It’s that time of year!
You know the time I’m talking about. The time when you want to bust out all your Christmas decor. The time where you want to curl up with a cup of hot cocoa and watch a Hallmark movie. Or you could just curl up with Melinda Curtis’ new novella. It’s guaranteed to make you feel that Christmas magic too.

With it being a short story, only 92 pages, I don’t want to give too much away. But like I insinuated above, it has all the requirements of the classic Christmas story.

a charming, determined heroine
a stubborn, moody hero
an effort to save a Christmas parade due to budget cuts
and an adorable dog named Remy
I really enjoyed this story and recommend you pick it up to enjoy it this holiday season. It comes out tomorrow – actually in a few short hours. Don’t miss out on this one!

The Christmas Wish introduces reads to Sunshine Valley, Colorado, namely, to three well-meaning – and meddling? – widows who have dubbed themselves the Sunshine Valley Matchmakers Club. Their goal? Give Cupid a little nudge or two in the right direction.

This novella opens with the ladies seated around a table playing cards when the topic of love comes up. They offer their suggestions for their targets and take a vote, ultimately selecting a young widow named Rosalie. After losing her cop husband in the line of duty, Rosalie has sworn off all thoughts of moving on, instead throwing herself into her dream, opening a pet shop. The locals call new-to-town Everett Scrooge behind his back. He has his own thoughts on romance, after his wife took to stealing from the town’s coffers – between his divorce and the police investigation, he lost just about everything and has no plans whatsoever to stick around in a place called Sunshine.

While the three older woman seem to be the driving force of this series, they really didn’t appear much in this story. Instead, Rosalie and Everett were the main focus, along with some suspenseful moments to break up the romance, and – the best part: puppies. The ending here was overly cutesy and Hallmark movie (I’m the grinchiest of Grinches, remember?), but I enjoyed The Christmas Wish much more than I expected! A second teaser novella will be out in February, followed by the first novel, Can’t Hurry Love in March.

The Sunshine Valley widows love to make matches. The lucky recipients of their match making are Rosalie and Everett. They seem an unlikely couple at first, he being in charge of tightening the budget strings on their towns coffers. Including Christmas. Including jobs.

But there are decisions and hurt feelings to deal with and so how they deal with things makes for an interesting read. The book is of novella length and very fun to read. I loved the dogs in the story. I'm glad this will be a series and more is on the way!

I received an ebook copy from NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing. All thoughts are my own.

Rosalie was a widow that the board of the Sunshine Valley widows club decided need to find love. Sunshine Valley knew these women picked a person every Christmas to try and find love for them.

The target along with Rosalie was a divorced man named Everett. He was in town to get the town’s finances back under control. The towns people called him Scrooge.

Through all of his tough decisions and Rosalies optimism can they find love or will his decisions for the town keep them apart? Can the Christmas miracle save the towns budget?

You will have to read to find out! This book made me cry and laugh.

I enjoyed this book. It was a little shorter than I’m used too but the storyline was enticing and it kept my interest until the end.

“The Christmas Wish” by Melinda Curtis introduces us to Sunshine Valley in the middle of winter.
This is the Widows Club at their best meddling and match making to their finest. This time they’re trying to hook up Rosalie Reyes who just came back into town and Everett Bollinger who was a bit of a stick in the mud as they ladies say.
Rosalie Reyes owns a pet store, Sunshine Pets and is doing her best with her dog Remy a Saint Bernard to get the word out about her store.
Everett Bolinger was hired as the town manager to balance the towns budget and get things done by the book. He gets an unexpected delivery his ex-wife a dog named Tinkerbell who is a terrier mix and likes to express herself.
At first you would think these two different people ‘s personalities are so different that they clash, but then Melinda Curtis works her magic and well you’ll just have to read the story……….

Kindle Copy for Review from NetGalley, Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and Forever Yours.
I received an ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars.
A delightful, well-written novella, with Melinda Curtis’ signature wit and humor! With well-developed characters, a Scrooge sexy bespectacled hero and a wonderful, lovable heroine, “The Christmas Wish”, by Melinda Curtis (Forever Yours), is a romantic and funny read, although dealing with quite serious issues.
I loved Everett and the fact he’s an older hero. He’s so sexy, adjusting his glasses, protecting his “hardened heart” and absolutely failing to be Mr. Scrooge while holding his little dog.
Rosalie is such a genuine heroine, so full of heart and compassion.
Both are broken in different ways and yet they are so dignified.
A quick and very entertaining read with lovely secondary characters and adorable pets.

This was a short but lovely little story. The story mainly focused around two main characters and their attraction.
I felt like a chapter was missing towards the end and the ending was extremely rushed but it did get me in the holiday spirit.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of ‘The Christmas Wish’ by Melinda Curtis in exchange for an honest review.

