🎄❄️🏔️ "A Christmas in the Alps" (2021) 🏔️❄️🎄 - Book Review
“After a time of heartache and loss, Simone Winthrop discovers a tantalizing letter from her French great-grandmother, which seems to suggest that she is heir to a family treasure. Ever practical, Simone assumes the claim is baseless, but her best friend encourages her to find out for sure. Despite her deep-rooted fear of flying, Simone boards a jet to travel to Paris at Christmastime to uncover the truth.
During the long flight, Simone meets the charming
Kyle Larsson, who's on his way to France to become an apprentice clockmaker.
Though they abruptly part ways, an unexpected rendezvous in the French Alps at
Simone's family's clock factory may lead to the discovery of the family
treasure . . . and so much more.”
Thank you in advance to the publisher, Revell (a
division of Baker Books), for providing an advanced review copy of the book
through Library Thing. A positive review was definitely not required or
requested in any way; all words are my own.
I previously read The Christmas Swap by the author, as well as The Happy Camper. So, I was delighted to see this little stand-alone novella. After all, I LOVE Christmas stories any time of the year. I love the holiday anytime of the year as well, and no, I wasn’t born at Christmas.
The cute, artsy cover reminds me of those old-fashioned Christmas cards of years ago, and definitely those cozy Christmas Villages people decorate with. I’ve always wanted them – sadly, no money and no room for them. But, the cuteness, coziness, and whimsiness is there, some nostalgia as well. I was expecting that same content in the book. And, it was sort of there, though not quite.
A small village is where Simone Winthrop is heading after discovering a letter from her great-grandmother, her grandmother’s mother, when cleaning up the house left to her by her grandmother.
Told in third-person from Simone’s POV, the story opens with her cleaning her grandmother’s house. And, to be honest, the Hoarders refence is a theme I’ve seen quite bit. Thankfully, no graphic descriptions. And, it was more “stuff” than “junk”, or “trash”.
There is talk of a treasure that great-grandma wants her to have. And, I thought this was definitely going to be a cutesy and exciting read – treasure and romance. And, for the most part it is – cutesy and slightly romantic. It just didn’t grab me the way I’d hoped, and I didn’t really get interested until around chapter 8 or so. I definitely enjoyed it while I was reading it.
There might be some “trigger” or content issues: hoarding, Alzheimer’s, and the mention of Hitler because of a connection to WWII.
The characters didn’t grab me right off. I definitely thought Simone’s friend Andrea was far too pushy. Thankfully, she doesn’t show up after chapter 5. There were a few questions I had when it came to her. And, still do.
Simone, despite her fear of flying, is wrangled into the trip. Her fear is understandable, but it actually resembled more of anxiety with panic attacks. That is far different.
I was a bit apprehensive of flying in June 2014 when I traveled to New Jersey by myself. And, for the record, I have long said “if I can’t drive there, I don’t need to be there”, yet I flew there – by myself. The last time I flew was in April of 1980 when I was a little girl – so, 31 years between flights.
I can understand the fear, but Simone was definitely far past that (thinking up worst case scenarios even) and I felt, given her “fear” and background – perhaps she should’ve sought help prior to flying. That might’ve prepared her. It wasn’t like she could’ve have had a few professional visits before the trip to fully prepare. In addition, she should’ve researched more.
Anyway …
Her fears are calmed when a sweet guy, Kyle, sits next to her. And, truthfully, he was the best character of them all. Sincerely the absolute best. Though a flight transfer separates the two briefly. Simone falls in love with Paris and the author goes to great lengths to describe it, at times the narrative reads like a tour guide. You can almost close your eyes and imagine the sights.
That’s the only thing I’d have a problem with – being on a flight that long for international travel. Maybe someday. And, yes, Paris is on that list – along with Australia and London.
As far as the rest of Simone’s family that she meets in France – they were a bit … interesting.
The innkeeper, Noel, was a fantastic guy and is through him that Simone meets up with a link to her “Beaumont” family side. And, as it turns out, Kyle is connected to them as well. And, it seems great-aunt Estelle’s likes Kyle far more than she does Simone. Though why?
Despite her great-aunt Estelle’s coldness at first, Simone finally learns the history of her great-grandma’s family. And, she learns the truth about what real treasure is.
Some of the plot involved a clock and watch
factory that is floundering and one of the family members wants to change it to
something else. Thus, Simone and Kyle work to “save” it. That part I felt kind
of detracted from the cuteness and whimsy of the book. There was VERY little “romance”
and that doesn’t take part until about 50% of the way in. This is more fiction
than romance.
I do have to admit that Estelle showed the best character development and
growth overall from the time we meet her until the end of the book, including
the bonus chapter. The bonus chapter will be available in books sold through
certain retailers. Having never had a book with “bonus content”, seeing the
bonus version was interesting and insightful. It didn’t really change the
overall tone or message of the story.
With a novella, they are short reads. This was also helped by the shorter chapters. And, this is EASILY a day read.
At times, the narrative seemed to drag on a bit. I had a feeling that there was something in the family background between Simone’s great-grandmother and great-aunt Estelle.
I loved Noel’s mom’s name (yes, my name). Anytime a character has the name MARIE in it, and they’re a good one, I tend to smile a bit.
While distributed by Revell, a Christian/faith themed publisher; there were only a few slight references to prayers in general, some church attendance, and a mention of God. These are definitely not integral to the story.
Some fans of the author as well as the genre
might enjoy this read. It wasn’t a bad book, just not too high up on the
re-read scale. I likely would read another book by the author though.
Melody Carlson is the award-winning author of more than 200 books with sales of more than 7 million, including many bestselling Christmas novellas, young adult titles, and contemporary romances. She received a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award in the inspirational market for her many books, including Finding Alice, and her novel All Summer Long was made into a Hallmark movie. She and her husband live in central Oregon. Learn more at www.melodycarlson.com.
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