A review by tobyyy
A Christmas Promise by Anne Perry

4.0

Yay! I’m definitely getting in the mood for Christmas stories, even though it’s still November and Thanksgiving has not yet happened. I don’t care; 2020 has been rough so I will start celebrating my favorite season early if I want to.

This was a lovely little historical mystery featuring Gracie, a 13-year-old girl, and Minnie Maude, an 8-year-old girl, trying to solve the death of Minnie Maude’s uncle and disappearance of her uncle’s donkey Charlie.

Please note — Perry’s Christmas novellas are not dopey or sentimental. They are very gritty, realistic, and very similar to her novels. So if you’re coming to her books expecting a lighthearted, cozy story — don’t. That’s not what she writes.

The grittiness took me aback when I first started reading these novellas around the holiday season — but now I expect the grit. The endings, though, are consistently beautiful and heart wrenching and generally filled with holiday cheer (love, joy, hope, peace, happiness) — which is honestly the part of the book that I love the most. Seeing how she wraps up the story in all of its raw pain & struggle and ends it gracefully & beautifully.