beautifulshell 's review for:

Brightly Shining by Ingvild H. Rishøi

3.0

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This is marketed as a Christmas tale, and despite the setting in a Christmas tree stand, a typical holiday story this is not. If the Cratchit family eventually get their goose (and raise), the two sisters here have much less reliable family bonds and no Scrooge-like amends to enjoy. Unsurprisingly, the themes of addiction, loneliness, and insecurity are pretty bleak, and the warmer, optimistic scenes in the first part of the book eventually give way to a darker, if ambiguous, ending. I do think there's an audience that would enjoy this a lot; the writing and particularly the narrator's voice are well done, and it addresses familiar problems in a literary way. But the packaging/marketing clashes (probably intentionally) with the outcome in a way that I suspect might be off putting for some readers looking for a more traditional Christmas-cozy vibe.
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the arc!