‘The Christmas Wish’ is the first book by Melinda Curtis is the first I’ve read by the author. It certainly won’t be my last, especially from the Sunshine Valley series.

Sunshine Valley is a sweet, idealistic town in Colorado. With a little meddling, the local matchmakers work their magic to get Everett, aka Scrooge, and Rosalie, widow and local business owner to fall in love..

This novella is a quick read with all the elements of typical romance. My only complaint is that I wish it was longer. I found the ending to be rushed and I found myself wanting more development. Still a solid 4 star novella.

I loved this story. It got me into the Christmas spirit. Everyone is calling Everett Scrooge. It is his job to help the city become more fiscally solvent. If he can't find some way to get the city into the black, he will have to lay off some people at Christmas time. He is into enforcing the rules and laws and not everyone is happy about it. Rosalie is a new business owner and everything she tries to do to promote her business, Scrooge shoots it down. What can she do? Everett has had a tough time of it and will not be sticking around town for long, so he doesn't care if they like him or not. Except, he is starting to care if Rosalie likes him. He is beginning to care a little too much.

I absolutely loved this novella. It is a heartwarming romance happening during the Christmas season. It includes charming pets, an adorable little one, a group of widowed ladies - that try to be matchmakers and Santa! A perfect combination for a light-hearted read (with a touch of a serious subjects included). The two main characters find love for a second time and in the process find peace for their past.

I want to give a huge thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing), Forever Yours for allowing me the pleasure of reading this touching novella by Melinda Curtis. I have read several of her previous books and she is fast becoming one of my favorite authors. My review is my own opinion, not influenced by receiving the ARC.

What a sweet Christmas story!! If you are looking for a quick read that will fill your heart with joy, grab this book. It will make you smile, laugh and bring tears of joy to your eyes. Come to Sunshine Valley, Colorado and feel the magic of Christmas! Thank you Forever (Grand Central Publishing) Forever Yours via NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

"The Christmas Wish" (A Sunshine Valley Novella) by Melinda Curtis is a fantastic read. I loved Rosalie and Everett's story. This is a wonderful Christmas story, packed with romance, small-town life, family, entertaining characters, and second chances. I can't wait to see what happens next in Sunshine Valley. Highly recommend to all fans of sweet romance, Christmas, and small-town stories.

The Christmas Wish by Melinda Curtis is part of the Sunshine Valley series novella, which takes place in Sunshine Valley, Colorado. This book is a love story between Everett, the city new town manager, who everyone calls Scrooge and Rosalie who recently opened a pet shop. Both have been married before. There is a lot of Christmas spirit, and it is nice to watch the couple as well as the town come together. If you are looking for a short sweet romance, give this one a try.

I reviewed a digital arc provided by NetGalley and the publisher. Thank you.

"The season of love and forgiveness." This is the theme of this story.
It is a modern day "It's a wonderful life"
Everett has taken a job in a small town to "fix" the budget. Does that mean layoff's for Christmas?
Can Rosalie help him and his dog Tinkerbell to become a part of this community? Can people trust and love after some hard times?
A feel good novella that you will love!

A good festive story, well written and entertaining.
I appreciated the festive mood, the well thought cast of characters (I rooted for them) and the lovely plot.
I hope to read other books by this author.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Everett and Rosalie had some disagreements about the Christmas parade in Snow Valley when they met, but after getting to know the other better and spending more time together they began to fall in love. Will they find happiness this holiday?
Cute novella.

“The Christmas Wish” by Melinda Curtis introduces us to Sunshine Valley and the Widows Club (aka Matchmakers Club).

Rosalie Reyes needs to get the word out about her pet store, Sunshine Pets. But everything she tries to do for publicity, town manager, Everett Bollinger nixes.
Everett moved to Sunshine Valley to balance the town’s budget and, possibly, lay off some of the workers if he can’t find a way for the town to make money.
Brought together by a mug of hot chocolate and their two dogs, Remy and Tink, Rosalie and Everett realize they have other things in common besides their pets—that they bring out the best in each other.

With one of the best last lines I’ve ever read, “The Christmas Wish” is delightful fun and will warm your heart on a cold winter’s night.

The Christmas Wish is a short festive romance located in a small tight-knit community where two brokenhearted souls will be offered a second chance at love.

It took me a little time to get into the story and I felt as though the storyline was a bit rushed at times. But the two lead characters are touching, with interesting background stories.

The presence of fun doggies is always a plus (the cover is lovely). Overall, it had a Hallmark-Christmas-movie-kind-of vibe.

A fun short read.

In the run up to christmas, the Widows Club are determined to matchmake Rosalie and Everett. Will there be some Christmas magic?

Looking forward to the next book in this series.