BLOG TOUR – We Three Kings by Kristen Bailey

Kristen Bailey returns with a 5-star holiday read. Full of warmth, charm, quirky characters, a touch of the spice that we expect from this author (although she’s dialed it down a notch in this one), and an overall sense of having been wrapped up in a comforting, fleecy blanket when you’re done. I loved it!

Blurb:

Maggie Field was looking forward to a solo Christmas in her cosy London flat – before her three workmates decided to liven things up for her.

Maggie loves her job as head of IT at a financial firm, and her three geeky but lovable work buddies. And when they invite her to stay with each of them for the holidays, she can’t resist the chance to get to know them better.

But then her boss tells her she has to make one of her beloved team redundant, and Maggie is distraught. Frank’s work is his world, Jasper’s sarcastic humour is everything, and Leo…well, he’s talented, professional, confusingly attractive, dependable, and funny… Maggie definitely doesn’t want to lose him.

With her career and her heart on the line, Maggie sets off on the Christmas adventure of a lifetime, from playing fake girlfriend at a lavish wedding, to rescuing baby foxes on a posh country estate, to chasing a very confused donkey on Christmas Day in the Lake District. She can’t ignore the sparks between her and Leo – but she also can’t avoid her dilemma.

Can she find a way to keep her work family together, and maybe even find true love under the mistletoe?

A hilarious and heartfelt celebration of friendship, workplace romance, and finding where you belong. Perfect for fans of Sophie Kinsella and Beth O’Leary, this festive rom-com will have you laughing, crying, and reaching for the mince pies.

My Review:

Maggie, Frank, Jasper and Leo have created their own little IT-family in the basement office of the company they work for. To the rest of the organisation, they’re just the geeks that get called when there’s any sort of tech emergency, and then they’re expected to come scurrying out of their deep, dark cave on demand! The rest of the time, they’re ignored and forgotten. They don’t even get invited to the company Christmas party! (How rude!) But Maggie, as the boss makes sure that she takes care of her department and in turn, when they hear that she intends spending Christmas on her own, they’re having none of that! They make plans for her to spend the holidays with them and their families instead.

But before the office shuts down completely for the holiday break, Maggie is called in by HR, and given some unexpected news, along with an impossible choice that she’s going to have to make when they return in the new year.

She decides to put it at the back of her mind though while she spends a wild and unexpected few days seeing her colleagues in an entirely new light, as she attends a wedding with Frank as his fake girlfriend, Jasper’s pre-Christmas family get-together at their rather posh country estate, and eventually, Christmas itself with Leo’s loving, lovely family. When she suddenly finds herself immersed in the families of these men who she’s spent every day with, she starts to understand why they are the way they are. She also realises that the decision she needs to make is now even more difficult than it was before!

The whole book works on so many different levels, coming together to make it the gorgeous read that it is, but making it hard to pinpoint what exactly I loved about it! So I’ll try and highlight a few of my favourite things … (how very Julie Andrews of me!):

The friendship between Frank, Jasper and Leo … a fabulous “Bro Code” of sorts!
The way Maggie looks out for her ‘boys’ and the way they’re so protective of her.
Frank’s mother!
Maggie and Leo (obvs!)
Westfield on Christmas Eve – let me tell you, Westfield on any given day gives me anxiety! The thought of it on Christmas Eve gave my anxiety, anxiety! But then … Duck World! Sephora! Bubble Tea! My kids don’t venture anywhere without stopping for bubble tea – and when we were in London in February, we ventured to Westfield (heaven help me!) … I couldn’t wait to get out of the place, but as we were leaving, they had to stop for bubble tea on the way out!! Your description brought back amazing memories!!
Nana!
Pretty much loads of other stuff, but then the list will be too long!

I loved this book! Kristen Bailey knows about the intricacies of all different types relationships: the ones between family members, men, women, friends, colleagues … throw a few kids of all ages into the mix, saying inappropriate stuff and we’re good to go! She puts it all together, stirs it up until it’s just right, puts an eye-catching cover on it and ‘Ta-da’! Now, I know it’s probably not as easy as all that, but she makes it all flow so seamlessly that it seems effortless.

So … if there’s only one holiday book that you read this festive season, it should be We Three Kings! I highly recommend it, and I can’t thank Kristen enough for continuing to send me her books to read and review, and for inviting me onto her blog tours, even though I always bugger up the dates!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ONE AND ALL!