Here’s a lovely review from To Each Their Own Reviews.
My thoughts:
This was a sweet, startling efficient book. It’s basically a collection of stories featuring different women achieving their own happy ending. There’s women in all different stages of life here, with very different romantic and family backgrounds.
What I found most incredible about this book was how quickly each story was communicated, but always in such a way that it tugged on my heart strings. I never felt the tale of romance was rushed, I was always satisfied by it. I did shed a few tears during Eva’s story, it was a direct emotional bullseye, which was pretty incredible given that it only occupied thirteen pages of the book. Excellent writing, smart story-telling. I was really entertained and impressed by how much was packed into each chapter.
There’s a thread of the paranormal or magical weaving throughout the story. I did find it a little strange in that some of the stories feature a fantastical element and others don’t. It was a bit jarring for me to move from a less fantastical tale to a more fantastical one. I think if there’d been a more even distribution across the book, it would have been less strange.
The other thing that kind of irked me was that though the book club connects everyone together, it was really only a reference point. I kind of wanted books with happy endings to feature more prominently. Still, this was definitely a book store that I could appreciate, and a book club I would *love* to participate in.
The Bottom Line:
Pick this one up. It’s a sweet collection of generally happy, Christmas-time stories. It makes some interesting points about women, love, families and I think it’s well worth a read.
4 stars
For fans of contemporary romance, the paranormal/fantastical, happy endings
