If you love a rugged hero, a heroine you can relate to, a warm romantic story and a bit of armchair travel, Countdown to Christmas is for you!

It just wouldn't be Christmas without Jo's book in your stocking!

Delicious and delightful - Jo sweeps you away to a better place with every book, which are always filled with warmth, love and a big spoonful of happiness

We love the way Jo's glorious novels always transport you to somewhere beautiful

As heartwarming as a crackling log fire, as magical as a starry Canadian sky

Picking up a Jo Thomas book is a treat for the senses.

Heart-warming and delicious, it is a true feast for the senses

Full of holiday cheer, this delightful romance is just what you need in the countdown to Christmas

A delightful romance as sweet as maple syrup and as heartwarming as a big mug of hot chocolate. Enjoy!

A perfect read to get you in the mood for festivities

Phenomenal! A book worthy of a standing ovation. I will never forget how this novel made me feel. It's effortlessly beautiful

A dazzling delight of a debut. The God of Good Looks is a captivating portrait of contemporary Trinidadian culture, a canny exploration of makeup's power as artifice and art, and a tender celebration of unexpected connections and the human need to love and be loved. I gasped, I laughed, I cried - I didn't want it to end!

Mc Ivor's debut novel ... effectively captures a surprising and evolving relationship in a mix of humor and drama ... A tale that tracks the universal theme of female agency in familial, professional, and social settings ... Memorable characters, evocative descriptions, and a well-paced story make this an eminently enjoyable novel

Get ready for the summer of love as intelligent romcoms take centre stage

A riotously funny and fiercely loyal love letter to female friendship. The story of Edi and Ash proves that a best friend is a gift from the gods.... I laughed while crying, and was left revived. Newman is a comic masterhand and a dazzling philosopher of the day-to-day.

We All Want Impossible Things is one of those books I will be buying for everyone I know. A funny, moving, beautifully written book, I laughed and cried in equal measure. It is both a unique and wise take on friendship, love and loss that will stay with me for a very long time.

The funniest, most joyful book about dying - and living - that I have ever read.

For the last two days I have done nothing but read this book or think longingly about when I can return to reading this book. It's sad, and confronting, and comforting, and life-affirming all at the same time. Congrats, Catherine Newman, on an astonishing debut.

Catherine Newman sees the heartbreak and comedy of life with wisdom and unflinching compassion. The way she finds the extraordinary in the everyday is nothing short of poetry. She's a writer's writer-and a human's human.

An absolute heartbreaker of a novel. Catherine Newman's book... is a celebration of life. For anyone who has prepared a hole in their heart for loss, We All Want Impossible Things is a reminder that, in time, that hollowed hallowed space is also there for when the light and love pour back in.

How did Catherine Neman write a book about dying that is so luminously alive? Earthy, funny, and terrifyingly honest - this is a book with heart and guts and all the other goopy gravt we need to stay among the living. A radical delight.

Newman perfectly captures the beauty and burden of caring for someone in their final moments while showing the gift of Edi and Ash's once-in-a-lifetime friendship. A warm and remarkably funny book that will make readers laugh through their tears.

This is a proper laugh-out-loud tale of friendship that will utterly win your heart ... A truly special book - prepare to read this, fall in love and then hector everyone you know into reading it.

Devastatingly funny ... handled with compassion and courage in elegant prose lightened by honest humour.

We All Want Impossible Things is a thing of rare beauty: sweet and sharp, to be devoured, then remembered and loved life-long.

A celebration of friendship and family

Book of the month

Utterly life-affirming and joyful

Full of humour, warmth and eye-popping honesty ... a beautiful, candid and uplifting testament to female friendship that will make you laugh and cry

Beautiful and emotional ... heartbreakingly sad, but also full of humour and ultimately about living and love. I will recommend this to everyone.

Funny, bitter and life-affirming

This is a story about holding on, the power of creating memories and, ultimately, letting go. Tissues at the ready.

Smart dialogue and cutting wit ... an accomplished writer

A profound study of grief, love and friendship that will resonate with anyone who has lost someone special ... there are plenty of funny and touching moments in this beautiful novel that will make your heart soar.

In Newman's hands... this tale of love and friendship is tender, funny, life-affirming joy.

The most wonderful book in the way it celebrates friendship. I highly recommend it.

Impossible not to weep. Yet, we also find ourselves laughing out loud through the tears ... For all the sense of tragedy and loss, we see Ash develop renewed gratitude for the beauty and humour in even the most mundane moments of life.

Full of humour, warmth, and raw honesty ... a beautiful, uplifting testament to female friendship that will make you laugh and cry

5 stars

Unique, touching and immersive

Supremely tense, intellectually sharp, and honed as hell

Beyond virtuoso twists and turns, McEwan lays out the foreign landscape of 40 years ago – from smoky pubs to fuming punditry – with wry, affectionate panache

Tricksy, but satisfying

The sense of narrative purpose exerts its pull from the first