Cover detail of Christmas on Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand

Christmas on Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand

The way that my book reviews are going, I'll probably be reading Christmas books well into July! The reason is that with doing #12 Books of Christmas, over the Christmas period, I stored up a number of Christmas reads. The wise, logical side would say to save this for Christmas 2021, but I couldn't wait! Especially as having enjoyed the first in the Winter series, Winter Street, I was desperate to see what would happen next!

A quick note, in the UK this is published as Christmas on Nantucket, but I believe in the North Americas the book is known as Winter Stroll. This is the second book in the series and I would recommend reading these in order and starting with Winter Street.

It's Christmas again at the Winter Street Inn. Set a year after the events of Winter Street. Kelly has reconciled with his first wife, Margaret, but this seems to have fizzled out and she is back with her Doctor boyfriend. Kevin and Isabelle have a new baby and Ava is dating Scott, the nicest guy in the world. The family are desperate for news of Kelley and Mitzi's youngest son, Bart, who has been kidnapped by a rebel group whilst stationed in Afghanistan. And with Ava and Kevin's exes showing up, Christmas looks like it is going to be far from perfect. Can the family sort out their problems before the christening of Kevin and Isabelle's baby and is Bart safe?

If you are looking for a bit of Christmas schmaltz then I would happily recommend the Christmas series to you. It is akin to watching a Hallmark Christmas movie in the afternoon complete with hot chocolate and candy cane.

My favourite character remains Margaret. She is completely unflappable and calm, especially when everything starts to go wrong for the family. She is the first person the family turn to for advice. She remains very pragmatic about her relationship with Kelley and the return of MItzi. Kelley is a good sort dealing with some humdingers of situations, but I do want to shake him a bit!

Of course, having finished this novel, I now want to find out what happens in the next book. Best of all I want to visit the island of Nantucket. It sounds amazing! The Christmas celebrations are part of the plot as much as the tribulations of the family. Elin Hinderbrand's love of the island really shines through in the writing.

I'm really enjoying this series and can't wait to read the next in the series.