#BookReview – The Best Little Christmas Shop, by Maxine Morrey @Scribbler_Maxi @HQDigitalUK

Blurb:

Come home for Christmas to the Best Little Christmas Shop – the snowiest, cosiest place you can be!

Home for the holidays…

Icing gingerbread men, arranging handmade toys and making up countless Christmas wreaths in her family’s cosy little Christmas shop isn’t usually globe-trotter Lexi’s idea of fun. But it’s all that’s keeping her mind off romance. And, with a broken engagement under her belt, she’s planning to stay well clear of that for the foreseeable future…until gorgeous single dad Cal Martin walks through the door!

Christmas takes on a whole new meaning as Lexi begins to see it through Cal’s adorable five-year-old son’s eyes. But, finding herself getting dangerously close to the mistletoe with Cal, Lexi knows she needs to back off. She’s sworn off love, and little George needs a stability she can’t provide. One day she’ll decide whether to settle down again – just not yet.

But the best little Christmas shop in this sleepy, snow-covered village has another surprise in store…

My Review:

Firstly, the things I loved most about this book were Bear, the teddy bear. Oh my goodness, my heart melted. This book won me over very early on with Bear, the injured teddy bear. I can cope with injured humans, but not an injured teddy bear. Oh, the horror! It actually reminded me of Mr Mousy. My Auntie Sharon gave him to me for my first birthday, and I still have him to this day. Apparently I was rather upset that despite him being a mouse he didn’t have a tail. My mum ended up attaching a plaited tail on him with the only colour wool she had in the house, which was mint green, and doesn’t go with the rest of Mr Mousy, but I didn’t care, I was just happy he had a tail. I may be almost forty years old, but I still love him so much ❤

I also loved the Four Seasons shop. What a great idea, selling gifts and decorations suited to each season. There was plenty of festive fun too, with an adult-sized elf, decorations, fairy lights, Christmas trees, snowflakes, candy canes, cuddly turkeys wearing Santa hats, cinnamon sticks, eggnog, a Christmas parade with decorated floats and Father Christmas on his sleigh.

The reason for 4 starts instead of 5 is because I didn’t fully connect with the characters within this story. I think that may the fault of the previous book I read, rather than this book itself. I just wasn’t ready to let go of the previous characters I’d been reading about, which made it harder to warm to the ones in this book, except for little George and Bear the teddy, of course.

Overall this is an enjoyable festive romance set within a fun and cosy close-knit community.