Winter Wonderland

by Belinda Jones

[Leah]

Belinda Jones is a Chick Lit stalwart. Winter Wonderland is her 11th novel and there’s only a couple of her books I haven’t read, and none I haven’t enjoyed. I do, personally, feel like her last couple of books have been a bit below par – Living La Vida Loca had no romance to speak of, sadly and I found California Dreamers to be a novel I couldn’t engage with properly. I just felt there was something missing and that’s an awful feeling when it’s an author you normally really love. So I was wary when I received my copy of Winter Wonderland. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be a novel I enjoyed, I was worried I’d find it wanting. But I couldn’t not read it. It’s Belinda Jones, people. Plus it’s utterly stunning looking, with a pale blue/green background color and a winter wonderland shown inside a bauble. Stunning.

Winter Wonderland surprised me. It took me about 100 pages to get into it (which when compared to how short it is – 300 pages) is probably quite a while, but once I got into it, I got into it. It worked for me and I found myself fully absorbed in Krista’s adventures in the Winter Wonderland that is Quebec. I’m not a big traveller – I can count the countries I’ve been to on one hand and still have fingers left (Florida, Spain, England). I do, however, have dreams of travelling. I want to go to New York, to Australia, to Hawaii, but I’ve never thought as Canada as a place I’d like to visit. Why would I, when America is right there? That’s very ignorant me, I’m sure, but it just never really appealed. Let me tell you right here, right now, though, that I would LOVE to go to Canada. Love to visit Quebec’s Winter Carnival, love to see Montreal and all it has to offer. Belinda Jones can sell destinations like no one I know. And I’m sure that everyone who reads Winter Wonderland will also want to visit Canada. Canada rocks, it seems, and we’ve all clearly been missing out.

That’s what I’ve always loved about Belinda’s books, is the travelling. She’s the most accomplished travel writer, ever. But what of the actual story, which sadly isn’t just about how fabulous Canada is! Our main character is Krista, who after a painful split that’s she’s still suffering from, is hoping for a bit of a break from all that stuff and arrives in Canada raring to go. Even risking freezing to death, if it means the readers of her website Va-Va-Vacation! can have a stressfree a holiday as possible. What she doesn’t bank on, is a photographer jumping her her first night there, in an ice bed no less. She finds herself even more confused when she meets the mysterious Jacques and finds herself strangely attracted to him and his beautiful husky dogs. I liked the plot of the novel very much. I liked Krista and I liked the burdgeoning friendship with Jacques. Mostly, though, I just enjoyed the Carnival and I liked seeing it from Krista’s perspective. She gets herself in lots of scrapes, especially with the strange and enticing Mal.

I thoroughly recommend Winter Wonderland. It’s my favourite of Belinda’s last three novels, of that there’s no doubt. I was captivated by Canada, by Quebec, by the Carnival. I want to go to Canada and meet all the lovely Canadian people. I’d quite like to find my own Jacques, as well, to be fair. I would have liked to have found out exactly who the strange Mal was. He spent a lot of time terrorising Krista, and I sort of liked waiting for him to pop up again, and I would have just liked to know, out of curiosity, exactly who he was. I thought Annique, Krista’s tour guide was awesome and it makes such a change that although Annique was utterly beautiful and miles skinnier than Krista, that that storyline didn’t go down that path, and that actually Annique was lovely and she and Krista got on so well. I can’t wait for Belinda’s next book especially as The Travelling Tea Shop is going to be featuring Laurie as the main character – Krista’s best friend! So I’m hoping for an update on Krista’s life or even better, for Krista to be in it! Winter Wonderland is definitely a book you want to be curling up with because Belinda is back on track, folks, and it’s wonderful.