This was not my favorite of the Viola Shipman books I have read. I felt I was being lectured in several parts of the book and that too much of the content was a seminar on dealing with grief. The story did have a fun premise however. Susan, a bookstore owner in Petoskey, Michigan, has just turned 40. Because of her family history, her destiny is to meet her perfect mate while he is dressed as Santa Clause. She meets a man at a marathon race and plans to meet him at the end but he doesn't show up. The next year is spent with her friends trying to find this perfect man and this makes for an enjoyable and entertaining story. I will continue to read Viola Shipman books and if you are a fan, I recommend you don't skip this one.

A heart warmer with a LOT of Christmas. Susan always believed that she, like her mother and grandmother before her, will marry a man she meets when he is dressed as Santa. That sets up a lot of men, most of whom aren't, well, appropriate. But then she meets a man at a Santa Run in Chicago and sparks fly. Or at least she thinks they did but he ghosts her from a meetup and she doesn't have his name. So of course her friends decide they're going to find him, which leads to a few smile worthy encounters until.....no spoilers. I liked this for the small Michigan community and how it pulls together for the holidays as well as for the fact that Susan owns a bookstore (yay!). And she's almost 40. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. Shipman has a good storytelling style and an ear for dialogue. It's a good read.

Viola Shipman’s latest novel is a wonderful heartwarming Christmas story. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this early release. To be published November 2022.

Book Title: A Wish for Winter
Author: Viola Shipman
Publisher: Harlequin Trade Publishing ~ Graydon House
Genre: Chick Lit/ Christmas
Pub Date: November15, 2022
My Rating: 4 Feel Good Stars

“Baby its cold Outside!”
The weather is mild here in SoCal for 350 days out of year. True we have some hot hot days in the summer and some colder days in winter. Well not winter yet but early November and we woke up to 59 degrees ~ yep colder than normal and perfect weather for a Christmas story🎄

I have read and love Viola Shipman's novels - and call myself a fan of Wade Rouse!
I read and enjoyed "The Secret of Snow" ~ which a story about the magic of snow🌟

In this story Susan Norcross, the manager of a family owned bookstore is approaching forty the same age her mother was when she died. Susan lost both her parents right before Christmas when she was fourteen.
Although losing her parent was extremely difficult, she was raised with love by her grandparents. Although Christmas brings back sad memories it also reminds her that her mother as well as her and grandma both met their future husbands when they were dressed up as Santa.
Might the same happen for Susan at the Santa Run? She is dressed as Mrs. Claus and meets a Santa at the race that created, he has no idea who he is or where to find him other than at the race,
Her BFF decides to help and posts a Social media search. Several men claim to be the man who talked to Mrs. Claus at that race. Hmm it is decided that Susan will go on a date with three of them.
Will Susan find her Santa?
We know that Susan has a saying ~ “
I’ll remain Happy and bright-
And I will believe in my Kringle
With all of my might.

There are several ‘feel good quotes in this story that I love:
“Faith is believing in things when Common sense tells you not to.”

Q: How does one make a wish come true? ~
A: By believing in others – But also believing in you.

One of the last feel good ~
Susan states she was always wishing for things that no one could give her as it was something she needed to gift to herself and finally she allowed herself – hope

I am not a big Chick Lt fan but I always love a good Christmas story.
The book doesn't end with this story but goes on . . . There is a bonus Christmas short story “A Sugarplum Christmas”
I always love the Author’s Note and Acknowledgments. In this case, A Personal Letter to Readers (A
must read!) There is also a great Reader’s Guide!

Another fun bonus with this story is that I how know Mrs. Santa’s first name!! It is either Gertrude or Jessica.

Note: As you probably already know Wade Rouse chose his grandmother’s name Viola Shipman as his pen name. He states he grew up with her in the Ozarks and her extraordinary life was filled with beauty, hope as well as tragedy and is his inspiration for so many of his stories.
Here is a link for more info.
https://waderouse.com/about/

Want to thank NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing ~ Graydon House for granted me this delightful early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for November 15, 2022

This book is the perfect holiday read and will be such a beautiful gift for readers of all ages. I want to visit Petoskey now. This is a love letter to bookstores and the beautiful state of Michigan. We are so thrilled that Wade will be joining us for a pre-launch event at our store. Lovely, heart-warming story and beautiful character development.

