A Miracle at Macy's - Lynn Marie Hulsman

The Blurb

One lost dog. Two lonely hearts. A Manhattan Christmas full of magic.

Shy homebody Charlotte is planning her usual quiet Christmas celebration: Turkey for two for her and her beloved pet dog Hudson. Only, this year, little Hudson decides to take matters into his own paws and give his favourite human a holiday adventure she’ll never forget.

When Hudson runs away the week before Christmas, Charlotte is devastated. She’d rescued him from the trash years before and gave him a place in her home – and her heart. But with the help of uptight Englishman Henry, Charlotte ends up on a magical treasure hunt around Manhattan to find her furry, four-legged bestie.

Spotted in Central Park as one of Santa's Little Helpers, or last seen in the arms of a supermodel in Times Square, Hudson leads Charlotte and Henry on a very merry dance around the Big Apple, where love, (or should that be Christmas?!) actually is all around.

The Review

As soon as I saw the cover for  A Miracle at Macy's I knew I had to read it.  Christmas, New York, a cute as a button puppy - it looked like the perfect Christmas read.

Once I started reading, I knew I'd enjoy the story.  I immediately warmed to Charlotte, the quiet protagonist, and fell head over heels in love with her mischievous pup Hudson.  His personality shone through as much as that of any of the human characters and made me care about the major plotline - finding Hudson when he goes missing just before Christmas. 

What followed was a madcap campaign to reunite Charlotte and Hudson, made all the more high profile by Charlotte's event organiser aunt Miranda gaining celebrity supporters and designating the gorgeous Henry to keep the search in the limelight.  The New York backdrop was a perfect winter setting and Hulsman showcases what the city has to offer throughout the novel.  Her first hand experience of the city over the holidays is evident and had me longing to be there!

There was so much tension between Charlotte and Henry, I loved how their relationship sizzled!  It was an old fashioned romance with a new twist.  There need to be more nice guys like Henry in romantic fiction!

Humorous, touching and oh-so festive, A Miracle at Macy's is a feel-good read to banish the winter blues. 

A Miracle at Macy's is out now in ebook format and paperback on December 17th, published by Harper Impulse. 

With thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Remix - Non Pratt

The Blurb

From the author of Trouble comes a new novel about boys, bands and best mates.

Kaz is still reeling from being dumped by the love of her life... Ruby is bored of hearing about it. Time to change the record.

Three days. Two best mates. One music festival. Zero chance of everything working out.

The Review

I haven't read Non Pratt's Trouble (yet!) so Remix is my first experience of her writing.  And I have to say I was really impressed. 

Best friends Ruby and Kaz are dual narrators (with short alternating viewpoints throughout the book) and this was the perfect way to tell the story of their weekend at Remix music festival where they're desperate to see favourite band Gold'ntone play live.  This book wouldn't have worked as well in any other format, because the strongest aspect of the story is how relatable the main characters are.  That's not to say I always liked Kaz and Ruby, and there were moments I wanted to scream at them for the choices they were making, but seeing how and why they behaved as they did really made me empathise with both of them. 

However Lauren, the new girlfriend of Kaz's ex Tom - she creeped me out!  I'm not sure if that was the author's aim, but I found it very cringey and uncomfortable how both Tom and Lauren seemed to think it was perfectly normal to force her into Kaz's friendship group.  Not cool.

I admit to finding the first forty or fifty pages of this one fairly slow going, but once the action started this book was like a runaway train and I was waiting for explosive crash.  Non Pratt touches on so many topics that are relevant to young adults (and adults) - friendship, relationships, being part of a family, sex, drugs, hero worship...and in many ways this is a coming of age story set over a weekend. 

The festival setting gave a lively and vibrant backdrop to the action and made a plausible and surprisingly rarely-used setting for a YA book (I think I read a Melvin Burgess set at a festival a few years back, but no others spring to mind). It certainly allows the characters to break free from the constraints of everyday life, which is exactly what happens to both Kaz and Ruby. 

Overall, I enjoyed Remix and have already bought Trouble - I can see why Non Pratt is being so widely praised for both her writing and her content.  Above all it's a story of friendship and trust, and those themes will never go out of fashion.

Remix is out now, published by Walker.