Book Synopsis:
When newly-divorced Ivy Perkins buys an old farmhouse sight unseen, she is definitely looking for a change in her life. The Four Roses, as the farmhouse is called, is a labor of love―but Ivy didn't bargain on just how much labor. The previous family left so much furniture and so much junk, that it's a full-time job sorting through all of it.
At the top of a closet, Ivy finds an old Santa suit―beautifully made and decades old. In the pocket of a suit she finds a note written in a childish it's from a little girl who has one Christmas wish, and that is for her father to return home from the war. This discovery sets Ivy off on a mission. Who wrote the note? Did the man ever come home? What mysteries did the Rose family hold?
Ivy's quest brings her into the community, at a time when all she wanted to do was be left alone and nurse her wounds. But the magic of Christmas makes miracles happen, and Ivy just might find more than she ever thought a welcoming town, a family reunited, a mystery solved, and a second chance at love.
My Review:
3/5 stars. I thought this was gonna be a cute, wholesome Hallmark-type Christmas book, but instead it was a nice setting and vibe but not really much substance. The plot described on the back of the book was introduced right at the beginning, then kind of mostly ignored until the end. I didn’t feel attached to the characters. The writing wasn’t great, either; it had some repetitive phrases that could’ve been fixed in editing. There was also more romantic content than I was comfortable with.
The premise of this book sounded cute - small town, cozy Christmas atmosphere, discovering a heartfelt note to Santa - but it didn't really deliver. It had the cozy small town, I loved that, but the actual plot was lacking.
I'll talk about the positives first. The setting, like I already mentioned, was cute. I've recently been watching Gilmore Girls for the first time, and the town in this book made me think of Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls. I liked Ivy, the main character, befriending the locals and everyone being so nice and neighborly to each other.
I loved the side plot with Ivy helping out the lady who owned the candy store with her branding. An old business having a very poor, not user-friendly website is realistic. I liked that Ivy had all these ideas and was able to help the business. This part of the book was small, but I enjoyed it more than the main storyline.
Another thing I liked was the connection between Ezra, Ivy's real estate agent and love interest, and the little girl who wrote the note Ivy found. I wasn't expecting her to be his mother, so that was an interesting reveal. The rest of the mystery itself, however, wasn't great. I'll get into that later.
Now for the things I didn't like. The characters weren't well developed. As well as lacking personality, they also didn't have much emotional depth. Ivy had a backstory of being cheated on by her ex-husband. This was talked about a couple times in a way that seemed like it was supposed to resonate with the reader and make them feel sad, but I didn't feel anything. I wasn't attached to Ivy, so there wasn't any reason for me to care about her.
As well as undeveloped characters, the romance was also dry. It was obvious, yet at the same time came out of nowhere. The characters had no cute banter and no little moments before actual being romantic with each other. I felt nothing about the romance - if anything, I had negative feelings toward it.
The writing itself also wasn't great. It was pretty repetitive; there were some specific phrases or lines I saw twice in one or two pages. In general, there were a lot of errors that could've been corrected in editing. Some people might not care about things like that, but it stood out to me.
This is a tiny little detail that is dumb to complain about, but it was something that annoyed me. Ivy has a dog - he was a cute dog that I liked reading about, though - that was named Punkin. Not pumpkin, punkin. Why does it have to be spelled incorrectly? I guess it was to be cute, but it wasn't cute, it was annoying.
Finally, the actual plot of the book that was on the back cover was not even a big part of the story. She finds the note super early on, in one of the first chapters. She asks around for a little bit and meets the girl's grandpa, but then basically forgets about it until the very end. It's like the author had a great idea for a book, but then realized there wasn't enough to it and had to include other plot points with more prominence.
Content Warning:
A big thing I disliked was that this book had more content than I was comfortable with, both language and sexual content. There was the d- word, p--ed, d-k, b-, sexy, and mention of a boob job. As for sexual content, there was some kissing, which I'm perfectly fine with, but then it went further than I expected or wanted. There was description of messing with buttons on clothing, leading someone to the bedroom, and being naked. Nothing was graphic, but it was close.
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