6.13.2022 | Monday

Bloombay Christmas

category: Book Reviews
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Bloombay Christmastitle: Bloombay Christmas
author: Lilly Beckett
series: Bloombay Shores #4
published: 23 October 2021
publisher: self-published
genre(s): romance
pages: 218
source: client
format: eARC
buy/shelve it: Amazon | Goodreads

rating: three-half-stars | series rating: four-stars

the blurb

Christmas on Bloombay is a treat! The picturesque vineyards are covered with snow, and there is always something happening in the town's square. Friends and family reunite to celebrate and share their joys and sorrows this holiday season. Between the Winter Wonderland festival and afternoon tea at Abigail's, there's a lot going on. And the movie being filmed on the island is making waves...

Sydney Smith has been happily married to the love of her life, and they have two young daughters. When Steve decides to retire from the army, Sydney is over the moon, thinking she'll finally have him home with her for good. But Steve wants a fresh start...away from his family. Now Sydney is trying to pull herself together and find a way to supplement her income. Luckily, Abigail offers her a temporary job at her hotel.

Mia Johnson has a lot on her plate. Her parents just divorced, and she is helping her Dad run the family coffeeshop, The Seagull. She's enjoying their bonding time, but she's pressed for time, since she just started her own company with her friend Frank. Secretly, Mia thinks Frank is going to ask her out soon. But when things with Frank don't go as planned, Mia needs to make some tough choices. And the vineyard owner next door seems determined to lift up her mood. If only he weren't almost a decade younger...

Sandra Miller is doing everything she can to support her two best friends while their lives are undergoing so many changes. Bloombay is changing too. A studio is filming a movie here, and it's all everyone talks about. And when
the hotshot movie star Toby asks Sandra for private fitness training sessions, she accepts, thinking it will be great publicity for her gym. But she hadn't counted on Toby being so charming, or so determined to sweep her off her feet...


my review

Bloombay Christmas is the fourth book in the Bloombay Shores series, small-town romance set on an island off the coast of Washington State.

I have very mixed opinions of this book. In the positive, I loved the characters. They were the best of small-town romance, diverse with unique and clear voices. I loved their stories, and I was brought into them until I felt as if I knew them all. I could see shades of my own small town of my childhood in both Bloombay and the characters. And the representation of PTSD was on point. I truly appreciated how realistically that was handled, with the rawness of it but also with compassion.

But on the negative side, I felt as if it ended abruptly, unfinished. So many of the storylines felt interuppted, as if the book ended too soon, rather than with a cliffhanger feel. That really made a difference for me.

About Lilly Beckett

Lilly Beckett writes feel-good women’s fiction books.

Rating Report
plot
three-half-stars
characters
three-half-stars
writing
three-half-stars
pacing
three-half-stars
Overall: three-half-stars
::spread the love::

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