REVIEW: Christmas in the Park by Laura Lockington
30-something Sarah has finally decided to start her own business.
After years of 5 a.m starts, running around a busy television studio, she has decided to hand in her resignation, and begin her dream of running her own cake making business. Swapping her stylish clothes for tracksuits and an apron she gets to work, and is thrilled when the local café agrees to start selling her treats. And – even better – she starts to get to know the handsome and single owner, David.
Working from home also means she can finally do one other thing she couldn’t do with her hectic job – get a puppy. Deciding she wants a rescue dog, Sarah heads off to the local dog’s centre, and tries not to say yes to adopting the whole lot. One beautiful little Dachshund with adorable amber eyes immediately takes a liking to her. And Sarah knows there is no turning back.
She bundles Malteaser up and takes him home, and before long he is helping her to meet new people in her local park. But Malteaser can be more than a bit of a handful. And Sarah knows she is no good at disciplining him… So when fellow dog-walker Nick steps in to give her hand she knows she should take his advice. But does he just want to help her out, or is he interested in something else?
With an excitable puppy, and lots of orders to bake for the café, could Sarah be taking on too much? And could there be something there with David – or Nick?
With Christmas on the way, and the café suddenly coming under threat, things get even crazier. And Sarah has to find a way to create a magical Christmas in the Park…‘Christmas in the Park’ is a warming festive novella, full of sweat treats, doggy disasters and snippets of romance.
Dear Ms. Lockington,
Sarah is excited to be leaving her producers daytime TV job, starting her own cake making business and getting a dog. Kind of in that order. Taking the redundancy is done but her business plan for her cake making enterprise seems to be rather loose at present with the plan to take samples round and hope people are interested. Hmmm, okay. The dog acquisition though, that’s full steam ahead with plans to adopt from a rescue shelter (yay!), home check done and the wisdom of Caesar the dog whisperer already memorized.
Sarah soon bonds with an adult dachshund named Malteaser who has his own way of doing things, thank you very much. Sarah is putty in his paws and even though she thinks of Caesar’s advice for new dog owners, she just can’t help but yield to whatever Malteaser whines for. Soon she is the despair of the other dog walkers in the neighborhood park, especially Nick and his two well trained Staffies.
Nick seems interested but with one failed marriage behind him – his wife told him he’s bossy, something Sarah guiltily agrees with – Sarah’s not sure she’s interested. But what about David, who with his brother owns a café (organic this and locally sourced that) near the park and who adores Sarah’s cakes and confections. David’s choice of restaurant certainly beats Nick’s and while slugging back saki, Sarah pretty much makes up her mind all while sorting out the campaign to save the café from the heartless council bent on more parking spaces.
This one has that wonderful, cheesy, heartwarming ending that all good Christmas stories ought to have. All hands on deck pulling together to help each other, a little romance, an adorable dog – even if he steadfastly resists any training efforts on Sarah’s part –a hopeful ending and a ginger cake recipe. I might be ready for the holidays. B
~Jayne
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