Thursday, 30 July 2015

Reviewed: The Mistletoe Melody by Jennifer Snow







The Mistletoe Melody was published by Harlequin on November 1, 2014.


Thanks to the author for sending me a copy of this book to review.



The Mistletoe Melody is a heart-warming tale of love, family and second chances. This is the first book I have read by Jennifer Snow but I’m really hoping it won’t be the last because I was captured by her emotive writing and the sweet romance she developed throughout this book. Melody is approaching the festive season fairly manically, working all hours so she can afford to pay the bills and better the lives of her sons Josh and David. Sadly, since the death of her husband Patrick three years ago, money has been a huge struggle and so as she’s battling against the odds in December, the last thing she needs is the re-appearance of Brad, the guy responsible for Patrick’s death. Straight away, there’s such sadness to Melody’s story that I really felt connected to her and quite protective over her. She’s a hard-worker and always puts her kids first, even if it means letting go of any other hopes and ambitions she has. Melody doesn’t ever appear to have stopped grieving or to have let go of the blame she places with Brad but she’s not the only one blaming Brad. Brad is full of regret for the part he played in the tragic death of his best friend and he wishes he could make things right. Was there the chance of a festive happy ending for these two deserving characters?

I found The Mistletoe Melody to be a really sweet, touching story. Not sickly sweet, just the perfect amount to make you feel for the characters and hope for the best. I really liked both Brad and Melody and felt like all they needed was some proper communication to try and clear the air, although I understood why Melody didn’t want to give Brad that chance. There’d been so much heartache for Melody over the past few years and it was obviously such a difficult thing to try and step forward in life without leaving her precious memories and life with Patrick behind. But Brad had been suffering too and I was moved by how honest and forthright he was. As a musician, he’s doing well but he’s missing a song that really hits the spot. Melody was a song-writer although she’s buried that part of her life now but Brad begins to drag it back up when he requests her help. It could be the answer to both their problems but that would mean letting go of the grudges, the pain and the regret and letting Brad back into her life is not something Melody is interested in. Even when the livelihood of her and her kids depends on it…

I loved Jennifer’s style of writing. She seems to have such talent at building a beautiful, emotive story and writes with such depth even over a short number of pages. The romance in this book was sublimely developed, slow-building, realistic and endearing. The small town of Brookhollow was built to perfection with the friends made and how it was hard to avoid other people knowing all your business. I also loved how this was a book set at Christmas but one that was actually festive, and not just there to be published for the holiday season. All the little festivities, the small Christmassy touches were just delightful and my favourite part of this was the nativity, with all the costumes and lines and how we get to see all the different roles and learn a bit about some of the children and the parts they played. Jennifer put so much into this story and though it was a moving story, it was very uplifting to read too. My only slight complaint was that I would have liked to have seen a bit more of Melody’s eight year old boys towards the end where I felt one more scene with them would have fit beautifully but that’s really something so tiny in a book that was so stunning to read. I had a hell of a lot of respect and admiration for the characters of Brad and Melody and was wishing for a bit of forgiveness, a bit of understanding and maybe a bit of love to blossom and make this Christmas one they would never forget – this time for all the right reasons.


An emotional, heart-warming Christmas tale of forgiveness, love and chasing that little bit of happiness







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