Format: ARC, eCopy
Links: Goodreads | Amazon UK
Blurb: Being pregnant with her ex-boyfriend’s baby is the last thing on Cleo Jones’s Christmas wish list. Scott might have been the man of her dreams once upon a time, but things change and now Cleo faces a future as a single mum… Or does she?

Review: I read and reviewed Lynsey’s book The Season of Hopes and Dreams earlier this year and thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved the concept of story and as I don’t usually read Chick-Lit / Women’s Fiction anymore (no offence at all to those genre writers but I think it’s normal for our tastes to change and adapt), it was a nice change to the normal Thriller’s I was reading. So when the sequel came out, A Winter’s Wish Come True, I knew I had to read it to find out what was next for Cleo and Scott – two characters I came to really like. Whilst this book can be read as a standalone, now having read it, I would suggest reading the first one as well because I think it would make it a more well-rounded story with a bit more background info.

So A Winter’s Wish Come True picks up with Cleo and Scott a year after the first book ends. You last see them in a happy relationship, with Cleo’s previous mental health issues relating to food, eating disorders and body dysmorphia dramatically improving and everything looks like it’s on the up and up. Except it’s not. Their relationship turned sour when Scott flew off to Australia, leaving Cleo behind and a blazing row which they left on. Now, Scott’s back and spends one fiery night with Cleo but weeks later, Cleo finds out she’s pregnant and their relationship is about to get a whole lot more complicated. Can they give it another go? Or can Cleo cope with being a single mum? Add in competitive in-laws, old flames and enemies and a few pregnancy scares and Cleo and Scott are in for the 9 months of their life.

In theory, this book is everything I should hate. Romantic? Check. Sappy? Check. A sickeningly sweet happy ending? Check. But I didn’t hate it at all. And I’m not just saying that because Lynsey is my friend (and I’m not going into the whole spiel about how my reviews are unbiased – we all know that by now). It had a few things that I didn’t absolutely love of course but on a whole, it made me laugh (like, really laugh), it definitely made me cry and it made me just feel… warm. And fuzzy. And inspired. And I think all those ingredients make for a pretty solid novel. The first thing I should point out is that I instantly thought that Lynsey’s writing had matured in this book. Compared to A Season of Hopes and Dreams, the language and approach to the story felt fine-tuned, from a readers point of view. And if anything, this has just got me even more excited for what Lynsey’s going to be writing next.

One little gripe I had with it; Cleo’s reaction to Scott going off to Australia and then leaving her house the night after they slept together. I did feel she over-reacted a bit and was a little mean. For the first third or so of the book I thought their arguments about it was a little repetitive but… I can admit that in a situation like that, I would have been exactly like Cleo. I can hold a grudge like a good’un, so I totally understand why she couldn’t let it slide.

I really liked the whole story being around Cleo’s pregnancy because I don’t often read that in books. It was amusing, especially reading about how she has to juggle her relationship/non-relationship with Scott, plus her mum and his mum being at each others throats. There was a particularly hilarious scene where they all went shopping together and whilst it was all very over-the-top, I bloody loved it to the point where I had to ring Lynsey and tell her how funny I thought it was. You really get a little bit of everything in this book, as I said earlier, it made me laugh but it also made me cry a few times. One particular sad scene around halfway through had me choking back tears and Lynsey did a really great job at getting across Cleo’s emotions here and it was heart-breaking. So thanks friend for making me cry.

In the first book, Cleo was a shell of a character. She was insecure, had had severe problems with eating disorders and body dysmorphia which she was still battling and just generally felt like a broken person. But she was completely transformed in this book and I loved seeing that. She made a bucket list in book 1, a lot of which she managed to tick off. And in A Winter’s Wish Come True, she really stepped up as an inspiring role-model of a character. She felt very real and I’ve definitely come away from these books happy and satisfied with her story and looking at her as a friend. Whilst misery guts over here (me), might not like romance and sap and found some parts of the book a little too sappy (there’s only so much sap I can take you know), this book is just perfect for a cosy read, especially for romance fans, on a cold, Winter’s night. I’ve loved Cleo’s story and I’ll be sad to say goodbye to her.

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