Christmas Fun With Portobello Book Blog

This year I've invited several authors and book bloggers for a fun Christmas Interview. My next guest is the book blogger Joanne, from Portobello Book Blog.

If you could only get one present this Christmas, what would you ask for?

I would love to find a voucher under the tree for a day spa visit (or even better, a spa weekend) to Stobo Castle, just outside Peebles. I've been a few times and love it but it's most definitely a treat!

What's the most disappointing present you've ever had?

When I was very little I went to see a department store Santa. As I left I was offered a choice of presents, one of which was a doll's house. Imagine my disappointment when I got home and realised it was actually just stickers you could put on a cardboard box to make a doll's house!

If you had to choose a book for a teenager who's not a big reader as a Christmas present, which book would you choose?

My own teenage girls enjoyed the Mazerunner and The Hunger Games books. They also like Rainbow Rowell and John Green so I'd recommend any of those.

Is there a movie or a book you always revisit during the holidays?

There are several films I watch every year at Christmas: It's A Wonderful Life (of course!), The Polar Express, Love Actually and When Harry Met Sally. I don't normally re-read any particular book at Christmas but was very moved last year by Carmel Harrington's Every Time A Bell Rings (loosely inspired by It's A Wonderful Life) and I may well revisit that this year.

What's the 2017 new release you are most looking forward to?

Oh goodness, I haven't really looked very far ahead yet. I have a copy of John Byrne's The Heart's Invisible Furies which I'm really looking forward to - it comes out in February. And I am very much looking forward to William Nicholson's Adventures in Modern Marriage which is out in January. I've been sent a copy of The Uncommon Life of Alfred Warner in Six Days by Juliet Conlin which is also due out in February and looks wonderful.