To experience a real Christmas…

Synopsis

She’s here for the perfect Christmas escape…

When Sharmila discovers her late friend, Thomas, has gifted her the holiday of her dreams, she can’t pack her bags fast enough. Arriving in Pineford, it’s everything she’d ever hoped for and more.

But she’s in for another surprise, because Thomas has left her with one last request: if she completes his Christmas wish list of festive activities, her chosen charity will receive a big donation. Or so Sharmila thinks.

…He’s there to reclaim his family’s legacy

Little does she know, she’s set to inherit Thomas’s estate too, much to his nephew Zach’s disbelief. Determined not to see his family’s legacy left to a stranger, he’s come to Pineford to do whatever it takes to stop Sharmila from fulfilling that list.

When Sharmila and Zach meet, neither are prepared for sparks to fly. For Sharmila’s sworn off love, and Zach doesn’t trust her. But with every passing wish they find themselves growing closer. And amongst the twinkling town lights and fallen snow, Sharmila can feel her heart opening up to Zach. But when she learns he’s been keeping a secret from her, can Sharmila forgive him and get the happy-ever-after she’s always wished for this Christmas?

The Twelve Wishes of Christmas is the perfect book to snuggle up with on those cosy wintry nights. Perfect for fans of Heidi Swain and Jo Thomas.

My review

Sharmila never expected that her friendship with Thomas would result into experiencing the real feeling of Christmas and all its festivities. She always enjoyed those Christmas movies with an unsurprising ending, and with Thomas’ gift of spending a holiday in Pineford, is the perfect way to experience those clichés herself as Thomas has made a Christmas Wish List she must complete in order that a charity of her choice will receive a big donation.
But what she doesn’t know is that Thomas left her also his estate. And his own family, included his nephew Zach won’t allow a stranger to get their hands on the family’s legacy.
Zach is determined to sabotage the Christmas wish list, but what he didn’t expect was to find that sparks fly around whenever Sharmila and her look on the Christmas festivities are around… 

This book is a perfect book filled with clichés about Christmas romance that can easily be turned into a perfect Christmas movie too! 

What I liked about this book, is that our main character Sharmila in some ways isn’t the typical heroine that you would expect yet in so many other ways she just is.
The close friendship she had with Thomas, was so sweet to read about, and it warmed my heart to see how two persons in a total different stage in their lives, found each other and learned from each other.
Sharmila and Thomas found each other, in a total innocent and genuine way, at a moment they needed to find each other. 

And reading how Thomas became a part of Sharmila’s family, meeting her parents, and even going to India, shows us that cultural differences can only expand our perceptiveness of the world.
Not only because Sharmila and her family come from originally from India, but also because they are living in the United Kingdom while Thomas is typical American.
It was also interesting to see how Sharmila used to celebrate (or rather not celebrate) Christmas yet how much she wishes to feel that experience herself. 

That brings us to Pineford… Because this place for sure is the most welcoming, helping place in the whole world! Even some (smaller) strings are being pulled to make it possible to complete the Wish List.
And while Sharmila is a rather closed person due a past event, she finds herself opening up little by little. 

Of course there has to be a love interest in this story. And while it did not come as a total surprise, I was glad that the love interest was Zach and not his cousin Lucas. While Lucas is for sure the most friendly, open, nicer character of the two, it’s always those intriguing characters that make me swoon.
And while it was wrong of the cousins wanting to sabotage Sharmila, I could also understand them, as they didn’t know the whole story. 

Even if Zach may seem like a real Grinch or Scrooge, we also see bits of this kind persona, who has been hurt in the past too and his determination of not getting fooled again, makes him also kind of blind to see how genuine Sharmila is. 

Of course you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to guess how this story will end, but that doesn’t mean you should just ignore this book.
I loved reading it, bringing me totally already in the Christmas spirit, even if it’s so far away yet. I loved reading how Sharmila checks of her list, discovers new times, but also learns to open her heart again.
This was a lovely, Christmassy story, to read while sitting in front of a fireplace, enjoying a hot chocolate and swoon away over lovely characters, maybe predictable yet not less lovable!