Christmas Month - Maxine Morrey

Hello everyone! I have the wonderful Maxine Morrey on my blog todaaay!

Maxine has wanted to be a writer for as long as she can remember and wrote her first (very short) book for school when she was ten. Coming in first, she won a handful of book tokens - perfect for a bookworm! As years went by, she continued to write, but 'normal' work often got in the way. She has written articles on a variety of subjects, aswell as a book on Brighton for a Local History publisher. However, novels are what she loves writing the most. After self publishing her first novel when a contract fell through, thanks to the recession, she continued to look for opportunities. In August 2015, she won Harper Collins/Carina UK's 'Write Christmas' competition with her romantic comedy, 'Winter's Fairytale'. Maxine lives on the south coast of England, and when not wrangling with words, can be found tackling her To Be Read pile, sewing, listening to podcasts, and walking.

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I’m thrilled to have been asked by the lovely Beth to take part in the Christmassy celebrations on her blog.

The question put to me for my guest post was: ‘What’s your favourite Christmas film?’

I’d narrowed my faves down a short time ago when I chose my top five but now I’m only allowed one! Eek! After a short deliberation, I came to the conclusion that my All Time Favourite Christmas Film has to be…drumroll….’Love Actually’. It doesn’t matter if it’s thirty degrees outside and not remotely near Christmas, I absolutely love it!

There are so many different aspects I enjoy about this film. Firstly, the writing is incredible. We all know Richard Curtis is an amazing screenwriting talent and it’s fascinating to watch how seamless the interactions and threads are between all the characters here. From the obvious ones (Emma Thompson and Liam Neeson’s close friendship) to the minor, and cleverly woven in ones like Rowan Atkinson’s distraction of the airport staff, followed by a conspiratorial wink at Neeson. Little touches like that are perfect!

Apart from the fantastic writing, I love all the emotions explored here. It’s not all sugar coated – there’s certainly heartbreak (the funeral scene gets me every time, as does Emma Thompson crying). There are moments of absolute mortification for Andrew Lincoln’s character that have us cringing along with him, and there are also parts that make me laugh every single time, without fail. Colin Firth’s sideways ‘lurch and fall’ manoeuvre into the lake cracks me up in its inelegance as does the line referencing a nativity play’s octopus costume - a nativity that oddly featured a very high percentage of sea creatures! But the earnest statement that ‘Eight is a lot of legs, David,’ never fails to tickle me.

Great writing, great acting and a cleverly interwoven cast of characters all tied up in a festive bow make this my truly favourite Christmas film.

Thanks so much to Beth for having me on the blog! Merry Christmas!

Christmas in the city has never been more magical!

Professional organiser Kate Stone has never - NEVER - been tempted to hit a client over the head with a snow shovel, but Michael O'Farrell is the most obnoxious - and heart-stoppingly gorgeous - man she has ever met. If he weren't her best friend’s brother, she would not have waited on his doorstep in the freezing cold for five minutes, let alone an hour.

Kate knows, however, that her job isn’t just about tidying up, sometimes she needs to be part therapist too, and Michael clearly needs her help to declutter his heart as well as his home.

But with the festive season just around the corner there isn’t much time to get Michael’s house ready for the O’Farrell family celebrations, but everyone knows that at Christmas anything can happen...

BUY HERE!