The small town of Parrish Springs is not ready for Matilda Honeycutt. A strange older woman with scraggly gray hair and jewelry that jangles as she walks, Matilda is certainly not the most likely person to buy the old Barton Building on the town’s quaint main street. When it becomes apparent that her new shop doesn’t fit the expectations of Parrish Springs residents, a brouhaha erupts. After all, … all, Christmas is approaching, and the last thing the town needs is a junky shop run by someone who looks and acts like a gypsy. But as townsfolk venture into the strange store, they discover that old memories can bring new life and healing.
Once again, Melody Carlson delivers a Christmas story that will touch hearts and delight the senses. Sure to be a classic, The Christmas Shoppe is filled with the special magic the best Christmas stories share–that intangible mixture of nostalgia, joy, and a little bit of magic.
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I love the cover on this book. Nine times out of ten it will be the cover that attracts this reader to a book. But my experience from reading anything Melody Carlson writes is that the pages between the covers will yield a very good story. The Christmas Shoppe did not disappoint this reader.
A new shop opens in the town of Parrish Springs. No one in town knew it had sold or for that matter no one knew the buyer either. The name Matilda Honeycutt drew no recollection from anyone in town. She was not only a stranger but also a very strange woman in every other respect.
Councilman George Snider had been waiting his opportunity to buy the old building the first chance he got but then someone had bid higher than he had in a sealed envelope auction. He was greatly upset! Who was this Matilda Honeycutt and what did she plan to do with the building she had just purchased?
As time passed Matilda put up a sign that called the store The Christmas Shoppe. Opening day came and word got out that the merchandise sold in the shop wasn’t what one would expect to find in a Christmas Shoppe. In fact strange things seemed to happen to some customers who visited the shop. The rest of the town’s shop owners where up in arms over the new store and the strange owner. A petition was signed to have her removed. Some people sided with Matilda while others pressed the city manager to close the shop.
Though I found this book somewhat different from Melody Carlson’s Other Christmas novels I did enjoy reading it. I can’t say too much more here in this review because I don’t want to be a spoiler. All fans of Melody Carlson will enjoy it. Some of you may have read it already. This book has been around for some time. If you enjoy Christian fiction you will like this book.
I downloaded a Kindle version of this book from Amazon. A review was not requested. All opinions expressed and shared here are my own honest thoughts on how I felt about the book.
This was another clean, short Christmas romance with a little Christmas magic in it. I bought this at a library sale and I voluntarily chose to review it. While this is not a recent release, it’s part of a series that Guideposts put out. I’ve given it a 5*. A newcomer came to town and outbid others on a great old building in a popular business part of town. She doesn’t dress like the other business owners and she ends up having half the town in a uproar. It’s a very Christmas time message to us readers too.
Great Christmas novel
Three words to describe this book-1.Whimsical, Warm, Magical. Matilda an eccentric woman appears in town and buys the Barton Building, a prime location and mysteriously opens a ‘Christmas Shoppe’. When she opens people being curious start going into her store to find that she is selling “junk” but they come out with life changing gifts. Helen the receptionist at the local paper is one of the first to go in and come out a changed woman. The people Parrish Springs, soon find out that the saying “another person’s junk, is someone else’s treasure”. A feel good story, a must read for anytime of the year!