Title: The GingerBread House in Mistletoe Gardens
Author: Jaime Admans
Genre: Romance ; Holiday read ; Christmas book
Pages: 322
I received this Advance Review Copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher Boldwood Books for the wonderful opportunity!!
“You never know what you might end up liking”
BLURB
In Mistletoe Gardens a legend anyone who kisses underneath the mistletoe will be guaranteed another year of love… When local baker Essie Browne discovers that Mistletoe Gardens is to be demolished in January, she’s determined to save the place she loves so much. So Essie proposes building a life size gingerbread house to bring in the crowds…just how hard can it be? Well, quite hard actually. Essie can bake gingerbread blindfolded, but she hasn’t got a clue how to build an actual house with it! She needs help – and fast! Enter local builder, Joss Hallissey. Essie is convinced that with Joss’s help they can pull this off. There’s just one tiny hinderance Joss hates Christmas, gingerbread, and… well, just about everything else too. Joss the Grinch makes it clear that her idea is ludicrous and pointless, but he reluctantly agrees to help with her plan. Will the gingerbread house be enough to save Mistletoe Gardens? Or will Essie’s chance for a magical kiss under the mistletoe be lost forever?
“There’s an old legend that says anyone who kisses under the mistletoe on a December night is guaranteed another year of love and happiness in their relationship.”
REVIEW
It’s September and it already feels like Christmas! Why? Because The Nerdy Bookarazzi’s favourite author Jaimie Admans is back again with a Christmas book and we are ready with an in-depth review. If you are looking for a holiday read then keep reading the review.
The Gingerbread House in Mistletoe Gardens is the latest Christmas book of Jaimie Admans, this is her first Christmas book with her new publisher Boldwood Books. Like every other Jaimie’s book, this one is also an absolute delight to read right from start to end.
“Folkhornton is funny like that – it creeps up on you and before you know it, you’ve fallen in love with the place.”
The Gingerbread House in Mistletoe Gardens is written in the backdrop of a fictional town called Folkhornton. This small beautiful town has an awesome community vibe where everyone knows everyone; everyone is keen on helping their fellow townsfolk. As it is known for small towns gossip travels faster than light. Our lead character Essie works for her mother in a bakery called Dancing Cinnamon Bakery and lives just above it. Essie lacks self-confidence and keeps self-doubting all her decisions and ideas, this tendency of Essie was developed because of her past decisions and experiences.
When Folkhornton‘s signature, Mistletoe Garden is in danger of being demolished as a part of town development, which holds Essie’s family legacy since her great-grandmother was the one to plant the first Mistletoe in the garden. Essie involuntarily pitches a far-fetched idea of building a life-size Gingerbread house to save the Mistletoe Garden which is very special to her family and to the town itself. For the the first time in a very long time, Essie is super confident about her Gingerbread idea and she truly believes she can pull this off and save their dearest Mistletoe Garden and probably get her kiss under the Mistletoe in the Folkhornton’s Mistletoe Garden for anyone who kisses under the Mistletoe under the Mistletoe Garden during Christmas will get one year of happiness in their relationship.
But the only problem with this prodigious plan is Essie might be a talented baker who can make lakhs and lakhs for Gingerbread in her sleep but she doesn’t know anything about constructing a building. That’s when she decides to take Joss a local builder’s help. Joss hates Christmas and any festivity, most of all, he hates Folkhornton and doesn’t care if the Mistletoe Garden was saved or not. But Joss is Essie‘s only hope. Will she be able to build a life-size Gingerbread house and save the Mistletoe Garden and also get her kiss as well? That’s the story of this bodacious book.
Well, to begin with, who doesn’t love Christmas books? Except for the Grinch but even Grinch is falling in love with Christmas with these kinds of books and movies. Undoubtedly Christmas books are solace to the soul and Jaimie’s books definitely fall under this category. She has done a spectacular job with this book as well. The story is straight and simple filled with a lot of magical, cute and heartwarming scenes. If you have been reading Jaimie Admans for quite sometime, you will be able to feel the vibe which only Jaimies’ books can provide. At some point you will be able to find a pattern from her previous books but still you will enjoy it nonetheless.
The character building of both the main characters has been done meticulously. If you take Essie for that matter, her susceptibility to doubt herself and her desire to do something big and the creative side of her everything will make her character more relatable and readable. Joss, being that mysterious guy who showcases himself to be bad in order to protect him from the world was extremely interesting to read. The best part was, after spending more and more time with Essie, how all the walls Joss has painstakingly build around him crumbles and everyone sees him for the person he is, is absolute a bliss to read.
The slow and blooming relationship between Essie and Joss has been written so pleasingly. The community vibe that the side characters presented was phenomenal. The minor gestures and the little things the folks of Folkhornton did were extremely heartwarming to read. Their presence will make the readers wish that they lived in a town like Folkhornton. The sibling like relationship Essie shares with Saff, her best friend and a co-worker has been penned in a cute manner. Mr. Arkins in a dinosaur suite 24/7, The Mystical Mistletoe Magi aka MMM who sells portions like love portions made the book all the more interesting to read. And Essie‘s mom was one character, super hyper and authoritative.
“I begged my mom not to do anything embarrassing tonight, but no parent ever listens when they can embarrass their offspring in public, do they?”
As the book marches forward, the transition in Joss’s character is extraordinary. Or to be precise, when Joss exhibited his core characteristics which were so genuine. Be it a small gesture of buying coffee every single more for Essie, buying the portions sold by MMM despite him not being a fan of it, or helping the neighbours when he actually hates the town, all of these made him all more interesting to read about.
Both Essie and Joss are extremely creative. The entire journey of Essie trying to save the Mistletoe Garden was supremely engaging and entertaining to read. Not even at a single point in time while reading this book the readers will be bored or out of focus. They will be enthralled and engulfed by the magic created by Jaimie Admans’ words and characters.
All things considered, this book was magnificent. Do not miss reading The Gingerbread house in Mistletoe Gardens, this Christmas.
“I like children because the world hasn’t yet turned them into cynical and selfish adults.”
MY VIEWS
Jaimie Admans’ books are my source of escaping reality and believing in magic and the good side of the world. Reading her books makes the inner child and romantic in me so happy. Jaimie has made my reading journey so much better. I have been reading the Games of Thrones aka A Song of Ice and Fire series for a few months now. I suddenly wanted to read a happy, light-hearted romance novel. I tried reading a couple of books and was super disappointed or rather let down. And then came Jaimie for my rescue with her new launch. Can this year get any better than this? I got to read two ARCs of Jaimie’s this year 🙂
Throughout the book, I was able to find some relevance between A Midnight Kiss on Ever After Street. Since I’m reading a lot of Jaimie’s books I was able to find a pattern. Usually, when I find a pattern, I do not like the book that much but surprisingly I loved this book nevertheless but not everyone likes it if they are able to predict or see a pattern. It is something the author can look into for her upcoming projects. Other than that, I loved all the characters in this book. I got so invested in this book and love Joss unconditionally that I felt like Essie overreacted a little bit towards the end lol. I got emotional while reading the backstories of all the side characters and how much the Mistletoe garden means to them.
I really liked that both the main characters have a backstory and the author did not dwell too much on it but nonetheless was able to make the readers understand the depth of those backstories. What was extremely difficult for me to do while reading this book was, I just decided I would not be eating any sweets or pastries and Essie was making some kind of amazing pastries and I couldn’t help craving for it. It was the real challenge.
And I learnt a little bit about Welsh customs and things to do. The most interesting thing of all was Cwtch. Before this book, I don’t know what Cwtch means. If you are not from South Wales, you might not know it, don’t google, just go read this book.
My rating for this book would be 4 out 5 stars
I would like to recommend this book to all romance lovers, Christmas books or movie lovers. You will absolutely enjoy this book.
I just love Jaimie Admans and her books. Period. I don’t have anything else to say.
Purchase this book here!
Happy Reading Folks!
~ Meenu
