[Book Review] 1225 Christmas Tree Lane by Debbie Macomber

The people of Cedar Cove know how to celebrate Christmas. Like Grace and Olivia and everyone else, Beth Morehouse expects this Christmas to be one of her best. Her small Christmas-tree farm is prospering, her daughters and her dogs are happy and well, and her new relationship with local vet Ted Reynolds is showing plenty of romantic promise.

But...someone recently left a basket filled with puppies on her doorstep, puppies she’s determined to place in good homes. That’s complication number one. And number two is that her daughters Bailey and Sophie have invited their dad, Beth’s ex-husband, Kent, to Cedar Cove for Christmas. The girls have visions of a mom-and-dad reunion dancing in their heads.

As always in life — and in Cedar Cove — there are surprises, too. More than one family’s going to have a puppy under the tree. More than one scheme will go awry. And more than one romance will have a happy ending!

1 STAR

I picked up this book on a whim. I wanted to have a nice selection of holiday books to read for the 12 Books of Christmas Challenge that I had decided to sign up for this year. I was immediately drawn to this book for a few reasons, one being that I have heard great things when it comes to Macomber and her holiday books, but also because there are puppies on the cover and I am a sucker for puppies. So I downloaded on the Cloud Library app and decided it would be my go to book to read when I couldn't sleep and didn't want to read my physical books from the library. 

When I looked this book up,  I had read somewhere that it was okay to read the books out of order because they stand alone individually. Which I was grateful for because Cloud Library only had this book in the series available. Unfortunately, I think the information I read on being able to read them out of order may have been a lie because there were a lot of side plots to the main one (the most interesting one) that not only didn't really go anywhere but it felt like I should have known these characters already. It was like it was implied that they had all this backstory, and I should have already experienced those backstories with them. So I found myself skimming a lot of those sections and not really caring much. 

When I say the main plot was the most interesting one, I say that lightly, because although it kept my interest throughout the book, it was basically The Parent Trap without the twin aspect. These two daughters Sophie and Bailey go to their Mom's for Christmas (they're in their 20's) and they tell their mom their dad wanted to come, while telling their dad that their mom invited him. He shows up with a snooty girlfriend, and the girls take it upon themselves to try to break them up to bring their divorced parents back together. The girls are supposed to be in their twenties, but I kept forgetting that and kept picturing them as preteens/young teenagers. From their dialogue to their actions I kept forgetting they were supposed to be not too much younger than me. I think this comes down to the author not being great at writing convincing dialogue. Most of the time the dialogue felt forced.

The writing wasn't fantastic, the dialogue seemed wooden and stiff and so did the characters. It was all too "perfect Christmas town" instead of real people dealing with real problems during the holiday season. It just felt too sickly sweet and perfect for my liking. I just think there are better holiday books out there, and maybe it's because I was over hyped with how amazing Macomber's holiday books are, but I am disappointed in this book. 

Overall, I do not recommend and I think if you want to read a Hallmark-y/Lifetime-y type holiday story, I would recommend The Christmas Town by Donna VanLiere. I feel like The Christmas Town does everything right where 1225 Christmas Tree Lane does wrong. I do have another book by Debbie Macomber coming my way which I am excited for because I want to give her a second chance.

Thanks for reading!