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Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Book Review: Christmas Spirit by Annie Boone

I am participating in a blog tour for the Christmas novellas that are part of the Cutter’s Creek series and this week I will have a review of Christmas Spirit by Annie Boone, but I will also be sharing some other content as well.  I previously featured a review of Season of Love by Vivi Holt and an excerpt of that novella.  Don’t worry about if you have never read a book in this series before, you can still dive right in and enjoy the season with these novellas without prior knowledge.  So, first just an intro to the series and then my review of Christmas Spirit is below that.  Enjoy!


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It’s a Christmas sugarplum celebration! Christmas in Cutter’s Creek means a Christmas social; sugarplum contest, dancing, a dash of mayhem and a heaping helping of romance.

First off is Kit Morgan’s Recipe for Christmas. This novella is set in 1866 and is the very first Cutter’s Creek Christmas social, and so much mischief happens, it’s a wonder they had another!
Lucius Judrow from Love is Blind has a brother and he’s on his way to Cutter’s Creek. Come see who Eldon meets in this hilarious and sweet romance!

The next is Vivi Holt’s Seasons of Love. It takes place in 1872. The social has changed just a bit. You’d think they’d learned with all the trouble, but no, the social is more fun than trouble. Margaret is a lonely school teacher from the East looking for a little love and adventure. She finds just that and a whole lot more in this sweet Christmas romance!

Third Christmas novella is just a few years later and the social has changed yet again, to a cider competition! The contestants get a little rowdy and words are said that might ruin Christmas! Felicity will need special help to solve this mess. Find out more in Annie Boone’s Christmas Spirit.

The fourth and final Christmas novella takes place in 1892 and rumors of Christmas social’s past dominate the festivities. Carol needs to find a husband and the new doctor in town provides a great opportunity. A snowball fight leads to romance in Kari Trumbo’s A Carol Plays.


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christmas spirit
Christmas Spirit by Annie Boone
Book 12 in the Cutter’s Creek series
ARC, e-Book, 121 pages
October 27, 2015
★★★★☆
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Heat Level:

Genre: Historical Romance, Western, Christmas

Source: Received from Author for Review
A handsome cowboy. A sweet young woman. A stranger from New York.
Felicity Lipscomb has loved Josh Garrett almost as long as she can remember. She thinks he’s nothing short of amazing. She doesn’t have the confidence to let him know, so she longs for him quietly, hoping one day he’ll notice her.
When she overhears a conversation just before Christmas, Felicity gets an idea she’s sure will help her finally snag her dream man. To make her plan work, she needs to learn to cook. The Christmas Festival Cider Competition is the perfect opportunity for her to prove her kitchen skills to the handsome cowboy.
Then the festivities begin. Secrets are revealed. Tempers flare. Nasty words are exchanged. All at a time when people should be joyful. In the blink of an eye Felicity’s happiness shatters. Can the stranger from New York make things better? Will his purpose for being there bring people together when they’ve been torn apart?
Pick up a copy to find out if renewed Christmas Spirit comes to the sweet little town of Cutter’s Creek just when they need it most.
Christmas Spirit is the first book I have read in the Cutter’s Creek series that is from a different author. Annie Boone brings us a sweet novel where the heroine is sort of having a conflict of identity. She has been in love with her best friend’s brother since she was a young girl, but didn’t realize he has any interest in her. Upon discovering that he is indeed interested, she struggles with the idea of remaking herself into the woman she thinks he wants. But does he really want that? At the same time, Josh is struggling to take over the responsibility of the ranch because his father has been quite ill and to be able to deal with the downturn that is befalling it. Can he potentially support a wife and family? These hardships make their relationship all the more real because I think that a lot of people today can identify with many of these ideas, even if they aren’t in the exact same manner.

There are some comedic moments in this novella as Felicity tries to learn how to cook, and boy does she make quite the mess of it! Also, the cider judging scene was more than I could have expected from it – dramatic it certainly was! I quickly got behind Felicity and Josh – I think many young girls have a secret crush on their best friend’s brother, and this story played on that very well. All the family members have to intervene in their little ways to push them forward toward each other.

Although this was a brief novella it offered a lot in the way of characterization and world building. I had a very clear idea of who the main characters were and some of the side characters as well. The Cutter’s Creek novellas have done a good job of integrating different ethnicities and cultures into the town. In Christmas Spirit, we learn a little something about the Chinese experience and cultural contributions.

Christmas Spirit embraces the true idea of the season: celebrating with friends and those you love, friendly competitions, food, and some religious elements (however this element is not used heavy handed).

While I haven’t read any of Annie Boone’s other contributions to the Cutter’s Creek series, I could immediately recognize that two of the side characters, Nick and Jemma, had to be from one of the other novels in the series. And I was right! They are the main characters in Becoming a Family and I look forward to reading their story as I found them interesting and I want to know more about their backstory. I also feel that there might be a subsequent novel about Josh’s sister on the horizon (but that is just a guess)!

Buy the Book: Amazon


Other Books in the Cutter’s Creek Series
The Cutter’s Creek series is a loosely interconnected series of novellas that all take place in Cutter’s Creek, Montana, each written by a different author.

the healing touch
The Healing Touch
by Kit Morgan (Book 1)

strong one
The Strong One
by Vivi Holt (Book 2)
[My Review]

new beginning
New Beginnings
by Annie Boone (Book 3)

a lily blooms
A Lily Blooms
by Kari Trumbo (Book 4)

a penny shines
A Penny Shines
by Kari Trumbo (Book 5)

becoming a family
Becoming a Family
by Annie Boone (Book 6)

betrothed
Betrothed
by Vivi Holt (Book 7)
[My Review]

love is blind
Love is Blind
by Kit Morgan (Book 8)

cherished
Cherished
by Vivi Holt (Book 9)
[My Review]

The Other Cutter’s Creek Christmas Novellas:

recipe for christmas
Recipe for Christmas
by Kit Morgan (Book 10)

season of love
Season of Love
by Vivi Holt (Book 11)
[My Review]

a carol plays
A Carol Plays
by Kari Trumbo (Book 13)


Find Annie Boone: Website | Facebook
 



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