Giovanna Fletcher - Christmas with Billy and Me

Seen as it's that time of year again, I found a Christmas book to review and happened upon Giovanna Fletcher's new novella which was extremely short but a great find.

Christmas with Billy and Me is the Christmas sequel to Giovanna Fletcher's Billy and Me, her debut novel about a young woman, Sophie, who meets a famous actor, Billy, while she is working at a teashop and he is working on a film and they begin a relationship which results in her moving with him to London where she is taken out of her comfort zone and returns home without Billy as she can't handle his life properly because she feels ignored and abandoned.  Once returning home, she begins to work at Molly's teashop again and eventually takes it over when Molly dies of cancer which breaks her heart yet again as Molly was like a mother to her.  Later on, when she's working, she is greeted by the arrival of Billy walking into the teashop, saying he's taking a break from acting to be with her because he loves her and he wants to make their lives work together and she welcomes him back into her life.  It was a wonderful debut which I reviewed previously and while not necessary to read it before this one, it helps to do so because the characters were properly introduced in Billy and Me and aren't really reintroduced in this novella.

Rating: 8

Recommended To: Those that like fluffy romance books

Favourite Characters: Sophie

Favourite Part: 'Who do you think it is?'
'I've no idea...It's not you, is it?'  As soon as the question flies from my mouth I feel embarrassed.  It wasn't even a properly developed thought.  In fact, I don't think I'd processed the thought at all before saying it out loud.
'Good to know you'd have rumbled my plan straightaway if it was!' he winks in a cheekily reassuring manner, letting me know that my unfiltered thoughts haven't fazed him in the slightest - he knows me and my funny mannerisms and still loves me, thankfully. - Page 22

Good Points: Good quick Christmas read; extremely sweet; reminder of old characters

Bad Points: Over too quickly; time skipped way too quickly

It's Christmas time in Rosefront Hill and Sophie and Billy are organising food and drink for the party following the Christmas lights being turned on; Sophie's baking and decorating while Billy is proudly concocting the mulled wine on the stove.  Sophie and Billy are happy working together and Sophie's mum has found happiness in her relationship with Colin and his children have finally been introduced to the entire family, making them all one big family now, something Sophie hasn't had for a while now.  After the Christmas lights have been turned on and the party that followed, Sophie and Billy climb into bed and Sophie checks the social media accounts for her teashop and the emails when she receives an email asking her to arrange a surprise proposal for their other half for Christmas Eve; Sophie agrees and with Billy helps, she organises a wonderfully Christmassy proposal.

All in all, this was an extremely sweet story and was well worth the £2 I spend on it as it sated the urge to read a happy Christmas book during my reading lull that I've been going through.  Nothing seriously bad happened so everyone was pretty happy all the way through which made it an idea book for Christmas, sugary sweet and full of wonder.

After reading this short story, I now have the urge to reread the original Billy and Me book because this one reminded me of the characters that captured my heart last time I read the first one.  In some ways, you could pick this book up without reading its predecessor but you wouldn't get the backstory as much and that's what makes Fletcher's debut so wonderful; rich, interesting character that form the world around the protagonist and help shape her in the reader's mind.

This got me in the mood for Christmas, unlike Colgan's Christmas at the Cupcake Café which was sad at points because the protagonist was very melancholy at times, as Fletcher's Christmas with Billy and Me was festive throughout as Sophie worked to make this Christmas wish come true.

Sophie, although she was pretty much the only character who got some proper focus due to this being a short story, was my favourite character yet again because she brought Christmas to life for me and was almost like a Christmas elf as she tried to make this mystery customer's wish come true.  I really hope Sophie's story continues because she's a great character with a lot of thought behind her.

The downside of this story being a novella is that it was over way too quickly in the grand scheme of things and even though it's a lovely and sweet story, it had more potential behind it and would have made a great full length book to explore some of the details as the moment you really sunk your teeth into it, the book was over.  Plus, you hardly saw Billy or anyone else really other than Sophie and there was a wasted opportunity as we could have seen the correspondence between Sophie and the mystery customer rather than being briefly told what was happening which was a shame as well.

Time went way too quickly for my liking which probably didn't help with the book being over so quickly because it went from the Christmas lights being turned on and the rest of the festivities that come with that to Christmas Eve all within one page.  I would have liked to have read something about the day to day life of the teashop and Sophie's life with Billy around seen as he has taken a break from acting.

'Who do you think it is?'
'I've no idea...It's not you, is it?'  As soon as the question flies from my mouth I feel embarrassed.  It wasn't even a properly developed thought.  In fact, I don't think I'd processed the thought at all before saying it out loud.
'Good to know you'd have rumbled my plan straightaway if it was!' he winks in a cheekily reassuring manner, letting me know that my unfiltered thoughts haven't fazed him in the slightest - he knows me and my funny mannerisms and still loves me, thankfully. - Page 22

This part just made me laugh because the first assumption I had is that the secret correspondent is Billy as I think I want Billy to propose Sophie as I love them as a couple because they fit well as they know each other so well; his reaction to her question is just perfect, like a boyfriend who knows his girlfriend really well should and loves her for all her eccentricities.  They are just adorable and I think this is something I like to see in a real life relationship and it's what I look for in a chick-lit book as it's these sweet moments that make it worth reading a book for me as it gives me those warm and fuzzy feelings.

This is only a short review because the books itself wasn't very long but was well worth the price as it had old characters - no new ones that ruined the story - that reminded me of Billy and Me and it was a great quick, sweet, festive read - a perfect Christmas tale with a happy ending.  There was great potential in this idea for a longer book and it is a shame it's so short but I highly recommend it to fans of Fletcher's work, fans of Billy and Me, and chick-lit fans.  I really do hope that Fletcher eventually writes another book that follows on from Billy and Me and I added predictions at the end because it's what I think will happen if there is another one.

Predictions

1. Sophie is extremely successful while Billy struggles to deal with completely normal but they work it out as he takes more indie films so to stay out of the limelight

2. Sophie's mum remarries

3. Sophie ends up pregnant and freaks out and hides it from Billy because she knows he wants to go back to work

Other Books by Giovanna Fletcher