Kate McMurry's Reviews > Wrapped Up in Christmas Joy

Hallmark, G-rated, small-town, Christmas romance

Cole is a 20-something, traumatized, veteran Marine, who is currently working as a full-time firefighter in Pine Hill, Kentucky, a fictional, idyllic small town. Sophie is a 20-something quilt maker, who owns a needlework shop in Pine Hill. They are emotionally attracted to each other from their first meeting, but Sophie is a permanent resident of Pine Hill, who would not dream of ever living anywhere else, and Cole has no interest in settling down in Pine Hill or anywhere else.

This story in many ways is identical to the first story in this trilogy. Only the names and the occupations are different. Pine Hill is a typical, Hallmark, imaginary small town, filled with contented citizens, who love and support each other like one, big, happy family. Pine Hill is improbably able to finance a half dozen full-time firefighters, among them Cole, who spend most of their work hours playing video games at the firehouse. The town is also able to provide Sophie with a comfortable living selling expensive, handmade quilts as well as other handiwork.

The vast majority of the scenes in this book are about how picturesque Pine Hill goes all out to celebrate Christmas. Cole is the resident Scrooge AKA "Grumpy" hero of this particular novel, and Sophie is the Little Miss Sunshine who adores Christmas and makes it her personal mission to convert Cole to her way of thinking. It is no spoiler to state that, in the inevitable HEA, Cole is won over to wholehearted adoration of Sophie, Christmas, and Pine Hill.

I obtained free access through Hoopla to all three books in this trilogy, which is published by Hallmark.