REVIEW: Bright Lights, Big Christmas by Mary Kay Andrews is definitely a book you need to put on your list to read for Christmas. I love a book by Mary Kay Andrews but, when she writes a Christmas book I know I am in! This book is so full of the Holiday spirit and love, I couldn’t put it down. My husband doesn’t often hear me comment that the book I just finished was a great book that warmed my heart.

Kerry Tolliver has to leave her North Carolina home to go with her older brother to New York City to sell Christmas trees. Their family has sold trees for the holiday for years and due illness her father is not able to go this year. They set up an old  camper on the corner of a quaint neighborhood. Through the years her brother has made friends in the area but this is all new to Kerry. 

The neighbors compose most of the characters in the book. There is an old man that is quite critical of Kerry’s drawings and I think he turned out to be my favorite neighbor. There is a little boy by the name of Austin who loves to come and help out with the trees. His dad and mother have divorced and they rotate in and out of the apartment so Austin is not disrupted. Kerry’s brother is pretty gruff and doesn’t appreciate all of her suggestions. He wants to keep things the way they have always been. So, you can see that there is an interesting cast of characters and this is just the beginning. 

The Christmas Spirit is alive and well in this book. It is not a romance and it is not strictly Christmas. It is family, loving each other, putting up with each other and doing what is right to make the world and their life move forward, the important stuff. I am fairly new to Mary Kay Andrews and always wondered what all the hype was about. I have read two of her Christmas stories and a couple of novels and have enjoyed them all so I have to say I know what the hype was about. 

If you want to know why her writing is so loved or you’re already a fan of Mary Kay Andrews, I highly recommend this book to put you in the Christmas Spirit. I always love this time of year when the Holiday books hit the shelves. Don’t you? Until next time…Happy Reading! 

I received a complimentary copy of this book from #Netgalley, #St.MartinsPress and #Mary Kay Andrews. Thank you! The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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SYNOPSIS: From Mary Kay Andrews, New York Times bestselling author of The Homewreckers and The Santa Suit, comes a novella celebrating love and the warm, glittering charm of the holiday season.

When fall rolls around, it’s time for Kerry Tolliver to leave her family’s Christmas tree farm in the mountains of North Carolina for the wilds of New York City to help her gruff older brother & his dog, Queenie, sell the trees at the family stand on a corner in Greenwich Village. Sharing a tiny vintage camper and experiencing Manhattan for the first time, Kerry’s ready to try to carve out a new corner for herself.

In the weeks leading into Christmas, Kerry quickly becomes close with the charming neighbors who live near their stand. When an elderly neighbor goes missing, Kerry will need to combine her country know-how with her newly acquired New York knowledge to protect the new friends she’s come to think of as family,

And complicating everything is Patrick, a single dad raising his adorable, dragon-loving son Austin on this quirky block. Kerry and Patrick’s chemistry is undeniable, but what chance does this holiday romance really have?

Filled with family ties, both rekindled and new, and sparkling with Christmas magic, BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CHRISTMAS delivers everything Mary Kay Andrews fans adore, all tied up in a hilarious, romantic gem of a novel.