A wonderful Christmas read. It’s a very easy read but it is a nice feel good read and just what I was in,the humour for.

I absolutely loved this fun, flirty festive read! Warm characters, witty dialogue and the most festive setting ever made this a perfect story to curly up with on a chilly night!!

A dreamy, romantic Christmas tale set in the ultimate festive city: New York. I can't think of a single person who wouldn't like to spend Christmas in the Big Apple! Lucie is asked to be bridesmaid at her friend's lavish festive wedding and jumps at the chance to spend her least favourite time of year away from home. She and her best friend Dale travel to New York together for the wedding and their friendship begins to take a romantic turn. They were such a cute couple and I was willing them to get together throughout the story, but I also loved the internal conflicts that stopped them from making the leap. They all felt very real and relatable and their journey as characters was compelling.

This book just wasn’t for me, the writing style and me just didn’t mix but I can see how this would be enjoyable for many others

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book. Unfortunately, I was unable to get into it and will not be rating or reviewing at this time. It's a clear case of "it's not you, it's me" so I will try again at some point. If I fare better then, I'll rate and review then.

Really enjoyable read. Good characters and a Good story. Well worth a read. Think others will enjoy.

I had high expectations with this book to really make the charm and whimsy of Christmas explode around me. Christmas in Manhattan sounds wonderful and it was, but it just took too long for Lucie and Dale to get there. Instead, I felt like too much time was spent lying to family and friends about their fake relationship as an excuse for missing Christmas and how they will “break up” when they get back.

I also felt completely uninformed and in the dark about what happened to Lucie’s mother and why she hates Christmas. Hints are dropped all over the book with a large thud that took me out of the story wondering what happened and wishing they would spit it out already.

What I really liked about this book is the real relationship Lucie and Dale have. The one they are ignoring, or trying to. The deep love and friendship they have for one another is something few people find but most of us spend a lifetime looking for. I loved how Dale is there for Lucie, day or night, rain or shine. It was obvious to me how deeply his feelings for Lucie are and how hard he tries to hold it inside. I was very happy when they finally got honest with one another and bared their hearts and souls.

This book has a lot of interesting characters and I had a difficult time understanding how Lucie and Petra were even friends, much less having Lucie be a bridesmaid. However, the starts and stops I had to endure in the beginning were made up for by the interesting twist the story takes when Lucie and Dale get to Manhattan. I loved the horse-drawn carriage ride through Central Park and going to Rockefeller Center to see the tree and ice-skating.

My Final Verdict: Although this book had a lot of moments that dragged for me, I liked the story overall. I thought Dale and Lucie were good characters and their emotions were so raw and powerful in their intensity at times. I even felt a little compassion for Petra by the end. This was a good choice for my Christmas themed stories and readers who think Manhattan at Christmas time is the place to be should give this one a look.

OK so this is where I have to own up to the fact its taken me TWO Christmas to read this novel! I honestly don't know why I didn't finish the book last Christmas.

Dale and Lucie are adorable, true best friends - which has you thinking why they aren't already together. SPOILER ALEART! They get together by mistake (know you want to know how - well you'll have to read the book). Everyone knows that they should be a couple but they seem to be a bit slow to making it happen. They both value their friendship to the point neither of them wants to ruin it. It makes sense.

What I will say is for the length of the book it did take me a bit longer to consume it! Probably due to being impatient with the leading character. For such good friends they do seem to keep a lot from each other.
While the titles is Very Merry Manhattan Christmas we don't get to Manhattan until much further into the book, like the final quarter of the book. In some parts the story is rushed for example the reason Lucie has hated Christmas for so long spills out. Like BAM! here's the reason I hate Christmas lets make out.... (obviously there's a bit more to it then that) but that's how it is drawn out.

Darcie Boleyn is clearly a talented author. Very Merry Manhattan Christmas it feels like she's trying to tick a lot of boxes rather than concentrating on one or two and drawing out the story.
Overall - now that I've finally managed to read it, I would definitely recommend it for a Christmas read.

My review has been posted to my blog & Goodreads.

Review has also been tweeted as usual.

