Review – Christmas at Tiffany’s by Karen Swan

This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.

I know they say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but the moment I laid eyes on my copy of ‘Christmas at Tiffany’s’ the little girl inside me started doing somersaults at the image of the glitter and sparkle of a white Christmas in New York City and I couldn’t wait to discover the story behind the cover, hoping, above everything, that I would fall in love with the characters as much as I had the cover. I wasn’t disappointed… In the first pages of the book we meet Cassie, Anouk, Kelly and Suzy, four best friends who are all unique in their own way and after our protagonist Cassie suddenly finds herself on a plane to New York contemplating starting her whole life over again we join the four friends as they try to help Cassie discover exactly who she is by living with each one of them in New York, Paris and finally, London. As Cassie tries to adjust to life outside the Scottish borders, where she’s been living a sheltered existence for the last 10 years, we see and experience New York City, Paris and London through her eyes. The sights, the smells and the tiny details that Karen Swan so expertly adds into the description of the city makes you feel like you’re sipping your first ever sparkly pink cocktail or admiring Central Park with Cassie as she suffers through the morning jog from hell! Each city in the book is described so wonderfully that it’s impossible not to feel like you are there. Each of the four main characters are addictive in their own ways, Karen Swan succeeds in keeping us hooked as we travel to each friend’s city and we follow Cassie as she attempts Tower Running, experiences a Beauty Therapist on a waxing mission that will make you squeeze your eyes shut, tries her luck as a Wedding Planner and manages to fall in and out of love and lust along the way. As Cassie bounces from city to city, with an intense stopover in Venice in between (I’ll let you discover more about that yourselves when you read it!) you fall in love with Cassie’s character, as wounded as she is at the start of the book the reader sees her grow and discover exactly what it is that she wants with the help of her friends and one character in particular who leaves Cassie ‘The List’ for each city she stays in… The biggest winner for me when reading this book was how Karen Swan keeps you hooked, I found myself looking desperately at the clock one night seeing how long I could keep reading for before I absolutely HAD to go to sleep…(it was 2.30am at this point) I had fallen in love with the characters, the cities, the men and I couldn’t bear to close my eyes until I finished the page…or I fell asleep and the book hit me in the face…which did happen at one point! By the time I finished the book I had raced through it to the end, desperate to find out if Cassie and the girls finally got the endings that they deserved, I know how I feel about it but I’ll let you decide. For a book that is a voyage of delicious discovery, friendship, love and is sprinkled with sparkle, allure and excitement. I encourage everyone to spend their ‘Christmas at Tiffany’s’. 9/10 MORE ABOUT CHRISTMAS AT TIFFANY’S