Title: Bright Lights, Big Christmas
Author: Mary Kay Andrews
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Contemporary Holiday Fiction
Thank you to @macmillan.audio for the listening copy + the publisher @stmartinspress for the netgalley widget. I listened to the audio narrated by Kathleen McInerney and was throughly entertained. I enjoyed Mary Kay Andrew’s Santa Suit book last year and was so glad she wrote another holiday book this year. She’s an author you can trust from start to finish with a great story and characters.
Bright Lights, Big Christmas is filled to the brim, with holiday charm. A Christmas tree lot in NYC, a vintage camper named “spammy”, a dog, a charming man and his son, and older mysterious gentleman in the neighborhood were the careful crafted ingredients in this tale. But honestly it’s so much more. I loved the message of taking care of people.
Every year Kerry Tolliver’s step brother and father are the ones to head to NYC from their North Carolina Christmas Tree farm to sell their familiy's Christmas trees. They have a special block and neighborhood in Greenwich village that they go back to every year. This year due to her father’s health she has to fill in. Kerry’s brother is kind of a bossy thing and she’s not content with his answers of doing things a certain way just because that’s how they have always done it. She adds her own flair and quickly is selling wreaths and trees at a rapid rate. Success is fun, but the people she meets in the neighborhood make it even better. In particular, is Patrick and his son Austin. Austin is a curious little boy and has Kerry using her art skills to draw a story book. This makes Kerry feel alive for once, she’s been casting aside her art for fear of failure. There is something about Christmas magic, though.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.75 Ok, was this a little cheesy? Yes! Did I still love it? Also yes. My only quibble is the brother was kind of a jerk and very overly macho. Also, the pacing felt somewhat off. Slow first half and much faster second half. All in all I enjoyed this one! Pick this one up for a book brimming with holiday cheer!
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