Includes bonus material!This winter it’s time to fall in love at Cedarwood Lodge… After years of dreaming, Clio Winters is finally fulfilling her childhood dream of renovating the gorgeous old Cedarwood Lodge in Evergreen and turning it into the perfect destination for celebrations, weddings and extravagant birthday parties. The huge property used to be a bustling holiday camp, now Clio wants to … a bustling holiday camp, now Clio wants to bring it back to its halcyon days – which will be a lot of hard work!
Returning back to the small town of her youth she’s glad to have one of her best friends still around to lean on, Micah who is just as solid as he used to be. But with her own secrets pushing her to run from her glamorous life in New York, she’ll have to tread carefully, especially when the far-too-handsome-for-his-own-good contractor, Kai, shows up on her doorstep…
Sure she’s here in Evergreen to change her life, but there is no way she’s falling in love!
Previously published as Celebrations & Confetti, Brides & Bouquets, Midnight & Mistletoe.
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What a fun Christmas read. I wanted it to continue.
Very enjoyable book.
A light easy read. Somewhat predictable; however, I couldn’t put it down.
Nice vacation read.
1.5 stars
This story was just okay. There was a whole lot of thinking by Clio about possibly, maybe, perhaps letting Kai know she liked him and a jillion non-reasons why she couldn’t or wouldn’t. It took 3 short books slapped together to make one long, tedious book with endless details about event planning with “gold baubles” and “gold this or that” to get there.
Also, the author is clearly not from America and has zero idea about our geography (New York City is not a quick drive from New Hampshire) or everyday words we use. She used jumper instead of sweater, bench instead of counter, tin of biscuits instead of cookies, diamantes instead of rhinestones or faux diamonds; candy floss instead of cotton candy, it goes on and on. Everyone sounded English or Australian. The best friend Amory, a supposedly born and bred New Yorker no less, uses the phrases “Bloody hell” and “Bollocks” often. Clio and Amory both end sentences with “yeah” for example; “Let’s focus on what we need to do and hope Kai comes through for us. Yeah?” or “Let’s make cocoa. Yeah?” This isn’t American phrasing and is used throughout the whole book. Plus the time line goes from Autumn through New Year’s Eve with no mention of Thanksgiving but Boxing Day is. Again, not American.
So here’s my question to the author; why set it in America if you don’t even attempt to get the phrasing and words correct? Why not set it in England so the way the characters speak doesn’t seem so out of place? It’s jarring and detracts from the story. Clio easily could have been an event planner in London and fled to the countryside somewhere in England! Or make Clio & Amory from England but they moved to the US then their phrasing wouldn’t have sounded so terribly out of place. I love books set in England or Australia that sound authentic! Sadly this book set in America doesn’t sound authentic at all.
***SPOILER BELOW ***
And lastly the BIG CLICHÉ of a proposal ON CHRISTMAS a few years later. Gah!!! Why does anyone think that is romantic?!? Why?!? It’s not! Especially if the engagement ring is “the present.” It’s so very tacky and d-bagish when said guy doesn’t also buy a b-day, V-day or Christmas present for the would be bride. That’s a total douche bag move by any guy that does that! Same goes for proposing on Valentines’s Day (a Hallmark holiday!) a birthday, New Year’s Eve, etc. An engagement ring is just that; an ENGAGEMENT RING and NOT a birthday gift or Xmas present. I feel sorry when this happens in real life to friends and get pissed at authors touting this as romantic. It’s clichéd bullshit.
Chick Lit
Great read during a snow storm. Cute storyline.
While I liked the idea of the book, I was not fond of the fact that the author did not do much research about living in the US. In the book, she states that everyone was off for Boxing Day (not a holiday in the US). No one here has Boxing Day off unless you take it as vacation between Christmas and NYE. She refers to sweaters as jumpers and she talks about the characters wearing high heal designer shoes in snow at a remote inn. Those are just a few that I remember. I did like the characters. I thought they were humorous even if predictable.
Quick read.
Couldn’t get past the second chapter. No idea if the book ends up where it looked like it was going, but it wasn’t very interesting.
4.5 Stars for my first Rebecca Raisin read so I will certainly be looking out for more from this author. This is a perfect book to curl up with ,it’s about friendships, family, romance, weddings, babies and a few secrets, it left me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside and I really felt like the inhabitants of the tiny town of Evergreen had become friends of mine. Winter at Cedarwood Lodge is a magical read it has just the right mix of romance and humour, it has characters who are interesting and who you want to get to know so do yourself a favour and one click this beautifully written story.
4.5 Star review of Winter at Cedarwood Lodge by Rebecca Raisin
Rebecca Raisin is a new author to me and I am not sure why. From what I have read Winter at Cedarwood Lodge is the result of combining three previously published novellas and I must say that I am glad that Ms.Raisin has done this.
This was a delightful book, with interesting and well written characters and a setting that made me want to visit Cedarwood Lodge as soon as I possibly could.
Not an overly long read, but one that had me invested from the first chapter.When high profile wedding planner Clio Winters decides the time is right to fulfil a lifelong dream, she moves to Evergreen to bring Cedarwood Lodge back to it’s former glory.
What she isn’t looking for is romance or to fall in love. Winter at Cedarwood Lodge is a heart warming story full of love, romance babies, weddings and so much more and was a delight to read. I love any story that is centred around my favourite holiday of the year, Christmas. Christmas is a time for family and friends to get together and I found this book delivered.