Thank you St. Martin’s Press, #partner for the finished copy of The Santa Suit in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library.
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press / Macmillan Audio
Published: September 28, 2021
Summary:
From Mary Kay Andrews, the New York Times bestselling author of Hello, Summer, comes a novella celebrating the magic of Christmas and second chances in The Santa Suit.
When newly-divorced Ivy Perkins buys an old farmhouse sight unseen, she is definitely looking for a change in her life. The Four Roses, as the farmhouse is called, is a labor of love—but Ivy didn’t bargain on just how much labor. The previous family left so much furniture and so much junk, that it’s a full-time job sorting through all of it.
At the top of a closet, Ivy finds an old Santa suit—beautifully made and decades old. In the pocket of a suit she finds a note written in a childish hand: it’s from a little girl who has one Christmas wish, and that is for her father to return home from the war. This discovery sets Ivy off on a mission. Who wrote the note? Did the man ever come home? What mysteries did the Rose family hold?
Ivy’s quest brings her into the community, at a time when all she wanted to do was be left alone and nurse her wounds. But the magic of Christmas makes miracles happen, and Ivy just might find more than she ever thought possible: a welcoming town, a family reunited, a mystery solved, and a second chance at love.
My thoughts:
I got this book sent to me last year and had every intention of reading it last year but never got around to it, so I made it a priority this year and I’m glad I did because I ended up enjoying it very much. I’m no stranger to Mary Kay Andrews and her books and this novella had all the charm and quirkiness that I’ve come to expect from her full-length novels with the added bonus that it was set around Christmas and was short.
I don’t always love holiday novels because I tend to find them a bit cheesy, but I think the fact that this one had a mystery woven into it kept me engaged and invested. It kept the book from being too predictable and I loved trying to figure out where it was ultimately headed. I also loved the home-town feel and the rescue dog – give me a book with a dog with a giant personality and of course I am going to fall for it.
This book was enjoyable from start to finish and if you have not had the chance to read it, I highly recommend doing so.
Audio thoughts:
I happened to see this one available on audio from my library so I grabbed it. As it is a novella, it was a short audiobook, coming in at just over five hours and the lovely Kathleen McInerney narrates it. I’ve listened to quite a few of MKA’s books and Kathleen has narrated them and she always does a fantastic job as she did here. Her pacing is always spot on and she manages to infuse just the right amount of tension and emotion into her voice as needed.
