Christmas on the Island by Jenny Colgan is the third book in the Summer Seaside Kitchen series.
In Scotland, on the remote Island of Mure, Christmas is a festive, cozy time of year. It’s a time for family and friends and for reflecting on the good things in life. Well… that is if you hadn’t gotten accidentally pregnant by your skittish boyfriend who has some serious emotional issues. Will Flora get up the nerve to tell Joel? And what will his reaction be?
Also on Mure, Saif, a doctor and refugee from Syria is trying to enjoy his first Christmas with his boys after their reunion earlier in the year. But things have been even harder for Saif ever since he and Lorena ruined their friendship with their emotional confessions. Saif’s wife is still missing and the whole family is struggling to adapt to life on the island.
Will Christmas on Mure be a disaster or will this little community come together to enjoy the holiday?
Oh Mure. Oh Jenny Colgan. I tend to read Colgan’s books when I am looking for something light and in general, I like my light reads to tie up in nice neat little bows. But these books almost always leave me just a smidgen wanting. And Christmas on the Island was pretty much the same. A lovely, light little read that takes us back to the characters we fell in love with in the first two books, but with new and old problems rearing their heads.
All I have to say is poor everyone in this book! I felt so bad for ALL the characters. We really need the next one to give everyone perfectly happy endings. Please. Now that I think about it, this wasn’t really a light happy read… don’t let the “Christmas” in the title fool you. It was actually quite depressing even if there were sunny moments and it ended on a fairly happy-ish note.
The more I think back on this book the more I am reconsidering my four star rating. I think I am actually going to go with a 3.5 because I just needed a little bit more from it. But I do hope we get at least one more
That’s all for now!
-M-