Cedar Cove #12: 1225 Christmas Tree Lane
by Debbie Macomber
In this last novel in the Cedar Cove series, Debbie Macomber ties every single resident together with one very simple plot device: Beth, a virtually new character, get a basket of ten puppies dropped at her front door, and she feels obligated to find homes for every single one of them—in Cedar Cove, before Christmas. It feels a little odd to introduce a new character in the last book, but since half of her interactions involve butting into someone else’s life and pawning a dog off on them, you don’t have to pay attention to her if you don’t want to. If you do want to, she does have her own storyline that’s obvious at best and unrealistic at worst. Her grown-up daughters believe she and her ex-husband should get back together, so they invite him over for Christmas. To complicate things, he shows up with a girlfriend!
There are some nice elements to this book, but unfortunately for Beth, not many of them include her. I first fell in love with Cedar Cove because of the stock characters, like Olivia, Grace, Charlotte, Justine, and the Randalls. As the series progressed, new characters took up more room than the old ones. Everyone comes back for the finale, even those who have moved away, which will warm any reader’s heart. And yes, there’s ton of recap included in this book, but when you’ve invested years of your life reading a series of books—these were originally published one per year—it’s really nice to go down memory lane and remember all the events that happened to your favorite characters.
At the end of this novel, there’s a bonus short story “Let It Snow” that feels like an idea in a Hallmark spitball screenwriting meeting. A handsome bachelor meets an insecure young woman and they share a car driving home for Christmas. He tells her she’s beautiful, she believes that’s the most important thing in the world, and they fall in love just in time for Santa. I don’t know why this was included, especially since it had nothing to do with Cedar Cove.
I spaced the Cedar Cove series out over the course of a year and read one book a month, all spawned by my love of the Hallmark television series. All in all, it was an entertaining series to read, but there were so many differences from the tv program, it felt like a completely different town halfway through the books. Needless to say, my heart still lies with the television series, but it was fun to read the original inspiration.
More Cedar Cove reviews here on Hot Toasty Rag!
There are some nice elements to this book, but unfortunately for Beth, not many of them include her. I first fell in love with Cedar Cove because of the stock characters, like Olivia, Grace, Charlotte, Justine, and the Randalls. As the series progressed, new characters took up more room than the old ones. Everyone comes back for the finale, even those who have moved away, which will warm any reader’s heart. And yes, there’s ton of recap included in this book, but when you’ve invested years of your life reading a series of books—these were originally published one per year—it’s really nice to go down memory lane and remember all the events that happened to your favorite characters.
At the end of this novel, there’s a bonus short story “Let It Snow” that feels like an idea in a Hallmark spitball screenwriting meeting. A handsome bachelor meets an insecure young woman and they share a car driving home for Christmas. He tells her she’s beautiful, she believes that’s the most important thing in the world, and they fall in love just in time for Santa. I don’t know why this was included, especially since it had nothing to do with Cedar Cove.
I spaced the Cedar Cove series out over the course of a year and read one book a month, all spawned by my love of the Hallmark television series. All in all, it was an entertaining series to read, but there were so many differences from the tv program, it felt like a completely different town halfway through the books. Needless to say, my heart still lies with the television series, but it was fun to read the original inspiration.
More Cedar Cove reviews here on Hot Toasty Rag!