Review: 'Comfort and Joy' by Cathy Bramley (2016)

It’s been a busy year for Verity Bloom at the Plumberry School of Comfort Food, but Christmas Eve is finally here. With delicious treats all wrapped up and the ingredients packed away, Verity is looking forward to a relaxing few days with her new boyfriend.
Good food, family and friends – it’s a simple recipe for true comfort and joy, and all Verity’s friends in the village are full of excitement about the holidays too.
But the weather has other plans in store… Relentless rain leads to a power cut that spells disaster for many of Plumberry’s residents. It’s starting to look like this year’s celebrations could be a total washout.
With dreams of a perfect Christmas dashed, will the last of the festive cheer be swept away in the downpour? Or can the cookery school create a Christmas miracle for everyone Verity holds dear?
Slowly but surely we are getting closer and closer to Christmas and I couldn't be more excited! I love December and all the preparations for the holidays and one of the most important things that comes with that: Christmas novels! For the past few years I've saved all my festive-themed reading for November and December, which makes sure I'm in the ultimate Christmas mood by the time the end of the year arrives! However, I do like to make a sneaky exception every now and again and that's what I did with Cathy Bramley's 'Comfort and Joy'. This festive novella was released on October 13th and I was lucky enough to receive an early review copy of this beauty...!
'Comfort and Joy' invites readers to revisit the Plumberry School of Comfort Food (the setting of author Cathy Bramley's previous novel) and familiar faces such as Verity, Tom, Pixie and Mags. All of them have had a busy year and can't wait for Christmas to finally spend some time with their family and friends. However, the weather gods have other plans as rain keeps pouring down, causing floods and all kinds of other problems in the area. Will Verity and her friends be able to save Christmas or is everything destined to be ruined this time around?
Cathy Bramley's 'Comfort and Joy' (which has a truly gorgeous cover in my opinion!) is a short sequel to 'The Plumberry School of Comfort Food.' While you can definitely read this novella as a stand-alone, just like me, I do think it will be even more enjoyable if you actually know these characters and what they've already been through together. As usual, Cathy has created a wonderful group of characters and a lovely setting, and I loved reading every page of this quick read, also thanks to Ms. Bramley's simply fantastic and comfortable writing style.
This novella is filled to the brim with Christmas joy and it almost felt like wrapping a warm festive-themed blanket around myself. The holiday decorations, bringing friends and family together during horrible weather, a lot of smiles and friendship and love... It immediately brought a smile to my face and I'm sure no one will be able to finish this read and NOT smile. Once again, a thoroughly good read by author Cathy Bramley; 'Comfort and Joy' is a lovely, short, feel-good story filled with Christmas cheer... I can't wait for it to be December!

Rating:10/10

  For more information about this book: Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com / Goodreads
Thanks to the publisher and author for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.