Bright Lights, Big Christmas
Fiction
St. Martin's Press
September 26, 2023
Advance reader copy
288
Free from publisher
When fall rolls around, it’s time for Kerry Tolliver to leave her family’s Christmas tree farm in the mountains of North Carolina for the wilds of New York City to help her gruff older brother & his dog, Queenie, sell the trees at the family stand on a corner in Greenwich Village. Sharing a tiny vintage camper and experiencing Manhattan for the first time, Kerry’s ready to try to carve out a new corner for herself.
In the weeks leading into Christmas, Kerry quickly becomes close with the charming neighbors who live near their stand. When an elderly neighbor goes missing, Kerry will need to combine her country know-how with her newly acquired New York knowledge to protect the new friends she’s come to think of as family,
And complicating everything is Patrick, a single dad raising his adorable, dragon-loving son Austin on this quirky block. Kerry and Patrick’s chemistry is undeniable, but what chance does this holiday romance really have?
Filled with family ties, both rekindled and new, and sparkling with Christmas magic, BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CHRISTMAS delivers everything Mary Kay Andrews fans adore, all tied up in a hilarious, romantic gem of a novel.
My review:
Yes, I do realize that I'm reviewing a holiday book in September, but when the publisher decides on that as release day, you go with the flow. I missed having a novel from MKA (as book lovers like to call her) this summer, but this certainly came close to making up for it (although selfishly, why couldn't we have had both?). This was such a delight to read! It had all the makings of a great holiday novel (and I read a LOT of them as the season approaches). I loved the idea of a tree farm (from NC!) stand in Manhattan, there's nothing like the city to bring on the holiday spirit. The characters were all well defined, and of course I can't resist the divorced dad trope. The camper van that they parked on the lot was almost a character in itself, and just added to the cute ambience of the story. Andrews always has a way of interjecting humor into her novels at just the right level for the story. While this one did not have loads of it, her style still showed through in the dialog and situations the characters found themselves in. Lots of Christmasy references, particularly of the decorative variety. And while I'm not one to love a tied up with a bow ending, I'm okay with it when it comes to holiday books.
If you want a book to get you in the holiday mood, that has good substance and great characters, I suggest you give this one a go. You really can't ever go wrong with this author!
