The Christmas Shoppe by Melody Carlson
When Matilda Honeycutt moves to town, she purchases an old building that was up for sale. One a townsman (one of the town’s politicians) catches wind of the sale, he’s mortified. He’d wanted to purchase the building for his own gain.
However, Matilda has other plans. She wants to open a Christmas shop. The town’s people believe that her shop will have Christmas lights, ornaments, etc. for sale, however, they’re in for a big surprise when they actually open the doors to this new establishment.
Is Matilda a witch, a sorcerer, or just somebody who seems to know all the townspeople’s needs. People come into her shop out of curiosity, but leave with changed/upbeat personalities.
I found this book a little hard to get into. I didn’t really start to enjoy this novella until about halfway through the book. I thought the beginning was kind of slow and I initially had a hard time connecting with some of the characters.
However, the connection finally happened, and, overall, this is a joyous story. There’s also a romance thread within this novel. The town manager finds herself smitten with the town’s newspaper owner. Both of these people have inner conflicts to resolve before they’re free to fall in love again.
This is a nice, short, joyous read to enjoy over the holidays!