The Christmas Star by Kate Forster
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

The Christmas Star by Kate Forster is a heartwarming novella about love, trust, and family.

Available on Audible Plus.

This book is part of my 10 Christmas Books For This Holiday Season – 2023.

My Overview

Christmas time is Julia Devine’s favorite time of the year. Unfortunately, while this is the time of merriment and family gatherings, she’s dreading visiting her family. Visiting them is always the opposite of merriment, due to her awful stepsister Becca. For as long as they’ve been a family, Becca (enabled by her father and Julia’s mom), has always treated Julia poorly and made her feel inferior. This Christmas, the family will gather to celebrate together, and Becca is boasts to Julia that her successful new boyfriend will be joining them. Julia doesn’t have a boyfriend, and she’s fed up with Becca always putting her down. So, in an effort to one-up her stepsister, Julia tells her family she’ll bring her boyfriend (movie star Hugo Turner) to Christmas lunch 😯.

Obviously, Julia isn’t dating Hugo Turner. Lucky for her, Sam Hunter, whom she recently met looks just like him. How convenient that she happened to meet Hugo Turner’s doppelgänger just days ago! Even more convenient is Sam’s offer to be her fake date for Christmas, simply to help Julia. Fooling her family into believing Sam is the actual Hugo Turner will be easy, since everywhere he goes he’s stopped by people confusing him for the movie star.

Once Julia and Sam are in Cumbria with her family, the Christmas star ruse is on. Some funny moments follow, balanced with some serious themes about family relationships. Soon, Julia realizes the fake date plan is more complicated than she’d anticipated: How will she explain their breakup? What’s she to do now that she’d developing feelings for Sam?

My Recommendation

This is a heartwarming, though predictable, novella. I enjoyed the audiobook narration, and recommend it. At 3 hours and 49 minutes in length, this audiobook is perfect the busy days of the season. If you enjoy Christmas season romance movies, I think you’ll enjoy this story.

Have you enjoyed any books by this author?

Other novellas I’ve enjoyed by this author: