Christmas at Moonshine Hollow: Book Review

Christmas at Moonshine Hollow
My Rating: 3.75
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Holiday
Format: eARC*
Publication Date: November 10, 2020
Author: Angela Britnell

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Christmas at Moonshine Hollow Blurb

Mistletoe and moonshine: a Christmas match made in heaven?

Moonshine Hollow’s famous ‘Lightning Flash’ might be an acquired taste, although the same could be said for moonshine distillery owner Cole Landon, what with his workaholic habits and ‘Scrooge’ tendencies when it comes to all things Christmassy.

But when Jenna Pendean from Cornwall pays a visit to Cole’s family-run distillery in Tennessee during the holiday season, will Cole’s cynicism about the existence of Christmas miracles be put to the test?

Christmas at Moonshine Hollow Review

As a quick reminder, here is my rating structure:

• 1 star: Did not finish
• 2 Stars: Finished but I do not recommend
• 3 Stars: Liked but could use some improvements
• 4 Stars: Loved this book!
• 5 Stars: Rare. The unput-down-able, binge read obsession.

My star ratings are also based also genre based. I compare all books with books of the same genre. While I would love to believe that my love of books in general transcends all bias, there are genres I prefer over others.

I’m human.

Example: If I read a mystery novel and think it deserves a 5-star rating, then I have compared it to other mystery books, and determined it to be one of my absolute favorites. The unputdownable mystery.

This will hopefully keep me from comparing Outlander, a personal obsession of mine, with the experience of reading The Hate You Give. Both 5 star books for me, but completely and totally different. I couldn’t even try to rate them against each other, so I don’t. Makes my life easier. 🙂

My Thoughts

All right, let’s be honest, I’ve read quite a few holiday books this season. And I have zero regrets. After a while, you would think I would get bored or tired of holiday stories, especially romances, but nope. They still delight me.

And Christmas at Moonshine Hollow is no exception.

Christmas at Moonshine Hollow is a down home country Christmas romance set in the backwoods of Tennessee, complete with tight knit families and plenty of ‘shine.

I loved that Angela Burtnell didn’t waste any time with the romance. There wasn’t an agonizing will they won’t they, when they most definitely will. Instead, we got to enjoy the couple together through ups and downs, fights and makeups, anger and happiness.

The chemistry between Cole and Jenna practically leapt off of the page even though the sexy scenes left more off of the page then on it. I have to point out, that even though we didn’t get a lot of explicit detail, there was not much left out of the story, just more details left to the imagination.

Also, I’m thinking about stealing a scene from this one and hanging some mistletoe over my husband’s desk. Think it will work out the same?

Landon’s character stayed consistent throughout Christmas at Moonshine Hollow. He started as a guy who often put his foot in his mouth and that stayed true throughout, and those scenes made for a lot of facepalming for me. Poor guy just couldn’t help himself.

For all of us Christmas junkies, there is a Victorian Christmas fair, complete with elaborate costumes, that made me yearn all the harder for a Covid-19 vaccine. I need quarantine to end immediately and then to find a city that has one of these. As an aside to this particular scenes, I can agree with Cole and say that long johns are definitely mood killers. 😉

What didn’t work for me

Anytime I don’t give a book 5 stars, I like to try to explain why in a few short words.

In this case, it was the conflict resolution and the flow of the book. It seemed like at times, events went really quickly with little detail and other times, we had a lot of information without much happening.

As for the conflicts, it seemed like things would get resolved really quickly without a lot of conversation about the actual problems. Once, for instance, Jenna learned a secret about Cole, then overheard Cole saying something he didn’t mean (out of context), but the misunderstanding wasn’t addressed and the resolution of the secret seemed a little simple. I feel like there would have to be more IRL, but maybe that’s just me. I’m a talker and a words person, so I need that.

Conclusion

Quick and fun holiday read, perfect for a December afternoon with a glass of (real) eggnog.

~About the Author~

I was born in the beautiful county of Cornwall in southwestern England and grew up in a small village there. I return frequently to visit family and friends but especially to savor the cool rainy weather and hot tea. After school I joined the Royal Navy and served for nearly six years. I held varying jobs from being the only woman in the staff of a sports center to arranging social engagements for the Captain of the base. My last assignment was to Denmark where I thought I would spend a wild two years in Copenhagen only to discover I was being sent to a NATO Headquarters in a quiet town on the Jutland Peninsula. I was only disappointed for a while as I met my own tall, dark, handsome stranger there – a US Naval Officer named Richard who became my husband.

That was the beginning of an itinerant life as from Denmark we went to Sicily where we had our first son. Then it was on to Monterey, California and the birth of our second son. From there we headed to Patuxent River, Maryland where we had our third son. Richard’s last assignment was to London where we spent a wonderful three years. Retiring from the Navy he took a job in Brentwood, Tennessee near where he grew up. Since 2008 we are empty nesters which allows more time for my writing.

I have always been a voracious reader, even at 5 years old my school reports show a keen interest in English and very little in math – some things never change! Although I enjoyed writing in school it wasn’t until 2001 that I was tempted to take a creative writing class at a local recreation center which has sparked my new career.

When I’m not busy writing I enjoy spending time with family and friends. I try to grow English flowers in the Tennessee heat and succeed some of the time. I belong to the wonderful Red Bandanas Writing Group, Jubilee Readers Book Club, and volunteer at my local library so you can see that words are important to me.

I hope you enjoy reading my work as much as I enjoy writing it so sit back, make yourself a cup of tea and enjoy a break from everyday life.

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*Special thanks to Angela Burtnell, Choc Lit, and Rachel’s Random Resources providing a copy of Christmas at Moonshine Hollow in exchange for an honest review.