1225 Christmas Tree Lane by Debbie Macomber
The people of Cedar Cove know how to celebrate Christmas. Like Grace and Olivia and everyone else, Beth Morehouse expects this Christmas to be one of her best. Her small Christmas-tree farm is prospering, her daughters and her dogs are happy and well, and her new relationship with local vet Ted Reynolds is showing plenty of romantic promise.But…someone recently left a basket filled with puppies on her doorstep, puppies she’s determined to place in good homes. That’s complication number one. And number two is that her daughters Bailey and Sophie have invited their dad, Beth’s ex-husband, Kent, to Cedar Cove for Christmas. The girls have visions of a mom-and-dad reunion dancing in their heads.As always in life ? and in Cedar Cove ? there are surprises, too. More than one family’s going to have a puppy under the tree. More than one scheme will go awry. And more than one romance will have a happy ending What would the holidays be without a new Christmas story from Debbie Macomber?
Number 12 in the Cedar Cove series and given to me as part of a Christmas present from a friend.
Lots of characters from previous books, many of them getting the odd precis of their previous story to remind old hands who is who, and to allow new readers to catch up and put people in context.
The primary focus of this book is Beth, who has been in Cedar Cove for just under 3 years, after her divorce from her husband Kent. She has a casual relationship with Ted, the local vet, but her daughters have invited Kent over for Christmas in a desire to have then reconcile. Unfortunately, Kent brings his “friend” Danielle along for the trip, and there are multiple chances that are missed between Beth and Kent in the run up to Christmas Day.
Meanwhile other members of the Cedar Cove Community are involved, as Beth has found herself in possession of 10 puppies that have been abandoned on her doorstep, and she wants to find owners for them before she goes on holiday just after Christmas. This allows all the families to get a short inclusion in this story as they search for presents.
As this is number 12, and written specifically for Christmas, there are no new characters to be introduced in this book, and it does feel a bit like a “holding pattern” book, that can either finish off the series or gather it together to start for a new beginning. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but is a reasonable inclusion in the Cedar Cove and Debbie Macomber stable
Writing about books 