Welcome back to the picturesque Scottish sea-side resort of Lobster Bay! Christmas at Lobster Bay begins some months after the events in book one, The Guesthouse at Lobster Bay, in which Emma decided to leave her life in London behind and pursue her dream of running a guest house in the tiny Scottish resort of Lobster Bay, finding love, friendship, and the community spirit she was looking for to make her whole again.

Emma has made a great success of her guesthouse venture, and things are now running smoothly with her faithful team around her, including her boyfriend Aiden, but instead of feeling content with her lot she finds herself a bit restless. Aiden is baffled by Emma's need for something more, but when they decide to expand the guesthouse to incorporate his house next door it seems the perfect project to give Emma the challenge she is looking for. 

However, things soon become a bit more a challenge than Emma had in mind, when the project runs into trouble that could spell disaster for all Emma's plans... and her future with Aiden. As structural issues, an errant puppy, and relationship and friendship complications all add to the mounting toll of problems, Emma begins to wonder if uprooting her life and moving to Lobster Bay was the right thing to do. Can she get her dreams back on track?

I absolutely loved the first book in this series and could not wait to meet up with the Lobster Bay gang once again in this fabulous second instalment of Emma's story. Things are going well for Emma on the guesthouse, relationship and friendship front, but fate decides to throw a huge spanner in all the works when Emma's restlessness leads her to take on a project that almost spells disaster for her dream of happily ever after in Lobster Bay. There are laughs and tears a-plenty in this story as the mishaps and misunderstandings serve to tie all the threads together into a knot that is seems impossible to unpick, but of course, as in all the best rom-coms everything sorts itself out in one gorgeous heart-warming ending that is all the better for being in such a wonderful setting at Christmas time.

All my favourite characters are here again, and there are also some new faces to mix things up nicely and give the fabulous narrator Eilidh Beaton a challenge on the regional accent front, which she pulls off in the accomplished way that makes her one of my favourite voice actors: her storytelling held me spellbound from beginning to end, evoking all the feels as she told Annie Robertson's lovely tale of what comes with trying to balance all sides of life and recognising when everything you need has been right there in front of you the whole time. 

I just love the way Robertson manages to deliver a tale about friendship, family, and love, with such a lovely cast of characters of all ages coping with the pressures that come with modern life, bringing in issues around mental health, communication, coping with loss, managing expectation, and overcoming family trauma in a way that makes them engaging and relatable. I am not ashamed to say that much sobbing, of the happy and sad variety, happened while I listened to this audio book, and I loved every teary minute.

I have my fingers crossed that Robertson will decide to pay a visit to Lobster Bay again in the future, because my heart lies firmly in that little Scottish sea-side town with all its human, and animal, residents.

Thanks to netgalley for the advanced ebook to review.
It was lovely to return to Lobster Bay, catch up with the great characters the first book gave us, and introducing us to a couple more! An enjoyable festive read.

Christmas at Lobster Bay by Annie robertson

I received an advance review copy for free thanks to NetGalley and Welbeck Publishing and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

When Emma and Aidan decide to expand The Guesthouse at Lobster Bay by merging their two homes, Emma feels certain it's the project she needs to develop her flourishing retreat, and to keep her and Aidan together.

Emma has three months to complete the project before her guests arrive for a sumptuous Christmas in Lobster Bay, but as soon as the work begins, Emma's dream of expansion begins to fall apart...

Unforeseen structural problems, the arrival of a long-term guest, and an errant puppy, who is determined to chew her way through every piece of pipe and furniture, push Emma and Aidan to their limit, and it's not long before cracks begin to show in their relationship.

I have been waiting for this book since I read The Guesthouse at Lobster Bay as I knew that it was going to be a lovely series. This definitely lived up to my expectations - so much so that I read over 50% in one sitting as I couldn't pull myself away. Whilst part of a series, I feel that it would be very easy to read this book as a standalone.

There are moments of drama, and it there are moments where your emotions will be played with. Overall, this is an action packed book that is an addictive read. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and hope that it is not the last that we have seen of Lobster Bay.

Rating: 4/5

The story
This book follows on where the happily ever after ending of The Guesthouse at Lobster Bay ended off. Emma is running the guesthouse that she renovated with the help of her partner Aiden, Rhona as housekeeper and Peggy running the kitchen. She starts having a niggling feeling of restlessness, when Aiden and his sister Eve agree to open up the walls between the two houses to expand the guesthouse. But soon Aiden is off training elsewhere for two months while the renovations are underway, her friend Phil gets her a puppy and Emma is getting closer to one of the guests George. Soon things with Aiden are non-communicative and all around things seem to be falling apart.

My thoughts
I so enjoyed revisiting life in Lobster Bay at Emma’s guesthouse. It looks critically at the happily ever after myth and knocks it out. Reality isn’t a fairytale and we all have the potential to regret what we already have. I just loved George’s words of wisdom to Emma when she feels like giving it all up. There is also a good look at the hard work that goes on behind the scenes running a guesthouse. A lovely story visiting this small, seaside Scottish community.

I read an eARC copy courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher.