Christmas Spirits at Honeywell House by Sharon Booth – Review

Snow is falling and festive lights are twinkling in beautiful Rowan Vale, the Cotswold living history village, where tourists mingle unknowingly with the ghosts of Christmas past.

When Clara first arrived in Rowan Vale to visit her boyfriend, Jack, she had no idea her life was about to change forever. Now, fifteen years later, she’s struggling to cope with hormonal changes and three boisterous sons.

After being a stay-at-home mum for years, Clara has an opportunity to start a new business and maybe find herself again. But when fate intervenes, all her hopes seem shattered—and her and Jack’s relationship has never felt more precarious.

Meanwhile, at Harling Hall, tensions are rising between resident ghosts, Agnes and Aubrey. With the village hosting a Dickensian-themed weekend for Christmas, Victorian gentleman Aubrey is desperate to visit, but Agnes is adamant they mustn’t—but surely a little walk around the Christmas market wouldn’t hurt, would it?

While Aubrey prepares to defy Agnes, Clara’s secret is about to be revealed. She wasn’t entirely honest with Jack when she first arrived in Rowan Vale, and as the years passed, it seemed too late to come clean. But now she doesn’t have a choice.

With both relationships already under strain, the Christmas spirit has its work cut out, this festive season.

This is an easy, cosy Christmas fantasy. It is not the first book in the series, but it works well as a standalone. The book does not make the reader work for its worldbuilding or backstory. Everything you need is introduced naturally, and once things settle, it is easy to feel at home in the story.

The setting is a living history town where ghosts are a known and accepted part of the world. Not everyone can see or interact with them. Most people cannot, but everyone knows they exist, and those who can see them act as intermediaries between the living and the dead. It took me a little while to settle into how this works, especially without having read the earlier books, but once I did, it became one of the more charming aspects of the setting.

The main character, Anna, is a woman in perimenopause with three sons and a husband, and she is struggling to keep up with the demands of everyday life. Everything feels like too much, and she is no longer sure whether that is down to hormones, exhaustion, or something else entirely. I appreciated how honestly this was handled. It was refreshing to see a middle-aged woman at the centre of a fantasy story, dealing with very recognisable pressures. There is also a long-held secret from her past that is gradually revealed, adding another emotional layer to her storyline.

One of the book’s strongest points is its portrayal of an older, established couple. Apart from a brief wobble, Anna and her husband are happy and stable, focused on keeping their family and daily life running rather than on falling in love or starting a family. I would love to see more stories that centre relationships at this stage of life.

The family dynamics are warm and believable, and the ghost characters are given a storyline of their own. Two ghosts who were married to other people when alive are now a couple in the afterlife, calling themselves wife and husband, and they have a child ghost they think of as their daughter. Their problems partly mirror those of the living characters, but they also face their own distinct challenges, which gives the ghost side of the story real weight rather than making it feel purely symbolic.

While some elements felt a little rough around the edges, especially early on, I ended up really enjoying the village atmosphere and the blend of family life, ghosts, and small personal crises. I would have liked a bit more Christmas woven into the story, but the Christmas market and a small festive play help anchor it in the season.

Overall, this is a gentle, character-focused Christmas fantasy about family, change, and finding your footing again, with a welcoming setting, thoughtful themes, and just enough festive spirit to make it a comforting seasonal read.

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