Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Review: Christmas Bliss

From the New York Times bestselling author of Summer Rental comes a novella that celebrates love, the holidays, and antiques 

Christmas is coming, but Savannah antique dealer Weezie Foley is doubly distracted—both by her upcoming wedding to her longtime love, chef Daniel Stipanek and also by the fact that her best friend and maid-of-honor BeBe Loudermilk is due to give birth any day—and is still adamantly refusing to marry her live-in-love Harry. Readers have come to love these characters in Mary Kay Andrews’ three previous Savannah novels: Savannah Blues, Savannah Breeze, and Blue Christmas. Christmas Bliss offers Andrews’s legions of fans the best of many things: familiar characters, a new novella for Christmas, and a celebration of Mary Key Andrews’s own favorite pastime-antiquing. Blue Christmas was a fan favorite, and now Christmas Bliss is sure to fly off store shelves and into the hands of Andrews’s fans in bestselling numbers. -- St. Martin's Press

I've been waiting for November to come so I can start talking about the upcoming holiday season! It's finally here and I plan on having a lot of fun on my blog these next few weeks. Not only do I plan to reviewing some holiday books, but I also want to feature some fantastic gift ideas for the book lovers in your life.

The first Christmas book that I read and really enjoyed was CHRISTMAS BLISS by Mary Kay Andrews. Ms. Andrews is a long time favorite author of mine, writing as both as Mary Kay Andrews and Kathy Hogan Trocheck; and I love that she's brought back a familiar setting and some memorable characters for a holiday-themed novella.

CHRISTMAS BLISS is a quick, fun read that revolves around Weezie, a Savannah antique dealer, and her best friend BeBe. You might remember these characters from SAVANNAH BLUES, SAVANNAH BREEZE and/or BLUE CHRISTMAS. Weezie is getting married to her chef boyfriend Daniel, and BeBe is due to have a baby any time. The book follows these two women through their preparations for the holiday season as well as the exciting changes that await both of them.

CHRISTMAS BLISS is just a delightful story! I pretty much knew I was going to enjoy this book before I even picked it up. The cover is adorable which I admit was the initial attraction; however, I also knew that I was in for a treat with Ms. Andrews' writing. She has created both fun and likable characters in both Weezie and BeBe, and the supporting cast is also the perfect complement to these two women. The story is both entertaining and funny, but it also showcases the beauty of the holiday season as well as the importance of friendship and family!

CHRISTMAS BLISS is actually a novella which means that it's a very quick read. I don't know about you, but I find that my reading takes a hit around the holidays because I'm so busy with life in general. This story is the perfect remedy for those of you who want to read a book but don't have much time. The book definitely qualifies for a light read, but it has enough substance to make it a worthwhile one!

I found CHRISTMAS BLISS to be a very cute story and I highly recommend it to fans of Ms. Andrews' as well as anyone looking for a sweet holiday read!

Thanks to Tandem Literary for providing a review copy of this novel.

Make sure you stop by tomorrow because I will have a terrific guest post from Ms. Andrews as well as an exciting giveaway!

3 comments:

Karlie said...

This sounds like a fun Christmas read!

bermudaonion said...

I'm in denial when it comes to the holidays. I just can't believe it's that time of year.

I bet this is a fun book. The last time I went to a Mary Kay Andrews event, everyone there was looking forward to more Weezie!

Sandy Nawrot said...

I've never read any of her books (I have no plausible excuse) but I've met her and she is a pistol. I'm sure her stories are as delightful as she is.