A Cozy Christmas Novel with Not-So-Cozy Drama

 Unwrapping the Magic (and Mess) of Winter Street

Want a messy (cozy) story?

Author: Elin Hilderbrand

Genre: Romance, Holiday (Christmas)

Page Count: 257 pages

Pace: Medium

Spice Level: 0-🌶️

Trigger warnings:

Graphic: Infidelity, Drug use, Suicidal Thoughts

Moderate: War, Toxic relationships, Violence 

Minor: Pregnancy, Forced Proximity, Forgiveness, Coming Home

Tropes: Dysfunctional family, Holiday chaos, Secrets revealed, Love triangles, Forced proximity, forgiveness, Coming home

Tells the story of the Nantucket's Winter Street Inn, Kelley, who is also a father of four. While Christmas is coming, Kelley is excited to get everyone together for the holidays. However, he walks into Mitzi, making out with Santa, or more like the guy hired to play Santa. Christmas might only be able to be saved by his ex-wife, Margaret Quinn. 

I really enjoyed this wintery themed book by Elin Hilderbrand. This was my 1st book by her, and I have to admit that it was a great starting point. 

The plot of this book was minimal and focused more on being character-driven. There was still a plot as the story tried to have Christmas depend on being saved.

The characters were super relatable and hilarious. I feel that the characters were not as diverse as they could have been. It did feel like all the characters were from the rich families that go to the Hamptons, or like that are the vineyards. Now, having this feel is in no way wrong or made the story bad, but it did just make all the characters feel the same. My favorite character is Kelley because he handled the Mitzi situation. I feel like he was super hurt by her choices, but I also feel like he did try to make light of it. Now, overall, the story was character-driven, so it did focus on building the characters. It developed some of the characters more than others, which was disappointing. It developed or focused on the relationships that the characters had with each other. 

The pacing of the book did feel a bit in the middle between medium and slow. It was more of a medium pace, but some sections slowed the pace down a bit. Now I do feel the story did not always fit the pace that it was trying to convey. Some sections felt rushed, like the ending felt this way, cause I honestly do not remember the ending. It was as if the ending was complete, but not because a complete ending is usually remembered. 

"What a person does isn't the same as who a person is" Unknown page

"Anything, anytime, always and forever" Unknown page 

This book was a wonderful holiday read. I will be reading the next book in the series as a tradition during the following holiday season. I did like how I was able to become nosy about the Quinns and their lives. I wished the ending were a bit clearer and thought out. It still was good, though, and I cannot wait to see what Kelley is up to next. 

Rating: 💫💫💫💫 (4/5 stars