My love for Milly Johnson grows with every book I read. After queuing up for over an hour and a half in a Tesco in South Yorkshire to meet her and get this book signed, I made myself wait until closer to Christmas to read it, so I could feel properly festive!

The Yorkshire Pudding Club was the first book of Milly’s that I read (10 years ago now!), and this book is very closely related. In fact, the book’s working title was The Christmas Pudding Club. For that reason, it felt very familiar.

Another reason that this book felt familiar was that characters from so many previous booked cropped up in this one. It was really comforting to see the characters again, like old friends, and catch up on their lives, even if some of the glimpses were all too brief.

For a Christmas themed book, it wasn’t quite as ‘snowflakes and happiness’ as I had expected – there was a fair bit of grief and angst that pulled at my heartstrings and had me desperate to give the characters a hug – characters that felt like new friends from the moment we were introduced to them.

Dear, dear Palma was my book-best-friend, I could totally see myself being friends with her, her character was so sweet and thoughtful despite her background. But Annie and Eve were delightful too, even with their own non-perfect back stories, they still just seemed like lovely people to be around.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Milly book without some romance, and I felt like this book had the perfect amount. Rooting for the characters right from the start, with no lying or cheating or anything, just perfect. But for me, the romance wasn’t the main focus of the book, it all boiled down to the beautiful blossoming friendship between Palma, Eve and Annie, and that was the best part for me, you can never underestimate the power of good friends.