It was six days before Christmas when Stella received a phone call informing her that her grandmother had a fall off a ladder. Stella’s grandmother lived in the Scottish Borders of Melrose.
Stella raced into work to explain she needed time off to be with her beloved grandmother, her boss Pete Park was so understanding and was more than happy to help her in any way he could.

Stella was so worried about her grandmother, but going back to her hometown a place she knew where she would run into her ex-fiancé, Ross also had her on edge. When Stella left Ross she moved to London, but she never explained why and to this day, Ross has wondered what went wrong between them.

Stella’s Christmas Wish by Kate Blackadder was a delightful read and a perfect read for the holiday season. I found this story to be feel-good story just what readers like myself need from time to time. Recommended.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my digital copy to read and review.

Stella's Christmas Wish by Scottish writer Kate Blackadder is a complex weave of love stories. The love between man and woman threads among the strands of love we feel for family members and for friends; and the passion of art that some live with to the exclusion of all others and normal life.

I love christmas stories. This was so cute and fun. Its a feel good story about a christmas wish. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a good holiday read.

This book is the perfect feel good holiday read. You know how the story is going to end up, but enjoy the ride! I enjoy these heartfelt books during the holidays and this one was extremely well written.

A lovely Christmas romance read. Perfect for snuggling by a cosy fire. I enjoyed the setting.

This was a nice Christmas romance set in Scotland. The week before Christmas Stella gets a phone call and returns home to help her grandmother recover from a fall. She's worried about running into the love of her life who she left without a word of explanation. As she navigates her friends and neighbors in the small town and visits the hospital the inevitable happens and she meets up with Ross who appears to be moving on. Most of the story is about them avoiding each other and being unreasonable. I would have liked a little more Christmas cheer and less conflict. Several interesting side stories with a focus on art. This is the first book I've read by Kate Blackadder who appears to have a number of books available.

Unfortunately this book was archived before I could read it.

Fantastic! First book by Kate Blackadder l have read, but not the last. With the descriptions of Edinburgh, even in winter with cold weather, I wanted to finish reading and catch a flight. Back to the story. A story of family love and romantic love. Secrets kept and revealed. A wonderful holiday or anytime read.

Loved the cover on this book. Its what 1st attracted me to it. I am very pleased to say I was not disappointed when I read it. it was a lovely festive read. It was a feel good read which is perfect in the run up to christmas when you just need time out from your real life. It was well written, and I liked the writers style.

I really enjoyed this book - it is a lovely feel-good Christmas read. It is a heartwarming story about family, secrets, friendship and love.

It was a well written book with engaging storyline. I loved the Scottish setting to the story - the author captivates the vibrancy perfectly. The characters are interesting and I was intrigued to know what was going to happen.

A delightful heartwarming book perfect for the Christmas holidays with romance, intrigue and a feel-good ending. Perfect.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

A few days before Christmas Stella receives a call at her London office informing her that her grandmother has been hospitalized due to a fall she took hanging a picture. She rushes to Scotland to spend as much time as she can with her grandmother,Alice. While there there are memories she would rather not confront but she must,Like her ex-boyfriend,Ross. They were both very much in love but she had to leave him and move to London and she has kept it a secret why. Christmas is a special magical time right? Anything's possible at this time of year. Read this delightful story and see if Stella get's her Christmas wish.
Pub Date 03 Nov 2016
Thank you to NetGalley and Black & White Publishing for a review copy in exchange for my honest review.

When I saw the words Scotland and Christmas in the blurb I just knew I wanted to read Stella's Christmas Wish during the holiday seasons. Followers of my blog know I have soft spot for anything related to Scotland or Christmas. So a combo of those two.....

Stella’s Christmas Wish is a very short story. Only 180 pages, but Kate Blackadder does a wonderful job of telling a complete story in those 180 pages. It is a detailed, nicely wrapped up story about family and friendship. When you turn the last page you won't feel like you missed out on anything. Or were cheated out on some plot-twists. No everything fits together perfectly and is wrapped up with a neat little bow around it.
The only downside is that it took me a while to get into the story. The first 40 pages I just couldn't get into the writing style. It felt forced and the story didn't flow. It was quite a struggle to get trough. Once over that 40 pages mark it felt like Kate found her groove and really grew as a writer. Suddenly the story flowed more ad the sentences didn't feel forced anymore. No problem of course, but if you only have 180 pages, 40 pages us a huge part of the story.

Kate Blackadder played with time in her debut novel. Most of the chapters are set in the present day but sometimes we get flashbacks to the time that Stella's grandmother was still a child. This perspective really added that extra zing to the story. As a reader you felt more connected to the whole family mystery going on and you felt more connected to the characters in the story. It also made the story into something more. It wasn't just a story about love, its about family. About loosing those you love and finding your home again.

Apart from the flashbacks Stella’s Christmas Wish is told from two different POV's. That of Stella herself and of her ex Ross. I really enjoyed looking at both sides of their relationship. Although I sometimes wanted to scream in utter frustration: Just talk to each-other god dammit! But lets be honest, that is just one of those things you do while reading a chick-lit.

