Show Me 5 Saturday: Lakeshore Christmas by Susan Wiggs

That's A Novel Idea has started a new MEME called Show Me Five Saturday. This meme will give each blogger an opportunity to give a brief description of a book they have read or reviewed during the week. It will work like this: Each Saturday you will post the answer to these questions. The number indicates the number of answers you will provide.

1. Book you read and/or reviewed this week

Lakeshore Christmas by Susan Wiggs

2. Words that describe the book

Lovestory, Christmas theme

3. Settings where it took place or characters you met:

Avalon: small town in NY Catskills. Maureen Davenport: young, somewhat insecure librarian who loves Christmas so much she volunteers to direct the annual pageant and somewhat reluctantly manages to fall in love while doing so. Eddie Haven: recovering alcoholic who helps Maureen direct the pageant even though he hates Christmas due to his childhood memories of being on the road as a child star in his family's Christmas show.

4. Things you liked and/or disliked about it:

Having read several books in the Lakeshore Chronicles series, catching up with some of the characters is like visiting with old friends. I loved the way Wiggs developed Maureen's and Eddie's characters showing the heartaches and emotional pain of their pasts and how they resolved them. The whole town of Avalon is like a character in itself and seeing how the town worked so hard to save the library from closing was a very enjoyable aspect of the story. The burgeoning love story between Maureen and Eddie is a wonderful plot line particularly because Eddie thought Maureen was definitely not his type. Maureen had been in love before and all she got for that effort was her heart broken. No more of that love nonsense for this librarian!

5. Stars or less for your rating?

4.5****

Note: although the book is part of a series, it is definitely a stand alone read. If you enjoy this one, I would highly recommend you read some of the others in the series. Summer at Willow Lake is the first one.