Beth Moran continues to be one of my favorite authors! All of her books manage to share enough common features that I know what I’m getting — a cozy read with plenty of heart, but no cheese, realistic and well-fleshed-out characters, and real life challenges that still manage to end with a happily-ever-after.
This one starts with Mary giving birth in the middle of Sherwood forest, all alone in a snowstorm. She calls a cab, and the cab driver who responds is Beckett–who happens to be a former doctor who quit to take care of the granddad who raised him after his stroke, and is just trying to make ends meet now. He takes Mary to a church, where she gives birth to a little boy whose name she hasn’t even considered until he arrives on earth. All we know is that Mary ran away from something–that’s all Beckett knows too, but the way Moran withholds information actually manages to both feel organic and build the reader’s suspense.
In time, Mary comes to call in Beckett more and more, and he rapidly falls in love with her and her newborn son. They’re both so delightfully unsure of themselves and each other. They also both form bonds with the people in the church where she gave birth, and bits and pieces of Mary’s back story come out as she agrees to sew costumes for their Christmas play. The “coffee mums” also embrace her in their quirky, small-town way, drawing her out of her shell and helping her to discover who she is, and heal from her traumatic past.
Most of the story isn’t overtly about Christmas, but the climax happens at Christmas, so I guess it earns the title. I literally took character notes as I read this… her characterization is just so incredibly well done.
My rating: *****
Language: none
Sexual content: none
Violence: none
Political content: none
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