Little Christmas Spirit (Original): A Holiday Romance Novel

by Sheila Roberts

• ISBN10: 0778311287
• ISBN13: 9780778311287
• Publish Date: 1 September 2021
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Harlequin Sales Corp
• Edition: Original ed.
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[Jeff Sexton]

A Christmas Carol / The Grinch / Up Mashup. If you go into this book expecting a romance - how it was marketed to me - ... ummmm.... yeah, this isn't really that. The "romance" here is fully tacked on in the last 20% of the book, with the guy barely mentioned at all before that point (and even in the "romance" here, the rest of the plot of the book is still truly the driver). But if you go into this as more of a women's fiction / Christmas type book, it works quite a bit better. The focus is largely on Stanley, who is an amalgamation of the memorable parts of Scrooge (from A Christmas Carol, including a Christmas Ghost in the form of his dead wife), The Grinch (and his too-small-due-to-pain heart), and Carl from Pixar's Up (grump old widower who doesn't really like kids... at first). Then we're introduced to Lexie and her son Brock, and from that point on Stanley's life will never be the same again. But the majority of the book really is spent on Stanley, Lexie, and Brock, with the edge to Stanley and his memories of his wife (and interactions with her ghost). Here, it really does work to be a heartwarming tale (or heartworming, for those adverse to stories that get a bit saccharine at times, and in nod to the word I originally wrote there :D) again in line with A Christmas Carol and The Grinch. A fun tale that could have gotten a lot more depressing than it ever did, this is a solid Christmas tale... just not a Christmas Romance. Very much recommended.