By: Melody Carlson
Recommendation: 🌕🌕🌕 - (Out of 5 🌕)
Genre: Romance, Christmas, Christian (Second Chance Romance)
Pages: 176 (Hardcover)
I love a Christmas story in summer. This is my first time reading a Melody Carlson book and she had me feeling all warm and fuzzy. This type of story is what you want when you pull up on a snowy December day with your favorite warm blank, a crackling fire, and a hot cup of cocoa with lots of marshmallows.
Writing - Carlson's writing is immaculate. The description of the land, especially when Madison came home helped to paint a vivid picture in my mind. 'There in the midst of the defiant green plant bloomed a bright orange daisy-like blossoms. Defiantly optimistic, as if to say, "There's still like here." She bent down to pick a flow. Studying its dark center, she remembered how Grandma had called these Mule's.' I could see the vibrant orange and admired the defiance of that one lone flower Madison encountered on her walk across her grandparents land.
Madison and Addie McDowell spent their summers and holidays on their grandparent's Christmas tree farm. Madison loved the outdoors but her sister Addie would rather be curled up inside with a good book. When an opportunity arose for Madison to teach overseas in Mongolia, she jumped at the chance. Now, after a failed long term relationship, her tenure in Mongolia up, and both her dad and grandparents deceased she decides to head home to help her sister manage the farm. Unfortunately, the area was recently devastated by a raging forest fire. Saving the Christmas tree business will require a lot of work from both sisters.
The Thompson's filbert farm did not fair as well as the McDowell's. The majority of their land was ravaged by the fire. Gavin's siblings had no desire to salvage the land or the family business. As a widow with young two girls, Lucy in her twenties and Lily a pre-teen, Gavin sees and opportunity bring his daughters back from the grief of losing their mother. He decides to sell off his lucrative business and fulfill his youngest girl's dream of building a motor-bike arena.
When they were teenagers, Gavin and Madison had a passionate relationship. For Madison, it was her first crush. The couple promised to keep in touch when they went back to school but Shelby, the woman who eventually becomes Gavin's wife had other ideas. Eventually the young pair go their separate ways. But now they have both come back home. Unfortunately, Madison isn't too keen on Gavin and Lily's future endeavor.
I fell in love with Gavin and enjoyed seeing Lily grow and develop. The McDowell sisters both had some personality issues, Addie more so than Madison. At times they could both be selfish and petty; it made it difficult to cheer on a romance between Gavin and Madison. The story has some religious (christian) undertones. Both main characters talk about their faith. Gavin and Shelby had gotten together while on a mission trip. As a non-religious person, I did not find the mention of the characters faith to be distracting or off putting. Overall, I enjoyed the story. It was a quick and easy read. I recommend this for anyone looking for a solid holiday story.
Author: Melody Carlson is a well established author with over 250 published books, a number of which are bestselling Christmas, young adult, and contemporary romances. Her book, 'All Summer Long' has been adapted in to a Hallmark move.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
The Christmas Tree Farm will be available September 3rd, 2024. Just in time for your cold weather reading.
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