Review: The Trouble with Christmas

The Trouble with Christmas by Amy Andrews
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Suzanne St Michelle is a brilliant copyist, she makes a good living in New York creating replicas of priceless paintings for art galleries and private collectors but living in the shadow of her mother, a world renowned sculptor, Suzanne really wants to find her muse. When her BFF suggests she gets away from it all and seeks inspiration in Credence, Colorado she jumps at the chance to commune with nature. Unfortunately her muse appears more interested in the taciturn, and downright rude cowboy rancher living in the cabin next door.

Joshua Grady is a former soldier, his entire family and his childhood sweetheart were killed when he was just 17 years old and since then he hasn't let anyone close, except his aunt and uncle who raised him. He can't stand the chatty New York artist who has moved into his uncle's rental cabin and he's livid when he finds out she's been painting him.

Suzanne has always wanted a traditional Christmas with tinsel and a big tree with lots of ornaments, unfortunately the St Michelle house doesn't do traditional, her mother prefers an art installation approximation of a Christmas tree and absolutely none of the schmaltzy decorations so Suzanne does everything she can to get out of returning to New York for Christmas, including telling her mother that she is involved with Joshua and wants to spend Christmas with him - because he's such a Christmas freak! Before you can say Kris Kringle Joshua's cabin is decked out in the tackiest decorations Suzanne can find and the two of them are wearing matching Christmas jumpers.

I liked this but I didn't love it. Amy Andrews said she found this book a struggle to finish and I think it shows. I don't think I really understood Joshua's motivations properly, he just seemed to be a foil for Suzanne's spiralling fantasies.

Overall, while Amy Andrews is still an auto-request for me this didn't hit my buttons. However, I am chomping at the bit to read the next book in this series, which I hope will feature Suzanne's friend Winona, the erotic novelist, and Arlo the uptight policeman.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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