By Women Using Words
The details…
- Title: Christmas Mouse
- Author: Rachel Spangler
- Print publisher: Brisk Press (November 8, 2022)
- Ebook publication date: October 16, 2022
- Available formats: ebook, paperback
- Ebook file size: 1485 KB
- Print length: 296 pages
- Genre: contemporary romance
- Themes: Christmas and holiday celebrations, NYC Christmas vs Vermont Christmas, falling in love, women loving women, family, friends, queer romance
- Trope: Christmas romance
The blurb from the publisher…
What makes for the perfect Christmas? Where or how you spend it, or perhaps, who you share it with?
Small-town woodworker Ava Collins and big city doctor Bex Leone both love Christmas. Some might go so far as to call them obsessed. They love Christmas music, Christmas food, Christmas carols, and Christmas movies. When the two women meet over a Thanksgiving dinner, it seems for a second they might have finally found their mistletoe match, but their initial connection goes wildly joy awry when they realize their versions of what constitutes an ideal Christmas differ as drastically as the places they choose to spend their holidays. Ava is to idyllic, homespun Vermont as Bex is to the flash and sparkle of New York City. What begins as a good-natured argument about who has the superior way to celebrate the season ends in a friendly bet: The country mouse and the city mouse will each split the season in an attempt to convince the other their way is the truest path to holiday happiness.
Ava agrees to spend two weekends on Bex’s turf in Manhattan as long as Bex will visit her in the mountains of Vermont for the other two. For one whirlwind month, each woman works to showcase her favorite traditions, memories, and magic. As snowy days give way to starlit nights, Bex and Ava find the ideals that brought them together offer more common ground than either of them expected, but as they grow closer to one another, they begin to fear that in order to act on their deepening connection each of them may have to relinquish cherished parts of themselves.
With the big day rushing toward them, questions remain: Who will win their bet? And perhaps more importantly, what are they willing to lose in the process?
My thoughts…
This is the perfect queer “Hallmark” holiday romance and it needs to be on everyone’s Christmas reading list. It is a lighthearted, fun tale full of great characters and sweet romance. Readers will smile throughout as they get caught up in the antics of city mouse Bex and country mouse Ava. These two lovely and charming characters bring it home big time, making this romance a must read for the holidays.
Holiday romances can be quite predictable with their often overused tropes and themes, but Spangler does a nice job giving this one a new and fresh angle. They enthusiastically take the classic country mouse/city mouse storyline and turn it into the most heartwarming, feel-good holiday romance. Furthermore, they manage to enthusiastically explore many long-held Christmas traditions with endearing care. The passion with which holiday cheer and romance is infused into this tale will no doubt make readers appreciate many of their own cherished and beloved Christmas traditions. Beware: A renewed fervor and ebullience for all thing’s Christmas can not be resisted.
Final remarks…
Christmas Mouse has loads of appeal and charm; I could completely envision it as a Hallmark movie. Ava and Bex are adorable and their romance is completely engaging. I enjoyed every minute with them and would absolutely recommend that other readers get to know them too. They’ve got the perfect amount of holly-jolly sizzle, and who doesn’t need that during the holidays?
Strengths…
- Well-written
- Wonderfully developed characters
- Fantastic use of trope
- Nicely developed themes
- Fun and engaging romance
- Entertaining, well-constructed dialogue
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A bit about the author…
Rachel Spangler is a Goldie, IPPY, Rainbow, and Alice B award-winning author of nineteen women loving women romance novels, including the Lambda Literary finalists, Heart of the Game, Perfect Pairing, Close to Home, and In Development. Rachel lives with their wife and son in Western New York, and always makes time for a good romance, whether reading it, writing it, or living it.
Connect with the author…
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