Can so much hurt be healed with the help of Christmas Spirit?

Synopsis

AN ALL-NEW CHRISTMAS SPIRIT BOOK FOR 2025

CAN LARA ADD A DASH OF MAGIC THIS CHRISTMAS?

The Sugar and Spice bakery sparkles with holiday spirit as Jacob serves up more mouthwatering festive treats, and Christmas spirit Lara tries to sprinkle her magic over those finding the time of year difficult.

Ollie is at his wits’ end. A debt from years ago comes back to haunt him just as he and his girlfriend are buying their dream home.

Rose is dejected as her college sweetheart has dumped her now they’re in their final year. She’s not looking forward to Christmas alone, nor her twenty-first birthday on Christmas Eve.

Sacha has recently moved to Winstanton following the failure of his business. He’s too embarrassed to confide in his family, but can he find the friendship he so desperately needs and begin to trust again?

Diana tries to find her new normal after the unexpected death of her husband earlier this year. All her plans for retirement have been thrown out the window and she feels lost. She needs a renewed sense of purpose and to find her place in the world.

Can Lara provide the answer to a joy-filled Christmas?

A story of hope, love, friendship, community, and of course, Christmas spirit.

For fans of Sarah Morgan, Philippa Ashley, Jenny Colgan and Cathy Bramley.

Praise for the Christmas Spirit series:

‘Christmas all wrapped up!’
‘Right from page one you are drawn into all the joys of Christmas!’
‘A lovely story about love, friendship and hope all wrapped up in a lovely Christmas jumper!’
‘You can taste the hot chocolate, see all the Christmas lights and feel the warmth of a Christmas hug.’

My review

Lara is even more over the moon now that Christmas is finally looming around the corner. She also especially hopes that she can work her Christmas Spirit – magic again as there are many people around that need her help. Not only is there Rose, whose college sweetheart has just dumped her in their final year and now feels more lonely than ever. But there is also Ollie, whose past debts may jeopardize the future he is building with his girlfriend, ready to take the next steps in their relationship. And there is Sacha, who recently moved to Winstanton, afraid to admit to his own family that his business failed. And then there is Diana, who is trying to find peace and a new purpose after losing her husband unexpectedly earlier this year. Lara has a lot of work to do at the Sugar and Spice bakery, wishing joy and happiness for all.

Is there ever a time that you should not read a Christmas story? of course not, you and especially I can read Christmas stories all year round! And when an author like Susan has one out, I don’t care when it comes out, I just *have* to read it. Add to that statement the fact that Lara is back… Well do I need more reasons???

Obviously Lara is a real sweetheart  in this book, once again. Even if she is just a child herself, she has such a kind, gentle, sweet heart, wanting only happiness and love for everyone. And while she may work in mysterious ways, ways we cannot explain ourselves, it was so heartwarming to read how she just sees everything, present things or how thing would work out just perfectly in a not so distant future, with effects to the distant future.

There are several cases that Lara needs to work on, each with their own story and background, but with one common thread, love.

There is for example young love, or young heartbreak initially. Because at the start of the story, Rose isn’t in a happy place, as her boyfriend just broke up with her. Even if Rose is a young adult, not having had a lot of life experience yet, we all can recognize her pain, can’t we?

And being heartbroken in the Christmas period, I could understand how Rose isn’t all that looking forward to the most wonderful time of the year.

But while being heartbroken, and Rose doesn’t show it all the time, I could also clearly see her resilience.

And then there is the loss of a love that has truly lasted a lifetime. Diana has loved and still loves her husband dearly. And it truly saddened me to read how much his passing is still hurting her. I could also understand it, as after shared a lifetime together, and now being on her own, cannot be easy at all for Diana, especially with the kind of love she had.

But just like with Rose, I could see so much resilience in Diana. Even if her love is no longer around, Diana is making plans. I admired her desire to learn French, to even go to France. But I also enjoyed her kindness towards not only old characters, but also new characters. Diana shows us that finding love is a wonderful thing, losing it is terrible, but that there can be life after losing love.

There is even life and love after mistakes of the past. That is something we see with Ollie. Because he has made errors in judgements and just mistakes in general in the past, like everyone of us. And just when it seems that he has his life back on track, when he is ready to take a next step with his relationship, those mistakes resurface, threatening everything he has tried to rebuild.

It is so typical that at the worst possible time your past resurfaces. A past that also in Ollie’s case is not something to be ashamed of, but understandable difficult to admit what has happened. And the more Ollie’s story evolves, the more we see how not being open about the past can jeopardize not only the present, but also the future.

Ollie learns that honesty is always the best direction to take. Only with honestly you can move forward and find a new happiness and can let you see a bright future, without the dark shadows of the past.

Shadows of the past that also Sacha is feeling. The way his business ended, left a bad aftertaste. Not only has it ruined a friendship, but also ruined a business he truly loved. I could understand how at loss he was at the start of this book, and how also in his case, it is difficult to admit failure to your loved ones.

Sacha is at loss, and with his move to Winstanton, he hopes to not only find the answers to what to do with his life now, but also to find purpose back in his life.

Sacha’s life has changed in a way he didn’t expect, but he knows his former life will not return. And he has to make the best of the situation he is in. Many people would become very bitter about the turn their life would take, but Sacha never loses his kindness and his heart.

All the characters are going initially through a rough time. But with some help from sweet Lara, there is a connection that brings them all or partially together, and even closer. We see the resilience in each character, we see how no matter what lemons life has thrown at them, it didn’t break their kind, gentle and warm characters.

Susan Buchanan shows us with this story, that there is sunshine after the rain, that goodness, kindness and love, will be rewarded. And is there a better timing than Christmas? Is there a better main setting than the Sugar and Spice bakery? And is there a better Christmas Spirit than Lara?

This story warmed my heart, once again Susan accomplished this with not just perfect characters, but characters with flaws, normal characters that learn and mature the more their stories evolves. All that making them even more loveable and likeable! Well done Susan, well done! 😊