Mistletoe Miracles

(Ransom Canyon #7)

by Jodi Thomas

Amazon | Books-A-Million | B & N

Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages

Publisher: HQN; Original edition (October 1, 2018)

A small-town Texas Christmas story, where hearts are lost, love is found, and family always brings you back home.

Griffin Holloway is desperate: the Maverick Ranch has been in his family for generations, but lately, it’s a money pit. He’d sooner marry one of his horses than sell the ranch. Marriage, though, could be a solution. If he can woo a wealthy bride, he might save the ranch—just in time for Christmas.

Jaxon O’Grady likes his solitude just fine, thank you very much. But when a car accident brings the unexpected to his door, he realizes just how much one person can need another.

Crossroads is the perfect place for Jamie Johnson: avoiding nosy questions about why she’s single, she’s happy to keep to her lakeside home. So she’s baffled when she gets the strangest Christmas present of all, in the form of a Mr. Johnson, asleep on her sofa. Who is he, and why does everyone think he’s her husband?

In this uplifting novel, three unlikely couples discover just what Crossroads, Texas, can offer: romance, belonging, and plenty of Christmas spirit.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

If they had to carry all their shortcomings in a sack, they’d both be permanently bent over.

You’re the oldest, Griff. You go first. At thirty-four, you’re about to go from ripe to rotten anyway.

“You don’t believe in soul mates?” “Sure. Mom’s found three so far. Every time she leaves a husband, she rolls back her age like rewinding the odometer on a car. I’ve heard husband number three is closer to my age than hers.”

It must have been dark. She’s not the kind of girl you’d ever be able to pick up, so that means she picked you up. What I can’t figure out is why she didn’t put you right back down.

I had so many housekeepers growing up that I started calling them by their number. I think we were on about twenty-three by the time I was in college…They must be working through the alphabet now. The ones my father doesn’t run off, my mother fires when she flies by on her broom now and then.

My Review:

I snickered and giggled-snorted at the comical descriptions and wry humor throughout this narrative, although I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy this book as I was initially appalled by the older brother Griffin’s presented plan of saving the family ranch. He instructed his brothers of the dire condition of their finances with their only foreseeable salvation being to find and marry wealthy women within two months and using said women’s resources to save them. Eww. This proposed plan sounded extremely cold and mercenary, which it most certainly was, and I know this happens to varying degrees all the time across all cultures, but as a feminist, I envisioned applying a high degree of pain to a soft part of his anatomy. Griffin was sincere in his belief of love also, eventually, being an aspect to this plan… stupid man… but that did seem to take the edge of my pique and kept me reading.

There were actually three well-nuanced and engaging storylines occurring at the same time, with each one being quite active, highly entertaining, observantly insightful, cleverly crafted, and involved varying degrees of duplicity. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I adored this large and vast cast of quirky characters and the real-life issues they encountered. I need to work this crafty spinner of tales into my reading calendar with regularity.

About Jodi Thomas

New York Times and USA Today’s bestselling author Jodi Thomas has published over 30 books in both the historical romance and contemporary genres, the majority of which are set in her home state of Texas. Publishers Weekly calls her novels “Distinctive…Memorable,” and that in her stories “[tension] rides high, mixed with humor and kisses more passionate than most full-on love scenes.” In 2006, Romance Writers of America (RITA) inducted Thomas into the RWA Hall of Fame for winning her third RITA for THE TEXAN’S REWARD. She also received the National Readers’ Choice Award in 2009 for TWISTED CREEK (2008) and TALL, DARK, AND TEXAN (2008). While continuing to work as a novelist, Thomas also functions as Writer in Residence at the West Texas A&M University campus, where she inspires students and alumni in their own writing pursuits.