A review by bookishblasian
A Cross-Country Christmas by Courtney Walsh

5.0

This book is Christmas in a nutshell. It's the perfectly wrapped present with the perfect bow. It's the first Christmas cookie of the season. It's the first burst of the hot chocolate bomb. Honestly, I read a novella by this author last year that I didn't love. This book just completely erased my experience with that novella. For some reason, I've been really digging sunshine and grumps this year and this book was no different. Lauren and her negativity was almost too much for me. Man was she annoying! I knew she had some reason for hating him, but given how many years had passed I thought she was being a bit dramatic. After hearing the whole story and seeing how she had him on a pedestal all these years, her feelings on their whole situation finally made sense. Will. Will is this fun loving, fly by the seat of his pants guy. He's the exact type of person my type A self would hate. All in all, Will and Lauren made a great match. A good balance of opposites attract. I don't want to give anything away, but this was a fantastic Christmas book. I could easily picture it as a Hallmark movie. Lauren is annoying, but she grows on you. Will is likable from the start. Despite his mistakes, he's still a good guy, even when he doesn't realize it. This heartwarming Christmas story had me feeling all the feels. I was annoyed at Lauren, in love with Will, feeling sorry for Lauren and her family history, feeling sorry for Will and his life after his mistakes, etc the list goes on. This book really tugged at my heart strings and man the ending almost had me in tears. Overall, I thought this was a fantastic Christmas book. It was very Hallmark worthy and sooo much better than the novella I tried last year. I hope to read more like this book from this author.