Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Blue Christmas by Mary Kay Andrews

Summary:
The popular Mary Kay Andrews delivers a tasty holiday treat as she brings back the winning characters from Savannah Blues and Savannah Breeze for a little Southern cheer. It's the week before Christmas, and antiques dealer Weezie Foley is in a frenzy to do up her shop for the Savannah historical district window decorating contest––which she intends to win. She throws herself into putting up a Graceland/Blue Christmas motif, with lots of tinsel, an aluminum tree, and all kinds of tacky retro stuff. The project takes up so much time that Weezie is ready to shoot herself with her glue gun by the time she's done, but the results are stunning. She's sure she's one–upped the owners of the trendy shop around the corner.

But suddenly, things go missing from Weezie's display, and there seems to be a mysterious midnight visitor to her shop. Still, Weezie has high hopes for the holiday––maybe in the form of an engagement ring from her chef boyfriend. But Daniel, always moody at the holidays, seems more distant than usual. Throw in Weezie's decidedly odd family, a 1950s Christmas tree pin, and even a little help from the King himself, and maybe there will be a pocketful of miracles for Weezie this Christmas eve.

My take: 3 looks
I didn't think I was going to like this one. Too much controversy at the beginning. Mean, gay neighbors who seemed to be pilfering Eloise's store display, a beloved dog who is missing and a boyfriend that I suspected was married.

However, it was a quick read and turned out to be quite enjoyable. The gay men weren't really mean at all (although there was that loose thread on who left the back gate open for their boutique dog), the boyfriend really was busy at work, and the beloved dog was found quickly and was fine.

What set this one back for me was the implausibility of the family dinner (one or two crazies per family, please; not a half dozen!) and the tidy relationship subplot of Daniel's. Although I really should have seen that coming, since Andrews dropped so many hints.

All-in-all, this was a pleasant book that set me back only one day. I will probably read more by this author, and now that I realized that this is a series, I will start at book one.

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