I also want to mention the wonderful side characters in this book. Especially Ross and Stella's grandparents. I loved that everybody got his own story-line and his own happy ending.

Stella’s Christmas Wish contained some quick fix plot-lines that I didn't really enjoy. I really disliked the whole reason why Stella left Ross. It felt as a plot device and I just couldn't imagine someone doing this with the love of their lives. I think this could have been handled much better! .

All in all Stella’s Christmas Wish is a light feel good Christmas story. Ideal reading during a windy, cold winter-day with a nice blanket over your feet and a mug of hot cocoa in your hands.

Stella has a secret she doesn't want to reveal although this secret tore her apart from the love of her life. Now, a year later she meets him again and it is obvious that the old feelings are still present in both of them. Can the angel on the Christmas tree grant her wish?
I liked the storytelling of the author. The story has a gentle pace with some unexpected turns. It is all written in a beautiful prose that is very enjoyable to read. It has a host of very loveable characters you are interested in.
This is the first book I have read by this author, but I have a feeling it is not the last one.

Stella returns back from London to Scotland after her grandmother has a fall. It is a story of family, forgiveness and love,

A week before Christmas Stell, who lives in London, receives a phone call concerning her beloved Grandmother Alice in Scotland. She drops everything to be by Alice's side and in doing so faces some unfinished issues of her own.
I thoroughly enjoyed this, a perfect Christmas read, full of family dramas and heart warming moments.

Six days before Christmas, Stella is called back to Scotland because the grandmother who raised her and her sister has had a fall and is injured. She hurries home to be with her grandmother and is forced to face her past and her unexplained break up with her boyfriend. When the reason for the breakup is revealed, I was a little surprised at the lack of communication between Stella and Ross. The other story line of a long lost relative is heart warming and really adds to the story.

With only two weeks until Christmas, I was in the mood for a 'feel-good' Christmas themed story. This book delivered my wish.

Stella grew up on the Scottish Borders in a tiny town called Melrose. Her parents were killed in a plane crash when she was small, so Stella and her younger sister, Maddie, were brought up by her paternal grandmother, Alice. Unlike her artistic sister and grandmother who still live in Scotland, Stella is the more level-headed of the three, and now works as an accountant in a busy London firm.

Just a week before Christmas she receives a telephone call saying that her dear grandmother Alice has had a nasty fall from a ladder and has been rushed to an Edinburgh hospital. Despite a looming work deadline, Stella drops everything and travels north.

With trepidation, both about her grandmother's condition, and the possibility of meeting up with her ex-fiance Ross, she finds herself back in the town of her youth. She and Ross broke up just about the time that Stella procured her job in London. Ross is now a successful restaurateur in Melrose. It was Stella's decision to sever her ties with Ross, and she never really explained to him why she did. Ross has never understood her move to London, and he has never gotten over her...

With her younger sister inexplicably in Australia, it is up to Stella to care for her grandmother. Stella is happy to be home again as living in London would never have been her choice. Her reasons for going were complicated...

Visiting Alice in the Edinburgh hospital brings back many fond memories for Stella of a time when she and Ross were still a couple, and very much in love.

The setting of this novel was a delight, and the characters endearing. I did want to shake a few of them quite a few times, only because they were putting themselves through unnecessary torment by keeping their secrets and their feelings to themselves... Misunderstandings abound.

The writing seemed a bit awkward at first, but smoothed out as the novel progressed. The reader wonders what could possibly have caused Stella to move to London and break-up with Ross. And why has Maddie traveled all the way across the world to Australia? She can't afford it, she didn't let Stella know she was going, AND she'll be there over Christmas!

Reading a book like this, well... you know that all the problems faced by the characters will eventually resolve themselves. Predictable, but then you know that going in. Christmas comes but once a year, we can predict that, but it doesn't make it any the less enjoyable.

This is a charming Christmas novel that will be appreciated by anyone who likes the work of Kate Hewitt or Rosamund Pilcher. A 'feel-good' love story set over the Christmas season, and a heart-warming testament to the importance of family.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel from Black & White Publishing via NetGalley. I chose to write this review.

Stella's Christmas Wish is a fun and heartwarming story of a woman, Stella, forced to return to her home in Scotland after her grandmother falls and her sister has suddenly left on holiday. It is a love story with a backdrop of mystery. Why had her sister left so suddenly and not told her? Why had Stella left years ago herself? Was her grandmother Alice going to be ok? The story quickly comes together and by the end all ends as one would think it should. I will say I was hoping for more of "Christmas" --I just prefer my Christmas novels to be more over-the-top Christmas and not just a story that happens to be set around December 25.

I also agree with some other reviewers that it feel like it is part of a series-- there were A LOT of side stories that could have been more developed- or have room to develop.

Thanks to Netgalley and Black and White publishers for the opportunity to review this book in return for an honest review. 3.5 Stars

Stella's Christmas Wish is a heartwarming story of a woman coming home to her family and her heart. The characters were likeable, the romance not too complicated where you were nervous if the happy ending would occur, and the story moved quickly. This feels like it is part of a series, or at least should be part of a series because there were a lot of side stories that needed more time, particularly Alice and her lost relative.