Judy Astley Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Picture Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Judy Astley is a literature and fiction author born in the UK. She started writing in 1990 after some years of being a dressmaker, painter, and illustrator. After many years of personal experience, Judy touches on domestic issues and family chaos with a blend of love, passion, and humor. The author has been a columnist in magazines and likes writing journalism articles from a fun point of view.

It Must Have Been a Mistletoe
Anna and Mike have split but are still living well with each other for some time now after their long time marriage. Unfortunately, things are about to change since they’ve agreed to divorce to allow new people to come into their lives.

This is the last Christmas they’ll spend together while married, so they have decided to do things differently this year. They’ve invited their three children and their spouse where they’ll stay in a cottage in Cornwall so that they can celebrate Christmas together.

They both have secret lovers who amusingly manage to turn up for the festivities and complicate the sleeping arrangements. Each page talks about Christmas from the snow masses, the Christmas tree, the mistletoe, presents, and the carols in the family get-together. Family is what makes Christmas enjoyable and perfect.

Judy Astley focuses mostly on Thea, and she turns out to be a likable character. She has recently split up with her husband Richard, and she’s still in the process of working out plans for her future. She is a caring and lovely person who has gone through heartache and deserves someone who will be kind to her. Thea is a school teacher and is still mourning the loss of a baby who was supposed to be due during Christmas. Her husband dumped her in favor of his pedigree dogs, and Thea seems not to mind it so much.

Her sister and brother are settled with home, children, and a promising future. Thea hopes to get someone too, but she cannot help herself while in Cornwall because the only person she wants to be with is gay. The author draws the family Christmas with less effort as everything unfolds naturally throughout the book.

Thea’s sister is grumpy with her children, and the rest wonders why she’s that way when she seems perfect with a young family. Will they all come together in the beach barbecues in the snowstorms?

It’s refreshing how Anna and Mike were still good friends even when things didn’t work out for them. It’s also amazing how the children played along with the parent’s idea of spending Christmas together. The novel is such a cozy and entertaining read, and you’ll feel like you are in the Christmas festive mood.
It Must Have Been a Mistletoe is a witty, warm, and amusing festive story. The characters are realistic and believable, and the arguments and tensions amongst the family members at most get-togethers are present. It has an underlying message of love, unity, and families spending time together.

The novel is about adapting to certain situations and knowing that your family will always be there for you. It’s a contemporary light read that will leave you hoping that Christmas will come early.

A merry Mistletoe wedding
The novel is a continuation of It Must Have Been a Mistletoe, but it can still be read as a standalone. But reading it before the first one might give you some spoilers of what happened in the previous book unless you don’t mind them.

The story is narrated in the third person point of view and follows three women, Thea, her sister Emily and Anna, their mother. Thea is getting married while Emily has recently given birth to her third child and is dealing with postnatal depression. On the other hand, Anna is selling her house to buy a new one.
At first, you might think that Emily is rude, but later, you realize that the people surrounding her misunderstood her depression and anxiety. Even though Thea had good things going on in her life, her ex-boyfriend’s drama and strange girl in her fiancé’s apartment were enough to bear. Sean and Thea have been courting for almost a year. Sean lives in Cornwall while Thea is from London, and being a teacher, she goes to Cornwall every holiday.

They appear to be so much in love, and one day, as she is going back home, he asks her to marry him, and she gladly accepts. They plan to have a simple and easy wedding, but how can this be arranged when they live so far apart? How will her sister cope with the wedding news when she plans to spend her Christmas at home?

All Sean and Thea want is a small and cozy wedding with only a few guests. They hope it’ll be a fun and relaxing day for them as they tie the knot. Recently she has been scared and overprotective, and after the last Christmas incident, she isn’t willing to go to Cornwall again.

Things get out of hand, and people wonder if they will walk down the aisle. Will Thea have a happy wedding, or might she have made another mistake of love? The surprises and secrets make things difficult for their wedding, but they hope for the best.

The story plot covers the period from summer to Christmas when the wedding occurs. The hippy parents and the unique siblings create quite interesting scenarios. It is a big family with many members, each of them well-created with unique individual features.

Be sure to come across unforgettable characters, lots of laugh scenes, and charming romance in A merry Mistletoe Wedding novel. The author has a great sense of humor and has the skill of bringing her characters to life. The novel is great to cheer up, and it’s perfect for the fans of merry Christmas stories.
Judy Astley is brave enough to discuss sensitive issues such as previous relationships, family problems, and postnatal depression. The author accelerates the time as Christmas approaches, and the wedding nears.