Finding Christmas: A Novel

Christmas is Emme’s favorite time of year – although this year is a rough one with losing her parents in an accident – she’s wondering just how to keep the magic of the season alive for her. But, she’s hoping that sharing some of her favorite traditions with Grant – the person she thinks may just be “the one”, she’s finding a way to keep her spirits alive and celebrate one of her favorite holiday traditions. Taking a page from her father’s book, she’s making a scavenger hunt – sure to bring Grant into the spirit. But, the first clue goes awry and it’s Sam, not Grant who arrives to join in the fun – and Emme is left to wonder just why she can’t get this man out of her head. So – I loved the premise of the story, and a Christmas Scavenger hunt is just a wonderful way to get people involved in the fun. But, Emme was a conundrum for me – and it wasn’t helped by her vacillation or the over-worked telling of the basic plot points. We are told, repeatedly that Christmas is Emme’s favorite time of the year - we don’t need it repeated – and not as frequently as it was. Then we have her justifications and near convincing dialogue about Grant – I’m not quite sure who she was trying to convince since it was obvious to me as a reader that Grant just wasn’t all that into her – and nothing she would or could do would convince me otherwise. Combined with the all tell and little show, there wasn’t a ton to grab onto as far as the relationship between Emme and Grant went. When you add in Sam, who starts as a friend and is someone she can’t quite get out of her mind, the match (for me) was made – and it was simply a matter of Emme seeing the light. A bit of a mixed bag overall, even as Emme did finally see that her match, and perhaps her way through her grief and to keep her ‘favorite’ holiday alive was with Sam, and he’s perhaps the better developed character of them all in the story. Not quite as memorable as the first book I read from this author – but it was an ok, light and fluffy Christmas story with a clever scavenger hunt that was different from the usual. I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via Edelweiss for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

a fun read! Puts any Scrooge In the Christmas mood!