Review: I’ll Be Home for Christmas by Abbey Clancy

Title:	I’ll Be Home for Christmas
Author:	Abbey Clancy (with help from Debbie Johnson)
Series:	n/a
Pages:	384
Genre(s):	Contemporary
Trope(s):	Christmas Romance
Point of View:
Location:	UK
HEA:	✔️
Release Date:	19th September, 2019

Enjoyable Christmas chick-lit

This is the first book I’ve read of Abbey Clancy’s – and actually didn’t know she’d turned her hand to writing until picking up this book. It’s written with the help of Debbie Johnson.

I can definitely see some people having preconceived notions about this book based on the author. I remember first seeing Ms. Clancy back during her ‘Britain’s Top Model’ days and liked her then. While I wouldn’t class myself a fan, she definitely seems like a likeable and fun person in every capacity I’ve seen her. Throughout the book I felt that the writing seemed very similar to how I would describe Abbey’s personality – namely bubbly and friendly. I also saw a lot of presumed parallels between Abbey’s own journey and experiences to those of Jessika. It made the whole thing more believable and therefore enjoyable.

I would class this book as 100% chick-lit (despite my abhorrence of that term!) rather than romance. While it’s got that underlying romantic storyline (and HEA, you’ll be glad to know), this is more about Jessika’s journey as a new pop star and reconciling the ‘real’ her with the ‘celeb’ her.

“Chick-lit is not normally my bag, but as a side-step, this was an enjoyable diversion.”

**Spoilery bit** (highlight to reveal)

There’s more of a ‘real-life’ feel to the story than you would find with a romance – which is why I wasn’t as angry about the cheating as I might normally be. But don’t get me wrong – I was still very upset about the whole darn incident! But I can reluctantly agree it was realistic and necessary for the whole story arc. I’m still grumpy, though.

**Spoilers end**

While I don’t class myself as the same kind of person as Jessika/Abbey (glam, image-conscious and confidently outgoing) I did like her immensely. I was rooting for her to work everything out – especially her relationship with Daniel. From reading other reviews (after I’d finished the book), I found out that this is actually the second book featuring Jessika and Daniel – and a host of other characters (the first being Remember My Name). While this book certainly stands alone – as I didn’t feel that I was starting a story in the middle – it probably does explain why I felt that the first couple of chapters of the book were quite energetic as we get quite a lot of information about Jessika and her circumstances all at one time.

The story flows along nicely and while there’s not a massively Christmas vibe – I did love the descriptions of their English country home, which definitely had a homey, warm feel to it. It’s the dream, man.

Chick-lit is not normally my bag, but as a side-step, this was an enjoyable diversion. It’s fast paced, has personality in spades and left me thinking about the story for days after I’d finished the last page. I have to admit – I was very pleasantly surprised by this book. 4 stars from me.

Born in Liverpool, Abbey Clancy balances her home life with her career as a model and TV presenter. She is an ambassador for many of the UK’s top brands and has designed her own clothing and jewellery lines as well as launching a range of baby products. Abbey is married to Premiership footballer Peter Crouch and has three small children. I’ll Be Home for Christmas is her second novel.