Review: Hope at Christmas by Nancy Naigle

Hope at Christmas

by Nancy Naigle

Publisher: St Martin's Press

Pages: 342

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  A recently divorced woman and her daughter look for a fresh start by moving to a small town that embraces them in ways that only fate and the magic of Christmas can explain.

Sydney Ragsdale is divorced, but her husband is still calling the shots. In an attempt to shake free from his hold, she and her daughter, Ray Anne, head for tiny Hopewell, NC to the only asset her ex has no control over – a decaying farmhouse that once belonged to her grandparents. She finds solace at The Book Bea, the bookstore she’d loved as a child during her summer stays.

Kevin MacAlea, Mac to his friends, is the local high school history teacher and baseball coach. Father of a twelve-year-old son, he’s Hopewell, North Carolina’s most sought after bachelor. His young bride abandoned him and his son just before Christmas and has never come back. It has left his son bitter about Christmas which is hard for Mac who loves the magic of the season. He’s been the Santa here in Hopewell since the year Seth was born.

But when a catastrophe forces The Book Bea to close before the end of the year, everyone in the small town is feeling the loss. While Sydney is already off-balance by the bad news, her ex-husband breaks a promise to their daughter that sends Ray Anne running away. As Sydney tries to figure out what her next steps are she discovers all of the answers are right here in Hopewell.

Kritters Thoughts:  A Christmas book that also has a bookstore as almost a central character is my kind of story!  Sydney and Ray Anne move to a small town in North Carolina to restart their lives as Sydney's husband has decided to start life with a new woman.  Sydney has a farmhouse passed down from her grandparents and these two land there and are immediately surrounded by the small town love that anyone can hope for after a major life change.  

This book may have become my favorite of my holiday reads this year.  The setting set it above the rest as I could picture this small town bookstore in NC as I am a HUGE fan of The Island Bookstore in the Outer Banks of NC.  The Book Bea made me think of that sweet little place and it made me want to get in my car and go visit it!  I hope that that little place in the Outer Banks has the community that surrounds the bookstore in this book because that made the book for me.

This was the sweetest book and I had to slow myself down so I could just enjoy it even longer.  I was sad to find out that there is only one Nancy Naigle holiday book that I haven't read, saving it for next year! 


Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

Ebook 2019 Challenge: 60 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Netgalley.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.