Sunday 26 April 2015

Books Read: Chrissie Manby - A Proper Family Christmas

Take one Queen Bee: Annabel Buchanan, with a perfect house in the country, a rich husband and a beautiful daughter, Izzy . . . 

. . . and one large, loud family: the Bensons. What happens when their worlds collide? 

When Izzy suddenly falls dangerously ill, adoptee Annabel has to track down her biological family to see if they can help her daughter. But can she see past the Bensons' brash exteriors to the warm, loving people they are at heart? 

With December just around the corner, is it too much to hope that the Bensons and the Buchanans can have a proper family Christmas?

Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback

A Proper Family Christmas is another one of the books that I read earlier this year whilst I was ill but never got around to writing up the review for it so apologies for its lateness.

When I read the blurb and saw the cover I was expecting a fabulous festive read but knew that having met the Benson family in A Proper Family Holiday nothing would be smooth sailing. And the latter is definitely true as there was definitely plenty of drama involved but it's not really a festive read at all as only a small portion of the storyline takes place over Christmas.

Since we last met them Ronnie and Chelsea Benson have been coming to terms with the shock announcement from their parents Dave and Jacqui that they have an older sister but little do they know that they might actually meet her sooner than they expected.

Annabel Buchanan has always known that she was adopted but has never felt the need to find her birth family that is until her only child Izzy falls ill and needs a Liver transplant to survive. When Annabel eventually tracks down her birth family they are not exactly what she was expecting but for Jacqui Benson it's her dream come true and she wants nothing more than to have her baby girl in her arms again.

But in amongst the drama little Jack once again stole the show for me when he set off on an adventure with Grandad Bill to try and save Izzy's life, all I can say is that his intentions were there but little did he know it's not quite as simple as he thought...    

I must admit that this book was a lot more serious than I was expecting, dealing with the issues surrounding adoption, reunions, drug use and transplants, but fortunately it is all handled with such sensitivity that it's not a depressing, heavy read.  And there are still plenty of light comedic moments throughout that I've come to expect from a Chrissie Manby book.

So far the two books in the series have been completely different so I'll be interested to see what's in store for us in A Proper Family Adventure that's being published on 16th July.

I'd like to thank Eleni at Hodder Books for sending me a copy of A Proper Family Christmas to review.

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