Read This!: 1225 Christmas Tree Lane

By Debbie Macomber

I have never read any Debbie Macomber before although I have seen the Mrs. Miracle Christmas films on TV and I have really enjoyed them.  In fact, if it weren't for the fact that I can't see James Van Der Beek as anyone but Dawson, I would consider him attractive in the first one.

This was part of my Christmas purchases and was recommended to me by one of my aunts.

1225 Christmas Tree Lane centers on Beth, who owns a Christmas Tree farm and whose daughters are home for Christmas.  Also home for Christmas: her ex-husband.  Her daughters have a plan to get their parents back together but are thrown off when their Dad comes in sporting an attractive lady on his arm.

In the mix of this story, we get glimpses of the people who live in Beth's town of Cedar Cove as various townspeople come to adopt the puppies Beth has up for adoption.  I felt this part was unnecessary.  Maybe these are characters in other of DM's books.  But, I felt the back explanations on these people were boring since I dropped them from my mind the second the page turned and especially since they rarely showed up again or played an important part in the story.

I did think 1225 Christmas Tree Lane was a fun read for the holidays so even with my above comment, you should read it if you want a light Christmas read.

Now, as I was reading this, I turned a page and it said "Epilogue" and I thought "wow there are a lot pages still to go for an Epilogue" but then I realized there was another book in this one.  This story was called Let It Snow.

Let It Snow tells the story of Shelly and Slade who meet on a plane and when their plane is diverted due to a snow storm, decide to share the only available rental car left to drive their destination.  Of course, a romance begins in the midst of the snow...

Now, I liked Let It Snow better than 1225 Christmas Tree Lane because it didn't have the side stories and focused on Shelly and Slade.  I did however really hate that this guy's name was Slade but mostly I got annoyed because Slade was supposedly engaged and when he tells Shelly that him and his fiancee are having a long engagement and putting off children so they can establish themselves financially, Shelly is horrified and we are led to believe his fiancee is some kind of stone faced freak for wanting this.  Because it is insane to have your life together and not rush into getting married and having kids?  I think more people should do this personally.  Side eye saloon USA to Debbie Macomber.