Book Review: No Holly For Christmas + Giveaway details

No Holly for Christmas by Julie N. Ford
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Romantic Mystery. I do believe this is the first time I have ventured into this genre. Perhaps it is the first time I have heard of this genre. Would that make me seem illiterate if I admit it? While on a date with my hubby a few weeks back I told him how much I enjoyed this romantic mystery. He turned to me perplexed and made me laugh when he asked, "is that really a genre, romantic mystery?" Nothing like a good man to make you feel smarter than you are.

Anyhow,"No Holly for Christmas" was a great first romantic mystery. It made me wanting more of the genre and more out of my life: more romance and more mystery, if you know what I mean. Sometimes books like this can be a bad thing, especially as you walk out of Target with your husband of 15 years. So NOT romantic or mysterious. It's a good thing he can still make me laugh and feel smart.

Enough about me. This book was really great. After reading No Holly for Christmas I was double super pleased. As I was reading I wondered why I had never heard of the book before. It really was a fantastic read. I loved Julie Ford's writing style. It was perfectly descriptive and fast paced. It was clean and clear. It was also romantic and mysterious. Imagine that.

I am trying to figure out who to give this book to for Christmas as it will make a perfect read for so many of my friends and family, especially the ladies who are wanting more after their 50 Shades of Grey. (Make clear: I would never read 50 Shades of Grey, but a lot of my friends have) They now are waiting for that next best romantic novel, and I do believe they would all really like this one. It was a great adult version of happily ever after. I loved the ending. I loved the characters. I loved how the plots played out. I loved the feel-good portions (there were many) and the slight focus on overcoming our psychological hang-ups (we all have to do it).

Short synopsis. Holly, a recently widowed single mom socialite turned social worker, gets entangled into a dangerous situation: more than one murderer is after her. Brian, a defense attorney turned deputy DA at his sick father's (DA) request, has now found it part of his job to look after Holly. Holly's gay sister Margo is Brian's new partner and the Judge of the small town is married to Brian's longtime love Josie. If that isn't enough of a web for you, there are plenty of other fascinating characters to attach to: Holly's controlling mom, the sleazy other guy at the DA's office, Brian's mom who wants nothing but grandchildren, Holly's two new neighbors/girlfriends who are living the dream in the suburbs, or Holly's two daughters.

Will the beautiful and mysterious Holly help Brian finally get over his married x-girlfriend? His past two wives weren't able to do the trick. Will Brian help Holly break out of her perfect shell? Probably. But the only way you will know is if you read the book. Before you do, just like you do before going to watch that newest romantic comedy major motion film, brace yourself to want more romance and mystery in your life. Otherwise your husband may need to all of the sudden grow an incredibly amazing sense of humor and compliment your mind at the same time to make up for the date to Target.

Oh, after looking through goodreads just now, I just found out that this book is a follow up on another book. I never like to start in the middle of a series, but I liked this so much I will for sure be heading over to purchase the first book "The Woman He Married" as soon as I get some extra cash.

View all my reviews

The best news yet. There's also a giveaway

You can purchase this book for .99 ebook from Barnes&Noble or at Amazon.

That is a steal. Seriously. I can't believe they are offering it that cheap. 

 When you do purchase, you can also be entered to win a $25.00 Barnes&Noble giftcard if you e-mail your confirmation number to Steph&Jules bloggers@vbooktours.com by November 1^st.

 And for those of you that are way too cheap to fork over even .99 on one of the best book's I've read this year, there are two additional ways to win a free copy.

Enter to win a free hard copy and/or ebook of No Holly for Christmas when you do one and/or both of the following between Tuesday, October 29^thand Thursday, November 1st:

 Like Julie N. Ford on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/JulieNFord.Author?ref=hl
 or
 Follow Julie N. Ford on Twitter https://twitter.com/JulieNFord