Review: Lone Star Christmas

My copy of Lone Star Christmas arrived way back in September but I held off reading it until I was feeling a bit more festive. I love Christmas and all but even I have a hard time diving into a December set book when it's still warm and sunny outside and I'm not ready to face summer coming to an end. So, fast forward to November and I finally decided to dive into Delores Fossen's latest novel. I haven't read her books before so I wasn't really sure what to expect. Would it be a completely delightful and festive romance or would it fall flat?

Here's the synopsis:

A family crisis brings him home…
Just in time for Christmas
Cattleman Callen Laramie has no intention of returning to his hometown of Coldwater, Texas, until a Christmas wedding and a family secret convince him he has no choice. And when he’s reunited with his childhood crush, the girl who’d always been off-limits, Callen knows leaving might not be so easy this time.
Shelby McCall is as pretty as a Christmas snowfall, and Callen wants to kiss her under the mistletoe…and the Christmas tree…and the stars. But once Shelby knows the whole truth behind this homecoming, will their holiday fling come to an abrupt end? Or will she accept the gift of his heart?

I always say I love Christmas romances but every year I'm finding them less and less...enjoyable, I guess. That's true of a lot of romances, to be honest, so I'm wondering if my expectations of the genre have changed. I also think I'm really tired of the loosely connected series. You know, when the first story is about one character, and then the next is about the sister or brother or cousin or small business owner in town who's also a single parent or the local cop. Or any and all of the above. I find a lot of them spend so much time making sure all the players in the series are known that the actual story of the book I'm trying to read is lost. I think that's what happened with Lone Star Christmas. There were so many characters being named and showing up that Callen and Shelby weren't nearly as fleshed out as they could have been.

There was also just a lot happening in this book and most of it didn't feel super connected. You'd think with that much going on I might remember more of it but, honestly, the plot is such a blur now, not even a month after reading this book. Obviously it didn't resonate with me.

As for the Christmassyness of the novel, I'd probably give it 3.5 out of 5 Christmas trees. Maybe 4. The wedding overtakes the holiday ever so slightly but that wasn't really problematic because the wedding, like Christmas, was all about bringing family together so everything still felt really warm and fuzzy. There was also a lot of fun with Callen and Shelby, and others, trying to figure out Christmas gifts. Cheesy and a bit ridiculous, yes, but fun.

Lone Star Christmas isn't a bad book at all. But it left me wanting a whole lot more once I finished it. It's fine if you're looking for a really quick, easy to finish story over the holidays but I don't think you'll find me revisiting Coldwater Texas or any more of Delores Fossen's novels. Too many books, too little time!

*A copy of this novel was provided by the publisher, Harlequin, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*