FESTIVE REVIEW: Five Gold Rings by Kristen Bailey

It’s Christmas Eve eve, and the holidays are not off to a good start for, er, Eve.

After the surprise and shock of catching her boyfriend cheating, Eve – totally devastated – reacts by throwing the gifts she’s selflessly bought and wrapped for HIS family out of the window. But while doing so she discovers her own present from Chris under the Christmas tree: an engagement ring, bought at the jeweller’s where she works. What the jingle bells is going on? And what was he thinking?

Confused and with her Christmas plans in tatters, Eve rocks up at the jeweller's for some tea and sympathy with her lovely employers, Mr and Mrs Caspar, who quietly put in a distress call to her colleague, Joe. Eve doesn’t know that Joe is secretly in love with her, but her bosses do, and they know he’s just the person Eve needs to comfort her in a crisis.

Joe gets the call while moonlighting as a buff butler at a Christmas-themed hen do and races across town to help console Eve. But as he learns about her heartbreak, the Caspars realise a crucial delivery has gone astray: five gold rings destined for Christmas proposals and weddings have been sent to the wrong address.

Can Eve and Joe retrieve the rings and get them to their rightful owners in time?

As they set off in Joe’s ancient mini – Joe still dressed as a sexy elf and Eve just a liiiittle bit tipsy – their adventure begins. With three proposals and two weddings to get to, it’s up to Eve and Joe to save Christmas.

"It's a festive warmth you feel in your chest. Because this joy, this is a huge colourful shiny version of what love looks like. This is what Christmas should look like. It should look like that. It shouldn't look like a blonde woman on her knees noshing off your boyfriend."

Kristen Bailey is back and she has given us an utterly fabulous Christmas present. Five Gold Rings is as ridiculous as a sitcom, sweet as a romance and funny as a comedy with that trademark Bailey flare and wit that makes everything that little bit extra.

Get ready for some festive fun as our leading duo find themselves in absurd situations and getting into all kinds trouble from gatecrashing to impromptu performances, wedding fist fights and matching pjs - our wonderful narrator Eve has such a friendly, conversational tone with such a delightfully casual voice full of witty asides and little tangents that makes getting into her head and following the story so easy. And as we hear from Joe, he has such an earnest and sweet way of storytelling that made me instantly fall for him and his shy, quiet charm (and his calves, of course, Kristen never skimps on the book candy!)

A wonderfully wintery romance packed full of adorable romance, festive sparkle and of course, a generous helping of utter chaos.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Five Gold Rings is available now from Storm Publishing. I received an advanced reviewers copy of this title.

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