Title:  Cookie Girl Christmas
Series:  Snowflake Falls #1
Author:  Christene Houston
Genre:  Christmas Romance, Contemporary Romance
Published:  December 4, 2014
Publisher:
My Rating:  5 stars
Source:  Borrowed, Kindle Unlimited
Cover Description:

Molly Hayes has one more job before Christmas and then she can put her plans for a storefront bakery of her own in motion.

What she doesn’t bargain for is the handsome young Scrooge who insults her cookies and makes her blood boil.

Toss in a heaping helping of snowstorm and a pinch of romantic old Inn and you’ve got yourself the perfect recipe for a not-so-silent-night.

Read on for my thoughts on Cookie Girl Christmas.  No true spoilers, promise.

On the surface, Cookie Girl Christmas is a charming, lighthearted Christmas Romance.  It is actually a very involved, emotional story of two people who have been dealt very difficult situations in their lives.  Greyson and Molly both have lost family member close to then, Molly’s mother to cancer and Greyson’s sister to suicide. They each have dealt with their losses in similar and different ways.

Molly had dealt with the darkest type of depression.  She has made the decision to remain alone with only her business partner and friend, as well as her immediate family in her life.  She will not allow anyone to get close enough to her to love or be loved.  Love equals the potential for loss, and Molly will not risk losing someone she loves ever again.   For her, it’s best that she remains alone.  As part of the way Molly has dealt with her grief is when the anxiety overcomes her, and that is often, she will go into an affirmation of gratitude listing of what she is grateful for at that moment.  It is a coping mechanism that works well for her, usually.

Greyson’s sister was a talented artist who had dealt with depression for a very long time.  She allowed it to go untreated because she felt that she created the greatest beauty from her darkest places.  Greyson had been very close to his sister, but as a teen he’d gone onto do the normal teenage things and was out of reach the night his sister took her life.  This event has left him angry and a changed man.

When Molly and Greyson first meet Greyson is at his most annoying and Molly dislikes him almost on sight.  However, as his step-mother has hired Molly’s business to provide for a season full of Christmas goodies they will be thrown together far more often than either would like.  Circumstances and time will slowly change how Greyson and Molly view each other as they help each other heal from hurts held close for far too long.  Their romance is all the more poignant for what each has faced on their own.

I enjoyed Cook Girl Christmas very much both for the charming story and for the acknowledgement of the dangers that depression can bring to our lives.  As someone who has suffered through depression I understand firsthand how devastating dealing with this can be.  I appreciate the thoughtful and realistic way that those that suffer under depression was portrayed.

Although this story does contain some serious issues, it is also a very entertaining Christmas story with lovely scenes and delicious recipes that I’m planning to try out this holiday season.  I would encourage you to take a chance on this story, you will find a very touching, emotional Christmas treat that you won’t want to miss.

Available in paperback and for the Kindle