A Charming Christmas Story -- The Christmas Shoppe

Melody Carlson's The Christmas Shoppe offers a charming visit to the small town of Parrish Springs.  Matilda Honeycutt doesn't quite fit in with the other residents of Parrish Springs, and some are intent on running her and her unorthodox business out of town.  Even those who initially give her the benefit of the doubt begin to question whether her store full of second-hand, thrift-shop merchandise belongs on the main street of town. What happens, though, when the doubters actually visit The Christmas Shoppe is pretty amazing and unexplainable. Something about the store begins to win over even Matilda's strongest opponents.

This story contains elements of fantasy that qualify as Christmas "magic."  It is a fun read that reminds you of things that matter -- memories that money can't buy.  My one criticism is that the story sometimes moves too slowly and seems to get bogged down in detail.  All in all, though, I would recommend it to be worth the few hours needed to read the story.

Available September 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Melody Carlson is the award-winning author of over two hundred books with sales of more than five million. She is the author of several Christmas books from Revell, including the bestselling The Christmas Bus, The Christmas Dog, and Christmas at Harrington’s, which is being considered for a TV movie. She is also the author of many teen books, including Just Another Girl, Anything but Normal, Double Take, and the Diary of a Teenage Girl series. Melody was nominated for a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award in the inspirational market for her books in 2010 and 2011. She and her husband live in central Oregon. For more information about Melody visit her website at www.melodycarlson.com.

This book was provided free of charge by Revell for my honest review.