Sometimes, Christmas means the need to get away from family

Synopsis

This year, their families can deck the bloody halls themselves…

Old friends Shelley, Lena and Pearl have reached their limit with the festive preparation that has always fallen to them, and five days before Christmas, they’ve booked a mini break… without their families. Up until Christmas Eve, they’ll be sipping prosecco in the Highlands while their kids wrap bacon around 100 chipolatas and their partners brave the supermarkets.

It’s exactly what they need… until they’re snowed in. Facing the prospect of Christmas 500 miles from home, each woman is forced to confront her real reasons for needing to escape: the fiance with the obnoxious family; the son’s new girlfriend who is taking over their home; the family who take their mother for granted all year round…

Will the friends make it home before Christmas day? And if they do, can they really go back to their old lives?

This Christmas, forget Elf on the Shelf, get ready for Mums on the Run in the hilarious and heartwarming new novel from Fiona Gibson.

My review

Shelley, Lena and Pearl are old friends with all their own families and own struggles. Nevertheless, they can always rely on each other for a listening ear, comfort and just spend time together. But Christmas is for each and every one of them a stressful period.
So when the opportunity comes to have a mini break in the Highlands, in a cosy B&B, it’s just an offer they cannot refuse.
The plan is to charge their batteries up until Christmas Eve and let their families do all the preparations.
But no matter what the ladies have plans, they didn’t expect to be snowed in, with no option to make a safe return home. And being stranded means that each friend needs to face what she tried to escape at home: from obnoxious soon – to – be in-laws, a son’s girlfriend just doing how she pleases in her home or a whole family taking her for granted.
This mini break will for sure make the friends wonder: will they get back home in time for Christmas, but also will they just get back to their lives as they have known before, or is it time for a change?

Christmas is always a stressful period, so many preparations, so much to think about. And it for sure would be easy to just get away from everything, letting someone else take care of it, while you relax with a nice glass of prosecco, or another bubbly drink 😊

In this book, we see how different stress can be. What Shelly is going through, cannot be compared with Pearl’s worries, and not with Lena’s. And that is absolutely normal, because everyone has a different life, different relationships and obviously different kind of stress.

With stress levels reaching its climax for each woman, I for sure couldn’t blame them having the desire to just get away from it all. Although I have to admit, finding place in the B&B was a bit too easy for my liking, as I would think that it would be a Mission Impossible. But on the other hand, if there wasn’t this opportunity, what story would we have? 😊

I found it nice to see how despite their own issues, each woman was a real friend. Not only for their own little bubble, but also how they were ready for a “complete stranger” to take over the B&B, allowing him to see if he could also have a shot at finding love.

Of course the friends find themselves in a whole different kind of drama, trying to run the B&B but without the real know – how, or just knowledge of where to find everything. A few mishaps for sure made me laugh out loud, and it was great to see how the ladies came up with possible solutions, the one better than the other.

And the friends should have expected to be snowed in, because of course that would happen just when they were out! 😊 
But that also gives them extra time to reflect on their own lives at home. And also to make some shocking revelations…

It saddened me reading how in real life, while these woman are one by one great woman, are allowing people to just walk over them.
Shelley perhaps was the worst one, as her children don’t truly listen to her, her husband for sure isn’t a great help in the house or just a help at anything, and then I am not talking about his other despicable behaviour…

In that aspect perhaps Lena had at least *someone* in her corner, although for sure it cannot be easy having in – laws comparing you to someone else and finding always a point of criticism…

And Pearl, she is a great mother, but raising a child on her own isn’t easy, even if she cannot complain about her son. That is not what she can say about his girlfriend. I could understand how she wants to keep the peace, but I don’t think I would be able to stay quiet with such behaviour in my house!

I was curious to see how each main character would take back their lives in own hands. Would each of them find the courage to stand up to their loved ones? And how would that possible reaction be welcomed?

In this book we see how no matter how close friends are, and even how alike they are, each person has a different kind of issue to face in life. And we see how perhaps getting away in the most chaotic time of the year can give you the right perspective. Being surrounded by the people that understand you the best, can be the best comfort you may need, and that also works the other way around.
This was a heart – warming book to read, even if some characters were not likeable at all, but we see how the magic of Christmas does its thing once again, perhaps not like we are used to, but great in any way!