
Look, I *love* the old hate-to-love trope, but this one just took things a step too far. Emily is just plain rude. I mean, not to spoil, but one of her things is deliberately calling Christophe 'Christopher' even though she knows this is the incorrect pronunciation. That's not funny or quirky or sexy! It might even be classed as slightly racist.
Instead of UST simmering between the characters, there's a case for an AVO, or at least a Dispute Resolution Officer coming out to sort out their arguments!
What do I know though because despite all this the characters constantly think about how hot the other is. This *really* started to annoy me (can you tell?). Gods forbid if a romance was based on someone's personality or intellect or similar likes or ability to make someone laugh. All those people who love Love Island might understand this whole 'even though she's spewing out constant vitriol, she's hot' mentality but it's not for me. I need my characters, especially my heroines, to have some redeeming features and I'm afraid Emily has zero. Everyone has a sad story, this doesn't give you an excuse to be the rudest person on earth.
Couldn't go on after about 70%.
1 1/2 out of 5
The 1 1/2 comes from the food porn (Christophe is a chef after all) and the fact that it is truly a Christmas book with a Christmas setting.
Look, I *love* the old hate-to-love trope, but this one just took things a step too far. Emily is just plain rude. I mean, not to spoil, but one of her things is deliberately calling Christophe 'Christopher' even though she knows this is the incorrect pronunciation. That's not funny or quirky or sexy! It might even be classed as slightly racist.
Instead of UST simmering between the characters, there's a case for an AVO, or at least a Dispute Resolution Officer coming out to sort out their arguments!
What do I know though because despite all this the characters constantly think about how hot the other is. This *really* started to annoy me (can you tell?). Gods forbid if a romance was based on someone's personality or intellect or similar likes or ability to make someone laugh. All those people who love Love Island might understand this whole 'even though she's spewing out constant vitriol, she's hot' mentality but it's not for me. I need my characters, especially my heroines, to have some redeeming features and I'm afraid Emily has zero. Everyone has a sad story, this doesn't give you an excuse to be the rudest person on earth.
Couldn't go on after about 70%.
1 1/2 out of 5
The 1 1/2 comes from the food porn (Christophe is a chef after all) and the fact that it is truly a Christmas book with a Christmas setting.
September 26, 2021
Christophe can cook a magnificent feast and wow most residents in Rainbow Cove, but Emily - his next door neighbour - remains immune to his charms. Emily hates Christmas and certainly doesn't appreciate a Frenchman trying to get her to see the good side of the holiday. But the two of them have a fence to fix - and they may be mending other fences too.
Oh wow, I really detested Emily. She was abrasive for most of the book and the abrupt change at the end felt weird to me. Christophe was also too pushy for my liking, but I suppose some readers will like that. Still, I thought the fence metaphor was pretty good. Even if I couldn't stand the thought of these two characters ending up together lol
Oh wow, I really detested Emily. She was abrasive for most of the book and the abrupt change at the end felt weird to me. Christophe was also too pushy for my liking, but I suppose some readers will like that. Still, I thought the fence metaphor was pretty good. Even if I couldn't stand the thought of these two characters ending up together lol
October 5, 2023
French chef Christophe goes all out to produce a lavish feast on Christmas Day and invites various friends and associates to join him. He invites his neighbour Emily over when she tells him she hates Christmas. I found Emily to be over-the-top mean and angry which wasn’t fair on Christophe. She didn’t deserve him, but found happiness in the end.
January 26, 2020
After his girlfriend runs off with another man, French chef Christophe Duval swears to stay away from women. That all changes when his sexy neighbour Emily Brighton turns up at the lavish Christmas party he throws at his country home in Marandowie. The trouble is, Emily is the queen of mixed signals and Christophe is along for a rollercoaster ride like no other. Will he ever understand her? Will he ever tame her? Or will the fence they set out to build between their two properties keep them apart for good?
This was ok. I didn’t really care for Emily so it soured the book for me a bit. It was a quick and easy read though. Others might not have the same issue I had however.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book
This was ok. I didn’t really care for Emily so it soured the book for me a bit. It was a quick and easy read though. Others might not have the same issue I had however.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book
February 6, 2020
A great start to the Rainbow Cove Christmas series, this first book by Nora James gets you into the spirit for the coming books.
I enjoyed this book and the it was a fun sweet story of Emily and Christophe. You even get to meet some of the characters from the coming books too.
I enjoyed this book and the it was a fun sweet story of Emily and Christophe. You even get to meet some of the characters from the coming books too.
December 17, 2019
I loved this. It's a fresh Christmas story with a hunky French hero who is a great, decent guy and a chef, which certainly doesn't hurt. While the heroine is a little prickly at first it is because she is doing her best to protect herself after having gone through something quite horrible in her recent past but we quickly come to understand that she's a decent person, too. Some of it is touching, some tongue in cheek, and overall lots of fun. I particularly liked the ending where it all comes together in a gorgeous way. The book got me into the Christmas spirit and left me feeling warm and fuzzy. An easy read.
November 18, 2019
His Christmas Feast is the first book in the multi author series Rainbow Cove Christmas, and this one is written by Nora James. A sweet, heart-felt and engaging festive romance, His Christmas Feast features the relationship between Emily and Christophe. Deeply emotional, with relatable characters and a realistic, and sometimes sad storyline, this is a story that will touch your heart and keep you thoroughly engrossed till the last page is turned.
November 17, 2019
This was a sweet, entertaining holiday story. Emily has only experienced heartache on Christmas but Christophe was out of the gossip loop & didn’t know about any of it. He just couldn’t understand why she kept pulling back. As they started to become closer as friends, they both began to yearn for more. Can Christophe change Emily’s mind?
November 9, 2019
A multi author series with His Christmas Feast being the first book written by Nora James.
A promising start to the Rainbow Cove Christmas series with a relatable storyline and engaging characters. I enjoyed this story and will look to read more in this series and by this author
A promising start to the Rainbow Cove Christmas series with a relatable storyline and engaging characters. I enjoyed this story and will look to read more in this series and by this author
December 15, 2019
A romantic novel with a sense of humour - brilliant!
Particularly enjoyable was the clash of Australian and French cultures which, combined with the novel's romantic heart, made for an engaging and multi-layered novel which was thoroughly enjoyable.
Delightful, modern, Christmas romance.
Particularly enjoyable was the clash of Australian and French cultures which, combined with the novel's romantic heart, made for an engaging and multi-layered novel which was thoroughly enjoyable.
Delightful, modern, Christmas romance.
October 14, 2019
Very cute and easy to read book set in a great place. A little sad in the story makes the happy that much more so. I finished it in about 3 hours.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews