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emilywemily6 's review for:

The Holiday Cottage by Sarah Morgan
4.0
hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
This was a cute and cozy holiday read! I really loved the premise and how we got to know the three POVs- Imogen, Dorothy, and Sarah. They were complex and interesting characters. I did find the first 30% of this book extremely slow. And while we got good introductions to the characters, I feel like some of the character traits that were shown early on in the story were never elaborated on or explained. For example, Imogen came across as emotionless and stoic, and possibly neurodivergent, in the beginning, but the farther we got in the story the less that portrayal suited her. There was a lot of mystery as we slowly got to know the characters in the beginning, but then the big reveal happened halfway through and we didn’t really get any more background about the characters. It was kind of like I read two different books. I adore Miles!! And I appreciated that the romance subplot wasn’t front and center. However, this book takes place over like 3 weeks and both the romance and  Imogen’s relationships with the other characters seemed like they advanced unbelievably far in that amount of time. Also, her anti-Christmas spirit wasn’t flushed out and resolved easily, and the issues of her lying also resolved extremely easily. I wanted more of a conclusion to this story and some of the major emotional drivers to this story, but I like how the story ended overall; I just wanted more. I enjoyed this holiday read but found the tone of the first and second halves of the book didn’t quite match, though I liked each half for different reasons. Imogen experienced a lot of mature character growth too, which I liked to see. I would read from this author again!
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