Willy Nilly Friday Five - The winter edition

 Closing out another year by joining Willy Nilly Friday Five hosted by Tom (The Backroads Traveller)

1.Winter berries covered in snow.

2. A lone leaf on the snow.

 3.  Snowy braches

4. Lighting the way to a New Year.

5.  Wise words from a squirrel:  Good-bye 2021

Thank you to everyone who stopped by in 2021 and left such wonderful comments.  I wish you all a very Happy New Year.

 

I'll see you (hopefully) tomorrow!  Stay safe.

I hate winter!

 

What a way to close out the year.  It's not looking good for the start of 2022 either.  

 

 

Book Review - The Santa Suit

 

Welcome! - Hope everyone who celebrated Christmas had a wonderful holiday.  For those who celebrate other holidays I wish you all the same wonderfulness.

So today I'm reviewing a book I received a (Free Copy) of for my honest review from, Net Galley.

I haven't read much this year but this one sounded like it would be fun and it was!

 

From (Amazon):  When newly-divorced Ivy Perkins buys an old farmhouse sight unseen, she is definitely looking for a change in her life. The Four Roses, as the farmhouse is called, is a labor of love—but Ivy didn't bargain on just how much labor. The previous family left so much furniture and so much junk, that it's a full-time job sorting through all of it.

At the top of a closet, Ivy finds an old Santa suit—beautifully made and decades old. In the pocket of a suit she finds a note written in a childish hand: it's from a little girl who has one Christmas wish, and that is for her father to return home from the war. This discovery sets Ivy off on a mission. Who wrote the note? Did the man ever come home? What mysteries did the Rose family hold?

Ivy's quest brings her into the community, at a time when all she wanted to do was be left alone and nurse her wounds. But the magic of Christmas makes miracles happen, and Ivy just might find more than she ever thought possible: a welcoming town, a family reunited, a mystery solved, and a second chance at love.

 My thoughts:  I really enjoyed this book a lot.  It was like reading a Hallmark movie.  The characters were fun and believable.  Plus there was a bit of a "mystery" to the story which made it even more enjoyable.

 

The main character, Ivy buys a house on-line after her divorce and moves to the small town it's located in.  The house is a bit of a "fixer-upper" and Ivy discovers that the previous owners have left behind a lot of the old furnishings and belongs saying that they weren't sentimental and that Ivy could get rid of whatever she didn't want.  She discovers an old Santa suit with a mysterious note from a young child in these belongings and sets off to discover the mystery of who the suit belonged to and who the little girl was that left the note for Santa.

 

Along the way she makes friends with different members of the small community including a handsome (and single) man who happens to be the realtor of her property.  Though she's not certain she's ready yet to be involved with anyone since her divorce has left her very cautious about relationships.

 

Without giving things away I'd say this is the type of book you would enjoy if you like, "RomCom" type novels and happy endings, which I do.

 

Thank you for stopping by. - Hope to review more books next year. 

A Few Fall Photos

 Yes,  I'm still alive and doing well.  Have had a couple of bouts of nasty colds with a bad cough but am finally feeling much better.

Hard to believe it's December already and that Christmas is now only 24 days away!

Today I want to share a few of the photos I took of the fall foliage this year.  I don't get out as often for some reason to take pictures but I hope to do better.

Virginia Creeper that grows up the side of the house around the corner from us every year.

A pretty yellow tree I spotted out on a walk.

 

 A lone maple leaf in our driveway after a rainy day.

 

 Red Japanese Maple from one of the neighbors yards.

 

 Grape Vines and Shadows.

 

 Red berries on a nice fall day.

 

Pretty red/orange leaves.  Not sure what kind of a tree this one is.

 

Hope you have enjoyed a little touch of fall as we now enter into the winter season things will certainly change.