Book Report: The Christmas Shoppe by Melody Carlson (2011)

Book coverThis book is not a romance novel. You are forgiven if you think it might be: It’s under 200 pages, its author has written 200 other novels in the stripe, and it features a simple story of people falling in love.

However, please note that this book is a Christmas novel, a genre I only recently discovered in the local Christian publishing bookstore at Christmas time.

Look, here’s the categorization:

See? A Christmas book.

Its plot is simple: a strange woman comes to town, buys a building that a city councilman wanted, and plans to open some sort of business in it. The new town manager, the first woman to hold that position, is new in town and has to navigate the politics of the situation. The fortyish bachelor who runs the paper, the child of the founders and a man who dreams or dreamt of bigger things, tries to get the scoop. And other townsfolk talk and wonder about the stranger.

It relies on a bit of Christian Stephen Kingery to teach valuable lessons and Christmas stuff to the characters. It’s lighter fare than Home for Christmas, and it’s supposed to be. It’s like beach reading for the snowtime. I don’t think I’ll read another in the genre until maybe next year at this time, but I can’t help but wonder if I might not be able to write something in it.

Books mentioned in this review:

Buy My Books!
Buy John Donnelly's Gold Buy The Courtship of Barbara Holt Buy Coffee House Memories