Review: 'Christmas at the Little Village Bakery' by Tilly Tennant (2016)

Snow is falling in Honeybourne and Spencer is bringing home his American fiancée Tori for a traditional English Christmas with all the trimmings. But when his hippie mum and dad meet her high-maintenance parents, sparks of the wrong sort start to fly. Then Spencer bumps into his first love Jasmine and unexpected feelings come flooding back. 
Millie is run off her feet with Christmas orders at the Little Village Bakery and new baby Oscar. Thank goodness her cousin Darcie is here to help her. Although she does seem to be rather flirty with Millie’s boyfriend Dylan. 
Will Darcie ever find true love of her own? And is marrying Tori a terrible mistake for Spencer if his heart is with someone else?
It's December which means it's time to grab some hot chocolate or a nice warm cup of tea, turn on those festive sparkly lights, crawl underneath a comfy blanket and read some fabulous holiday-themed novels! I can't help but feel as if with each year more and more Christmas books are being released and I have to say it's a trend I don't hate. I love Christmas; it's my favourite time of the year and I'm really glad I finally got to dive into my big pile of holiday reads. This year I started with 'Christmas at the Little Village Bakery', the second part of Tilly Tennant's lovely new series set in the village of Honeybourne. I loved the first book (click here to read my review) and couldn't wait to go back again!
The small town of Honeybourne is getting ready for the festive season, and so are its inhabitants. Spencer has come back from the other side of the world, taking with him his fiancee Tori, to spend Christmas in Honeybourne. The only obstacle in their way: both their parents want to spend Christmas with them, but this turns out to not exactly be a match made in heaven. At the same time Millie and Dylan are incredibly busy in the village bakery, especially while also taking care of their new baby, Oscar. Luckily they have Millie's cousin Darcie to help them out, but Darcie is dealing with some of her own issues and being around the bakery all day long definitely isn't helping... Will Spencer and Darcie be able to solve their issues in order to have a good Christmas or is this year's holiday season about to become a real disaster?
Oh, how I loved being able to revisit Honeybourne and seeing what all the different characters were up to, especially with this lovely dose of Christmas cheer that author Tilly Tennant has included in this second part of her latest book series. 'Christmas at the Little Village Bakery' can be read as a stand-alone, but I personally definitely recommend starting with the first book, just so you know the different characters and their history together. It was great to once again join Millie and Dylan, now with new baby Oscar, at the bakery, but I also really enjoyed the larger focus on other characters such as Spencer, a good friend of both Millie and Dylan, and his fiancee Tori, and Darcie, Millie's younger cousin, who has moved to Honeybourne and helps out in the bakery.
This is definitely a great read to get into the festive Christmas spirit; Honeybourne in the snow is described as one of the prettiest towns on earth and I would have loved jumping into the pages of the novel to visit the small town myself. I've really come to love these characters and even in this sequel Tilly Tennant managed to come up with two equally fascinating and enjoyable storylines; combined with her well-paced and easy-to-read writing style it resulted in a fantastic read I loved from beginning to end. Overall, 'Christmas at the Little Village Bakery' is warm-hearted and lovely festive read that has made me even more excited about the holiday season that's coming up, and I already can't wait for my next visit to Honeybourne...!

Rating:9,5/10

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