Christmassy Review :: Under the Mistletoe :: Sue Moorcroft

Synopsis

When Laurel returns to the village of Middledip, she’s looking for a quiet life. Adjusting to her recent divorce, she’s ready to spend some time getting back on her feet amidst the glorious snow-dusted countryside.

Yet, life in Middledip is far from straightforward. Coming to the aid of her sister, Rea, as she navigates her own troubles, Laurel barely has a moment to think about where her own life is going.

However, time stands still when she sees her old flame, Grady Cassidy – and it’s soon as if they’ve never been apart. But through her happiness, Laurel remembers why she left the village all those years ago, as she recalls a dark night and Grady’s once-wayward brother, Mac…

Can Laurel learn to forgive and forget? Or will her chances of Christmas under the mistletoe with Grady remain a dream?

My review of Under the Mistletoe

Sue Moorcroft is a reasonably prolific and popular author of I guess what is described as cosy/feel-good Christmas romance novels, and I jumped at the chance to get a review ecopy of her latest title, Under the Mistletoe (thanks to Avon Books and NetGalley). Given the sweet cover and the sort of content you typically get in Christmas cosies, I was a little bit surprised in the beginning at how heavy some of the content was. The main plots in the book are largely driven by issues including infertility, sexual assault, bullying, agoraphobia, which are all present on the page in a very direct way. That said, I think as long as you are ok with reading books that cover those topics, this was a really great read, which I enjoyed very much.

Let’s start with the Christmassy-ness. I felt like Christmas wasn’t as central to the story as the issues flagged in the paragraph above – I kind of think with just a little tweaking of details this story could have been set at a different time of year – but it was still festive enough to give me some Christmas feels.
I do love a village at Christmas setting, especially when there’s a community event. The village of Middledip has been the setting of a bunch of Moorcroft’s other Christmas books, but I don’t think they really make a series, so there was no issue with having to catch up a lot of characters and their backgrounds.

Grady and Laurel were both fun characters to spend time with, and I though the rekindling of their relationship was sweet and well written. All of the characters had challenges to deal with, which were explored at different depths. There are a couple of families included in the cast of characters and I enjoyed seeing the different dynamics that we see in their relationships.

Overall I thought this was a great festive read, with the small caveat that it is a little light on the Christmas and heavy on some issues that some readers might find difficult. I would absolutely pick up more of Moorcroft’s work in the future.

Let me know if you’ve read this one.

xo Bron
***

Under the Mistletoe by Sue Moorcroft
Out now from Avon Books UK.
Source: Free ecopy kindly provided by Avon Books via NetGalley (thank you!). All views are my own
Format: ebook
Content warning: infertility, sexual assault, bullying, agoraphobia

Under the Mistletoe on Goodreads.
Find Sue Moorcroft online here.

If you’re interested in Christmas romance you can check out more reviews here.