Hemlock Falls isn’t like other towns. You won’t find it on a map, your phone won’t work here, and the forest outside town might just kill you.

Winnie Wednesday wants nothing more than to join the Luminaries, the ancient order that protects Winnie’s town—and the rest of humanity—from the monsters and nightmares that rise in the forest of Hemlock Falls every night.

Ever since her father was exposed as a witch and a traitor, Winnie and her family have been shunned. But on her sixteenth birthday, she can take the deadly Luminary hunter trials and prove herself true and loyal—and restore her family’s good name. Or die trying.

But in order to survive, Winnie enlists the help of the one person who can help her train: Jay Friday, resident bad boy and Winnie’s ex-best friend. While Jay might be the most promising new hunter in Hemlock Falls, he also seems to know more about the nightmares of the forest than he should. Together, he and Winnie will discover a danger lurking in the forest no one in Hemlock Falls is prepared for.

Not all monsters can be slain, and not all nightmares are confined to the dark.

I’ve never read a Susan Dennard book but the hype around The Luminaries is strong and I was so happy to have received an early copy to review. I also buddy read the book which has really helped me to get my thoughts in order for this review.

Hemlock falls is indeed in it’s own little bubble, there feels like there is little in life there that particularly conforms to social convention, I mean we open with our protagonist, Winnie age just 16, on corpse duty but now of the age to take on the trials to become a hunter. I found Winnie instantly likeable and wonderfully awkward – which is good because we are 90% focused on Winnie throughout.

I loved the trials and the way they played out, and whilst initially the pacing was slow, but understandable as Winnie throws herself into a life she hasn’t been part of for 4 years, when she begins her training montages her readiness and aptitude for the following trials picks up the flow and honestly the pages were almost turning themselves.

I loved the rich lore and the detailed descriptions of the nightmares that roam the forest, the background of the hunter clans and the witches is fascinating and for every question answered it opens the door to about 5 more. The Luminaries is far more than a standard YA girl faces monsters, there are mysteries to solve a plenty too. The single page passage at the start is definitely something i went back to and re-read to see if it gave me any clues, and each time it read a little differently depending on what i had learn from the story.

It’s definitely a book your going to want to tab or keep notes on as the breadcrumbs start to connect and you can try to unravel it all!

Where it didn’t quite work for me (and I say this with the caveat that I had an uncorrected proof) is that there is an odd tense to the writing in places, which led me having to re-read some sentences to make sure i had it right, and there is a hybrid of US and UK language which made me question where on Earth Hemlock Falls was meant to be. I also think (personal preference) that it would have been nice to have had a little bit of the story wrapped up, there are tons of questions left unanswered which felt a little unsatisfying.

That said, there is certainly a lot in the balance which is more than enough to draw me back to book 2 in the series, which I hope we don’t have to wait too long for!

Thank you to Daphne Press and Black Crow PR for sending a copy for review.

Newly single lawyer Gwen Baker is hoping that a family Christmas – countryside, a mountain of food and festive films –

will salve the sting of her career hanging by a thread and her heart being trampled on. Because everyone else has their life sorted: even Dev, her boy-next-door crush, is now a tall, dark and handsome stranger with a fiancée. She can’t help wishing her future was clearer.

Then Gwen wakes up to discover it’s Christmas day all over again. Like Groundhog Day but with turkey. And family arguments. On repeat.

As she figures out how to escape her own particular Christmas hell, Dev is the one bright spot. He might be all grown-up but underneath he’s just as kind and funny as she remembers.

Maybe, just maybe, her heart can be mended after all.

But how do you fall in love with someone who can’t remember you from one day to the next?

Sometimes it’s nice to read outside your usual genre, and whilst contemporary romance isn’t what you would usually associate with my reading tastes, when I do pick one up I do inevitably enjoy it! The Christmas wish is nothing short of a delightfully warm blanket of a read. I loved wrapping myself up it it’s pages as Gwen’s experience of Christmas day went from the sublime to the ridiculous and back again in the most charming of ways.

A festive groundhog day, Gwen finds herself transfixed with the wishes her family would make on the Christmas Pudding sixpence, doing her best to give everyone their hearts desire, whilst childhood crush and neighbour, Dev, is never far away.

I loved the family dynamic and how everyone’s frustrations and secrets were written in a way that still kept humour in the story, never feeling heavy or downbeat, things were always solved by some Bailey’s, fireworks or a hot tub! Gwen’s nan is fabulous and her scenes never failed to make me laugh, because we all know a no holds barred family member like her. There wasn’t a family relationship that I didn’t enjoy reading about, be it sibling rivalry, parental expectation or walking in on your cousin taking *lower half” pics

Gwen’s self discovery is lovely to read, the romance is pretty sweet and all in all it’s a lovely festive read that ties itself nicely with an oversized bow.

Thank you so much Harper Fiction for sending me a copy for review!