Christmas at Rosie Hopkins' Sweetshop by Jenny Colgan

Fans of Debbie Macomber and Jojo Moyes will love this warm, funny, moving holiday tale from the New York Times bestselling author of Christmas at the Cupcake Café and Little Beach Street Bakery.

It’s a white Christmas in England, and Rosie Hopkins is feeling festive: Her sweetshop is festooned with striped candy canes, luscious chocolate boxes, and happy, sticky children, and she and her boyfriend are eagerly awaiting the arrival of their families.

But when a tragedy strikes at the heart of their charming town, all of Rosie's plans for the future seem to be blown apart. Can she and her loved ones see their way through the difficult times?

Sweet and soulful, heartbreaking and heartwarming, this is the perfect novel for the holidays (or any time of year).

THIS NON-REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Lori:  Bah and humbug. 

I love the holidays and this year is just swimming in holiday goodness. I've already got the Christmas Pandora station streaming, I've watched 2 holiday movies with kissing and my Kindle is festooned with Christmas romance book covers.

This was the first book in the Christmas season and it drove me damned close to burning a gift and ripping down some mistletoe.

Rosie is a nurse who runs her aunt's sweetshop in a small English village. Her boyfriend Stephen is a schoolteacher, gentry type who has title and property and no cash. His mother is a bit of a witch, the town is all adorbs the way small towns are... there's the sweet best friend with the heart of gold boyfriend, the man crazy aunt who can't forget the love of her life and the mystery man with dementia. Also lots of cute kids. Lots of cute kids.

Did I mention the cute kids? Cause Rosie has a sweetshop. 

Anyway, the reason I disliked this book so much was because it was impossible to like Rosie or Stephen. What's the point of a holiday romance when you don't feel the main couple have done anything to deserve a HEA?


Carolyn: I'm sorta ambivalent about this book. After we talked, I went on and finished the book and found myself becoming more and more immersed in it. I enjoyed the snarky dialogue between Rosie and Stephen and between most of the characters, really. But I really, really dislike the 'big misunderstanding' trope and that's what this book was based on.

I understood and felt for Stephen re his PTSD. I didn't understand Rosie not clueing in on it, especially with her medical background.

It's hard to state some of my feelings without spoilers, so I will scatter warnings around and just plow on ahead.

I cried when James/Henry's story ended. On the other hand, I thought the ending of the book contained more than a little treacle and was a real downer for a Christmas book.

And I never really got a handle on all the characters except the three year old; she could have been Mollie, lol. (a younger Mollie, of course)


Lori:  To me it wasn't the big misunderstanding that killed the book for me: it was Rosie. 

I'm completely heroine-centric and if the heroine doesn't work for me then the book is a dead end. And Rosie didn't work for me. There was nothing about her that I really liked.

The worst part of the book was that Rosie's family all lived in Australia and were coming to visit for Christmas and Rosie never told her live-in boyfriend that her family was descending upon them. 

Rosie just did what she wanted and didn't pay attention to what it meant to other people. And all her choices were selfish. Even the selfless choice to keep the school open was selfish because she wanted to keep her sweetshop open and keep her boyfriend employed.

Rosie was a git and I didn't root for her. Also I don't feel she'd be a good life partner since she never treated anyone in her life with honesty or true empathy.

Carolyn:  I'm not heroine-centric, thank the lord. I did get outdone with Rosie. But, you know, she sorta reminded me of me, the way she kept putting things off. When it's something you don't want to do, that you know will cause problems and/or fighting, emotionally insecure people do tend to think "I'll do it tomorrow, I can handle it better then because ...blah, blah, blah". (That's why my house looks like it does. ;-))

I also think if you squint real hard and angle your head in precisely the right position, you can see the school/Stephen thing differently (well, not you you, but a general you). She really did want the best for Stephen. She really did have low self esteem but I didn't buy how she talked herself into believing he didn't love her. But that's what folks with low self esteem do.

It was the Aussie family that got on my nerves (sorry Lea). When first they arrived they were horrible. Trashy even. And then, for no particular reason that I could see, they became acceptable, behaved better and were gathered into the loving arms of the village, or at least Stephen's mother. Didn't buy it. But it is a Christmas story, so whatcha gonna do??

Lori: Well, because it's the season and all that fa-la-la, I'll be kind and say there is probably something in the book to enjoy. Just not for me.

I do understand how you could see Rosie as insecure but I saw it as selfish. However... it wasn't a DNF and it was an easy and moderately pleasant read. I'd love to know how other people feel about it.

And on another note: we plan on reviewing at least one more Christmas themed book as well as Loretta Chase's newest. And we'll be pulling a mean trick on one another soon and choosing a book for the other person to read. Anybody know any Amish bondage books I can force on Carolyn?