Thank you! :c)

Although this is not my typically reading genre, I have to admit that I enjoyed it. It was a lovely light hearted and easy read. It definitely lifted my spirits

I received a copy of this book to read from NetGalley in return for my honest opinion.
I have been incredibly slack as it was a considerable time ago that I was given it to read and it did take me until this Christmas holidays to start reading 'A Very Manhattan Christmas'. It really was a lovely book that had a really strong story so, while I'm sorry I took so long to get to it in my list of books to read, I'm delighted I took the time to sit down with it.
Lucie is asked to be a bridesmaid by her friend, Petra, whose family are by no means short of money - so the wedding is to take place in New York. What's not to love about that - well nothing really except the wedding is to take place at Christmas, a time of year that Lucie is not overly fond of - in fact she pretty much avoids anything to do with this holiday. The only way she sees herself being able to accept the invitation and survive the experience is if her best friend, Dale, comes with her to America and shares the adventure. Dale, who has been friends with Lucie for what seems like forever, does not hesitate to support his oldest friend hoping to take a bit of the blah of the experience away for her.
This was a really twisty turny rom-com as things don't always go to plan and friendships are put to the test when everyone starts to misinterpret the trip to New York thinking that Dale and Lucie are a couple on the verge of being engaged. Complications keep coming from this point forward.
The path to true love is never necessarily at smooth one and Lucie's path is particularly rocky which provides quite a lot of amusement to the reader., Dale and his family are super and it is really quite believable that we have entered into a point of their lives; lives that have been going on forever. Darcie Boleyn shapes the background stories to how these characters connect brilliantly. I have to admit I was a little pro Dale and anti Lucie in places - I think that is the sign of a well told story when you start to take the side of a particular character.
New York provides a fabulous backdrop to the story and you do have an urge to quickly look up plane fares just to see if it might be doable. While this is a Christmas story I think it works to be read at any point in time if you enjoy a slightly complicated but ultimately happy romance.

Oh I do love a good romance. Oh and I love Christmas. Oh and I do love New York. Combine these three things and you have the fabulous romantic read A Very Merry Manhattan Christmas by Darcie Boleyn. Winner winner.

A Very Merry Manhattan Christmas is the wonderfully festive tale of two friends who are meant to be together finding love and discovering something that had been there all along. Lucie and Dale have been friends for forever and even though everyone around them can see that they are meant to be together they are really tentative when it comes to actually making that leap.

What was lovely about A Very Merry Manhattan Christmas is that the love between the characters bounced off the page. When it was compared to less successful relationships in the story you can see how well suited Dale and Lucie are.

A Very Merry Manhattan Christmas isn’t a long story, at only 201 pages it could easily be read in one sitting. It is the perfect book to get you in the festive mood.

A Very Merry Manhattan Christmas by Darcie Boleyn is available now.

For more information regarding Darcie Boleyn (@DarcieBoleyn) please visit www.darcieboleyn.wordpress.com.

For more information regarding Canelo (@canelo_co) please visit www.canelo.co.

This book was a great read and kept me interested from page 1. I would definitely read more books by this author and would highly recommend this to other readers, especially if you are a fan of this author. I love the holiday themes and, of course, the romance. You won't be disappointed with this book.

I love holiday romance novels, this one was especially enjoyable. The characters were were likable and the plot was predictable...nevertheless so very enjoyable.

I really enjoyed the book, it has everything I love in a novel from start to finish. I can’t wait to read what the author has planned next!

I have read Darcie before and enjoyed her book so I was pleased when I got accepted to review this one. This book was ok but nothing more I'm afraid. I've read a lot of Christmas themed books and this one didn't cut above the rest. The book is called a very manhattan Christmas but Lucie and Dale didn't get to Manhatten until over halfway through the book! We spent a long time reading about Lucie's Mum and how she has died and understanding why she hates the Christmas period but I would have liked to have read about Manhatten more and them being tourists, we didn't really 'see' the sites of Manhattan. Yes they did a carriage ride but that was about it and then it was the wedding which is what they were there for. I thought her tripping down the isle was unnecessary just because she saw her ex in a wheelchair. It was obvious they would end up together and reading throughout the whole book that they felt the same about each other but didn't want the other to know, they were acting like a couple before they were a fake couple. I enjoyed parts of this book but it didn't grip me and was a bit obvious. I would look out for Darcie's next book, this hasn't put me off but it isn't as good as her last one.

A light read, I like to read Christmassy books in the winter

This book was a delightful Christmas read, albeit not the typical "feel good" story because it dealt with some serious issues which affected how Lucie views Christmas.

You have Manhattan at Christmas (which is always a delightful backdrop), some misunderstandings/ deception that gets a wee bit out of hand, some star-crossed romance...it all built up to a lovely tale - perhaps slightly predictable at times, but the type of happy tale one wants over the holidays.

Cute read. Descriptive writer. Characters well developed. Makes you want to have a Manhattan Christmas.

This was a light, easy read a vague festive storyline - perfect for this time of year when I don't want anything too heavy.

I struggled to engage with some of the the characters (altho I did appreciate that a lot of the stereotype chick lit clichés had been avoided!), mostly the dialogue between Dale and Lucie rang a little false, and the *big reveal* of why Lucie hates Christmas fell quite flat for me.

An enjoyable, quick read tho. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy for review!