A Little Christmas Magic - Suzanne Rogerson - ★★★.¾

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AUTHOR: Suzanne Rogerson
NARRATOR: Colette Davies-Kerwin
GENRE: Contemporary Christmas Short Stories
PUBLICATION DATE: November 17, 2025
RATING: 3.8 stars.


In a Nutshell: A sweet collection of holiday short stories. Covering varied characters and emotions. Utterly feel-good and perfect for the festive season. 


This collection contains eight short stories. As the title promises, each of them contains “a little Christmas magic”. The word ‘magic’ is used in both its interpretations: figurative and actual. Goodreads shows this book to be a part of the Winter Warmers series, but the series comprises short story collections that are independent of each other and hence can be read in any order. 

As feel-good stories set during the Christmas season, the tales are obviously heartwarming. You might even assume that these are predictable, and many of them are. BUT this genre is anyway not meant to be twisty. AND there are a few stories that offer unexpected surprises, so it’s not as guessable as you think. 

The stories covers various narrators: male and female, young and old. They are written in first-person and third-person POVs. Moreover, each story has a distinct situation even if the whole set takes place around Christmas time. As such, there is no feeling of déjà vu while reading this book. 

I usually am a Grinch when it comes to Hallmark-kind of stories, though I used to enjoy them back in the day. As such, it came as quite a surprise to me that I enjoyed almost every story in this collection. Honestly, the author should feel proud of this. Making this grump happy with a set of Christmas cozies isn't an easy task. 

The only thing that I think would have enhanced this book further is some kind of an introduction or foreword. I am a regular reader of story collections/anthologies, and always look forward to hearing the author’s thoughts on the theme or the intended direction of the collection. It helps in setting the right expectations from the tales. 

As always, I rated the stories individually. Of the eight stories, only one received less than 3 stars, and that too was mainly because I am not fond of alcoholic protagonists. The rest of the stories were all at 3.5 stars and above, with three stories reaching 4.5+ stars. A highly satisfying performance. These are my top favourites: 

🎄 Poppy's Christmas Wish: Seven-year-old Poppy has a Christmas wish, but her mother is worried that it might not come true. Sweet, straightforward and heartwarming. "Christmas would be nothing without kids" - 100% agree. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💫

🎄 Last-Minute Dash: A really short, utterly predictable, and absolutely sweet Christmas story. This is what Christmas is about, not expensive gifts and grandiose decorations and larger-than-life lighting. Narrated in first-person from a young mother's point of view, which makes her feelings even more touching. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

🎄 A Christmas Toast: Oh this was so beautiful! The start was gorgeous; the end, stupendous. Loved its narrative perspective. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

🎄 Taking Care of Belle: I don’t know what I expected from a story with such a title, but I certainly didn’t expect this. Heartwarming all the way. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐


🎧 The Audiobook Experience: 
The audiobook, clocking at a little more than 2 hours, is read by Colette Davies-Kerwin. The narrative time for the individual stories ranges from 5 minutes to 37 minutes.

I usually don’t prefer listening to short-story collections as these often contain twisty elements that work better for me while actually reading. However, as this was a set of uplifting Christmas stories, I went for the audio version and had no problem comprehending the narratives. 

Unfortunately, I have mixed feelings about the narration. To be clear, the narrator reads fairly well, and barring a couple of characters, she voices the rest with enough variations in the tone and accent. However, having only one narrator for the whole set feels a little awkward, especially as a couple of the tales have male perspectives that don’t sound ‘manly” enough. My biggest issue is that the narrator’s voice is utterly sweet and grandmotherly and calming, which would be outstanding for a children’s bedtime story, but felt like a lullaby to me. (In my defence, it's turning out to be a busy Christmas season, so my tiredness succumbed even more to her restful voice.) She was also a bit too soft; I had to keep my earphones at full volume and warn my kids not to make too much noise in the background so that I could understand what was being narrated. Again, she isn't a bad narrator, but perhaps not best suited to this book. I hope others feel differently. 


All in all, this has been a wonderful collection. It offers the right dose of Christmas spirit in a year where most of our spirits have been suffocated by the happenings in the world. 

Much recommended to anyone looking for a touching set of stories filled with the *magic* of Christmas. Readers of women’s fiction and cozy romances will also enjoy this set of festive stories.

3.8 stars, based on the average of my ratings for each story. (If you are familiar with my ratings, you know that an average coming close to 4 stars is wonderful for an anthology.)

My thanks to Rachel's Random Resources and author Suzanne Rogerson for a complimentary audio copy of 'A Little Christmas Magic', and for allowing me to be a part of this blog tour. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. 

The digital version of this book is currently available on Kindle Unlimited.

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Blurb:

Part of the Winter Warmers Series, A Little Christmas Magic is a heart-warming collection of stories with a focus on family, friendship, love and goodwill.

From a much-loved family pet that goes missing to a neighbour in need.
Chance meetings and the kindness of strangers.
Overcoming trauma to help others and being prepared to make sacrifices.
A father rushing to get home to his kids in time for Christmas.

Dive into a short and sweet story to get you in the festive spirit.

Eight Stories: 
Poppy’s Christmas Wish
Last Minute Dash
Driving Home for Christmas
The Honeymoon Period
A Christmas Toast
The Last Train Home
The Wrong Post
Taking Care of Belle

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Author Suzanne Rogerson:

Suzanne lives in Middlesex, England with her husband, two children, a crazy cocker spaniel and a rather aloof cat.

Her writing journey began at the age of twelve when she completed her first novel. She discovered the fantasy genre in her late teens and has never looked back. Giving up work to raise a family gave Suzanne the impetus to take her attempts at novel writing beyond the first draft, and she is lucky enough to have a husband who supports her dream - even if he does occasionally hint that she might think about getting a proper job one day.

Now an author of four fantasy novels and three short story collections, Suzanne hopes the dreaded ‘W’ word will never rear its ugly head again!

She loves gardening and has a Hebe (shrub) fetish. She enjoys cooking with ingredients from the garden and regularly feeds unsuspecting guests vegetable-based cakes.

Suzanne collects books, is interested in history and enjoys wandering around castles and old ruins whilst being immersed in the past. She loves to escape with a great film, binge watch TV shows, or soak in a hot bubble bath with an ice cream and a book.

Connect with her on:

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Check out this book:

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/222060964-a-little-christmas-magic

Purchase from: https://mybook.to/littlexmasmagic

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This has been a stop on the #ALittleChristmasMagic blog tour conducted by Rachel's Random Resources. (@rararesources) Thanks for stopping by!



Comments

  1. Suzanne Rogerson13 December 2025 at 23:52

    Thank you for your really thoughtful review. I'm pleased the Christmas stories impressed you, if you're a self-confessed grump. 😊

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rosh14 December 2025 at 00:12

      My pleasure! I truly enjoyed this sweet collection, despite being a grump. 😁 Best wishes!

      Delete

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