Review: Christmas on 4th Street by Susan Mallery

Title: Christmas on 4th Street    

Author: Susan Mallery    

Series: Fool’s Gold, #12.5     

Published: September 2013, Harlequin HQN  

Format: Hardcover, 336 pages   

Source: Personal copy  

There’s
nowhere better to spend the holidays than with New York Times
bestselling author Susan Mallery in the town of Fool’s Gold, where love
is always waiting to be unwrapped…

Noelle Perkins just got a
second chance at life, and she intends to make the most of it. That’s
why she’s opening her own store in Fool’s Gold, California. The
Christmas Attic celebrates everything that’s magical about her favorite
season. Business is booming, and as a bonus, gorgeous army doctor
Gabriel Boylan has offered to help out during the holiday rush.

Gabriel’s
memories of Christmas past contain more sour grapes than sugarplums,
thanks to his drill sergeant father. Spending the holidays with his
family while he recuperates from an injury sounds as appetizing as last
year’s eggnog. Still, there are some enjoyable distractions in town,
including sunny, sexy Noelle…and the red-hot mistletoe kisses they can’t
stop sharing.

Gabriel didn’t think he was made for
happily-ever-afters. But when fate hands you a love as sweet and
surprising as this, only a fool could refuse….

My thoughts: I think that Susan Mallery’s Fool’s Gold series may just go down as one of my favorite series ever! With each book, I fall more in love with her characters and the town of Fool’s Gold. She’s been putting out three books each year plus a holiday novella and I don’t know how she does it, but each story has a freshness and uniqueness all it’s own. 

This book first came out last year but with so many books to read and so little time, I didn’t get around to reading it until now. And that’s what I love about this series – you really can jump all over, as each book is pretty much it’s own story. There’s a little building of characters – you might meet someone who’s then going to be the focus for an upcoming book, but as far as giving things away if you read a later book before an earlier one – I’ve done it a few times and haven’t felt cheated.

I loved the romance in this book. It was sweet, heartwarming and the Christmas theme just gives it that extra special edge to make it all the more touching. But, at the same time, the characters feel completely realistic. I loved Noelle from when she shows up in earlier books and have been waiting for her to get her own story. Gideon seems to be the perfect compliment to her, despite his misgivings about relationships.

Noelle is trying to make a good life for herself and genuinely loves the Christmas season. It only makes sense for her to open a Christmas-themed store. It’s all the more surprising when you find out about Noelle’s rough past. Gabriel doesn’t love Christmas but that’s due to his past – Christmas just wasn’t a happy time for him. When he comes to Fool’s Gold to recover, the last place you would expect to find him frequenting often would be Noelle’s shop, yet he goes one step beyond that and offers to help out. Watching these two navigate their way around each other is a fun journey, despite the few bumps along the way.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a trip to Fool’s Gold with an appearance from Mayor Marsha, and some of the others we have come to love in this series. While not everyone is mentioned, we get enough updates/appearances to make it believable that all these characters really do live in the same town!

I’m so glad I could fit this book in and just in time for the holiday season, too! And, how fun is this – Susan Mallery, with the help of her readers, created a scavenger hunt for you to do while reading the book. You can find the list here (on Susan’s website) – it’s made up of different objects that appear in the book. I did it and it was actually quite fun! 

Now I’m off to read the next holiday novella in this series, which just came out and then I’ll be all caught up…until the next trilogy comes out next year!

Books in this series:

     1.  Chasing Perfect                   9.5  A Fool’s Gold Christmas

     2.  Almost Perfect                    9.75  Halfway There

     2.5  Sister of the Bride          10.  Just One Kiss

     3.  Finding Perfect                   11.   Two of a Kind

     4.  Only Mine                              12.  Three Little Words

     5.  Only Yours                            12.5  Christmas on 4th Street

     6.  Only His                                   13. When We Met                      

     6.1  Only Us                                   14.   Before We Kiss

     6.2  Almost Summer             15.  Until We Touch

     7.  Summer Days                      15.5  Yours for Christmas  

     8.  Summer Nights                   

     9.  All Summer Long