Book Review - The Christmas Inn by Pamela Kelley

 

Thanks to Net Galley, the Author and Publisher for the ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of this book in exchange for my honest review. Book description from Net Galley below:

Explore this delightfully cozy and joyful novel of second chances at the most wonderful time of the year, from USA Today bestselling author Pamela Kelley.

A feel-good novel as delightful and comforting as a cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter’s night, The Christmas Inn is bestselling author Pamela Kelley’s most heartwarming and magical book yet.

Riley Sanders didn’t plan on losing her job as a content marketing manager right before Christmas. When she calls her sister Amy to vent, she learns that their mother has broken her leg and could really use some help at the inn. Riley decides to head home to the inn, nestled along the shores of Cape Cod, in time for the Christmas rush. She is happy to help and needs something to distract her as mistletoe is hung and snowflakes begin to fall.

When she gets there, she not only finds delicious cookies and a crackling fire to lift her spirits, but also the sense of family she’s been missing all along. There’s Franny, a woman who has just lost her sister and has four unopened letters from her that she plans to use to open her up to new experiences on the Cape. And there’s Aidan, her high school sweetheart, now a widower, who is staying at the inn with his nine year-old son, Luke. What begins as a quick stay over the holidays to help her mom turns into something that means much more—a second chance at romance, a deeper sense of found family, and all the joy and wonder that comes with Christmastime on Cape Cod.

My thoughts on the book:  Yes this book is very reminiscent of a typical Hallmark  movie type theme.  And in fact that Author makes mention of (Hallmark) several times through out the book in describing the setting and scenes in the book itself.

What I liked about the book:  The characters were fun and believable and easy to relate to.

The author was very descriptive of the characters, the settings, the food, etc...this was both a plus and minus for me.  I like having good descriptions of things but sometimes felt she went a little overboard on the descriptions or they were repeated a lot throughout the story.

Besides the "romance" aspect of the story there were also plot lines for the other characters besides the main character (Riley).  

It was light hearted, fun and easy to read.  No explicit sex scenes (which for me is a plus as I don't think they are necessary for a book to be good), no foul language either (also a plus for me).  - It's the kind of book you can read from start to finish in a day or put down and pick up a few days later and get right back into the story.  

What I didn't like about it:  Again I did feel some of the details were repeated over and over such as the (wine/cheese) which is mentioned a lot in the book. I almost thought that the people drank way to much wine and ate way to much food to be normal.  But that's just a minor "picky" detail about the book that you could easily overlook.

Over all for this kind of genre of book I would give it a 4 star rating. It was a nice, pleasant book set at Christmas time and fun to read.  So I would recommend the book to anyone wanting to just sit down with a cup of tea, coffee or even a glass of wine and enjoy a relaxing time reading.