Home for Christmas by Cally Taylor

Home for Christmas
by Cally Taylor

Beth Prince has always loved fairytales and now, aged twenty-four, she feels like she’s finally on the verge of her own happily ever after. She lives by the seaside, works in the Picturebox – a charming but rundown independent cinema – and has a boyfriend who’s so debonair and charming she can’t believe her luck! There’s just one problem – none of her boyfriends have ever told her they love her and it doesn’t look like Aiden’s going to say it any time soon. Desperate to hear ‘I love you’ for the first time Beth takes matters into her own hands – and instantly wishes she hadn’t. Just when it seems like her luck can’t get any worse, bad news arrives in the devilishly handsome shape of Matt Jones. Matt is the regional director of a multiplex cinema and he’s determined to get his hands on the Picturebox by Christmas. Can Beth keep her job, her man and her home or is her romantic-comedy life about to turn into a disaster movie?


I finished reading Home for Christmas last night, and am still feeling the nice warm glow that it left. Beth and Matt are so lovely and believable it was a pleasure spending time with them, and by the end of the book I felt like they were my friends.

The story is written from both points of view, which I really like as I enjoy getting into the character's heads, and Cally Taylor's done a great job of being a 'bloke'!

I'm a fan of independent cinemas - there's a beautiful art-deco one near where I live - and I particularly loved the plot about the Picturebox where Beth works, which is due to be sold to a big chain company, and found myself hoping it wasn't going to happen.

The story is set in Brighton and the wonderful descriptions really brought it to life - it's clear the author has a genuine love for the place.

Home for Christmas is a fantastic, heart-warming read with a wonderful cast of characters, plenty of laugh-out-loud moments and some that made me cry, and despite the title it can - and SHOULD - be read any time, anywhere.

Highly recommended.

This review appears on Amazon