I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by MotherTalk on behalf of “Lakeshore Christmas” and received a copy of the book to facilitate my candid review. In addition, Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.
I’m a busy gal. I don’t have time for a lot of things anymore… shoot, I hardly have enough time to blog. One activity that has sadly fallen by the wayside is reading. Sure, I made time for each and every Harry Potter book when they were released and there was the two months or so last year when I fell victim to “Twilight Mania”. But I used to read every day. Every night, before I went to sleep. And I haven’t done that in a long time.
When I was contacted about joining this blog tour, I very nearly passed up on it. But then I saw that it was a Christmas novel.
I have a history with Christmas novels, particular those of the romantic variety. Every year at Christmas, I would find at least one Christmas-themed “anthology”, of sorts. I would devour the stories because not only were they sappy towards love, but sappy towards the holiday. And I am an admitted Christmas Nutcase.
I’d heard great things about the author of this particular novel, Susan Wiggs, and maybe even read a book or two of hers back in the day. Adding to my intrigue, was learning that this particular book was part of a series, called the “Lakeshore Chronicles”. I have a hard time resisting a series. There’s something about a book that is part of a series. The side-characters are more interesting and intriguing, the atmosphere is almost homey, lived in. So here we were taking about a Christmas romance that is part of a series of books based around this one little town in upstate New York.
I was THERE.
And you know? I wasn’t the least bit disappointed. I was excited to receive the book in the mail and each night before I went to sleep, I would read a chapter. Or two. Or three. You know how it is. I quickly found myself engrossed with the story, the setting, the characters, the whole shebang. And before long, I became aware that I was going to have to track down some of the other Lakeshore Chronicles books because I want to read about these other characters. Particularly one, who’s sub-plot was left on a rather intriguing cliffhanger.
Still, despite being part of a series of books, I never once felt like I was picking a story up halfway through. The author did a splendid job of summarizing past stories and getting you comfortable and friendly with the town and it’s inhabitants. Never once did I feel there was a joke I was missing out on, a common problem with reading a book mid-series.
This book was an easy, quick and fun read. I was rather disappointed when I was finished because that meant a) I would have to leave these lovely characters behind and b) I now no longer had anything to read before bed!
I would suggest, if you are a Christmas nutcase like myself, are a fan of romantic novels or just of reading in general, and want a cozy and entertaining story to read while snuggled up in front of the fire this season, you look no further than “Lakeshore Christmas” by Susan Wiggs. You won’t be disappointed!
