Hardback
|02 September 2025
|Romance
***What will happen when a tropical escape from holiday blues turns into a snowy wonderland filled with joy and cheer?***Carol Langstrom hates Christmas. Growing up in a dysfunctional home, with a birthday on December 25 and too many dashed childhood expectations, she would rather avoid the holiday season. And working...
$29.99
***What will happen when a tropical escape from holiday blues turns into a snowy wonderland filled with joy and cheer?***Carol Langstrom hates Christmas. Growing up in a dysfunctional home, with a birthday on December 25 and too many dashed childhood expectations, she would rather avoid the holiday season. And working...
Enjoy peace of mind with our 60-day hassle-free returns, whether you shop online or in store.
I'm not a huge fan of an "over the top" Christmas, so it was refreshing to have a main character that also wasn't. I enjoyed getting to know the family dynamics of Carol and of Victor. I didn't appreciate the way the Victoria situation was conveyed, but every novel has to have some tension I guess. I would have liked another chapter or two as the ending was abrupt.
I'm not a huge fan of an """"over the top"""" Christmas, so it was refreshing to have a main character that also wasn't. I enjoyed getting to know the family dynamics of Carol and of Victor. I didn't appreciate the way the Victoria situation was conveyed, but every novel has to have some tension I guess. I would have liked another chapter or two as the ending was abrupt.
I enjoyed reading Once Upon a Christmas Carol, a delightful Christmas novella set in Michigan. Carol plans a two week Christmas vacation on her own in the Bahamas where she’ll celebrate her fortieth birthday on Christmas Day. She hates Christmas and wants to avoid seeing her dysfunctional family.
Carol’s vacation plans are derailed when her flight from Seattle to Miami is diverted to Grand Rapids, Michigan, due to poor weather conditions. She’s stuck in Michigan and remembers that her narcissistic mother is estranged from her older sister who Carol has never met, and who might still live in Michigan.
Carol’s desire to connect with her aunt, purely for practical reasons because the airport is closed and overnight accommodation is impossible to find, is a catalyst for Carol to start unpacking her emotional baggage from her dysfunctional family relationships.
I loved the white Christmas setting and the small town community who celebrate the festive season. The story includes cute misunderstandings, quirky characters, mean girls causing trouble, and a sweet romance bubbling along in the background.
I recommend Once Upon a Christmas Carol to contemporary fiction readers who like charming Christmas novellas with the stranded trope that include Scrooge and Cinderella story elements, family drama, low angst friends-to-more romance, and faith threads with forgiveness themes.
Many thanks to Revell and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.