Thank you to Net Galley for the advanced copy of this book. What a great read. Viola Shipman has written a book that encompasses so many feelings that we have to deal with on a day to day basis. The most important aspect of this book is forgiveness of others and of oneself. This story altough multi generational, deals mostly with the main character in present time. Susan must after a very long time come to grips with her loss and find forgiveness for not only herself but all involved in the tragedy that changed her life as a child. While reading about the cute little bookshop in this book and the descriptions of Petosky in Northern Michigan, it really makes you want to go and visit this town. Although the storyline encompasses more than the Christmas season, this book embodies all of the emotions and feelings that go along with the Christmas season. It is a lovely story that is well worth the read.

⭐️⭐️⭐️
Viola Shipman’s latest novel A Wish For Christmas is a heartwarming novel that sets us up for the magic of the season, believing, and forgiveness.
Susan Norcross owns a book store. At age 40 she has been carrying a lot of guilt, grief, and sadness with her. She had as spent her entire life looking for her dreamy love story like her mother and grandmother had found. They both had met and fell in love with men who were dressed in Santa suits. Like all young girls wanting to find Mr. Right, she set her heart and mind to find Mr Krinkle Right.
She meets and feels a connection with a man during a Santa run. She didn’t catch his name. Story line goes from there looking for him. Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Pub. Grayson House for ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Four and a Half Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭒
A Wish for Winter by Viola Shipman is a pleasant and uplifting Christmas book that is perfect for the holiday season.

Story Recap:
Susan Norcross grew up with her grandparents after losing her parents in a car accident when she was fourteen years old. Her name, Susan is for the little girl in Miracle on 34th Street, the original with a young Natalie Wood. Her Grandparents always play the town’s Santa and Mrs. Clause, and they help her with the bookstore that she owns and manages. She lives in a small town on the coast of Lake Michigan, that is touristy in the summer and cold in the winter. The entire town believes that Susan’s destiny is to meet and marry a man in a Santa Suit, as this is how her mother met her father and her grandmother met her grandfather. But, Susan is almost forty and she hasn’t found a Santa yet.

When she meets a man at a 5k race in Chicago, who is wearing a Santa costume, her friends know that the man is destined to be Susan’s match. But, when he fails to meet them at their agreed-upon bar after the race, Susan realizes it wasn’t meant to be. She can’t contact him because she didn’t get his name, and he was in full Santa costume, so she would never even be able to recognize him. But, her friends make it their mission to find the guy in the Santa Suit. Will they find the right Santa?

My Thoughts:
A Wish for Winter is just the kind of book I enjoy reading during the Christmas holidays. It’s full of hope and kindness, and growth. The story is set in Michigan in a small town on the lake, and the story is certainly a love letter to Michigan as it is much more than just the setting in the story.

This is much less of a romance than a story about love, friendships, and family. I love that Susan loves to read and runs a bookstore. She has wonderful grandparents and friends that all contribute to this enjoyable story.

Recommendation:
I highly recommend A Wish for Winter for anyone who enjoys a holiday story. I received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Viola Shipman is another new-to-me author, and if this is a good example of her work, it won't be the last of her novels I read. What drew me to request an advance reader copy of this novel was the fact that her heroine, Susan Norcross, is a third generation bookstore owner, and her family is Christmas happy, in fact, all holidays at the bookstore are celebrated in style. I co-owned Booked Solid New and Used Books in the small town of Bradford, Vermont for 17 years, until I retired, and it was a lifelong dream come true. I've always been an avid reader, always loved libraries and bookstores, so the background of this novel, quite simply, called to me, and am I ever glad it did (reasons to follow), because it was a treasure of a read, and it gets 5 gold stars from this reader.

Susan lost her parents decades ago at Christmas-time to a drunk driver, who is still comatose, and from whom Susan is still waiting an apology. She was raised by her grandparents, who also helped run Sleigh by the Sea, in a small town in Michigan. Both Susan's parents and grandparents met each other while the men were dressed as Santa Claus. While in fourth grade, Susan wrote a prize-winning poem about someday finding her "Single Kringle." Now, at age 40, she still hasn't met him, and she's now at the same age her mother was when she died--something else I related to since I lost my own mom at age 43.

While on a Christmas 10K Santa charity run, while waiting for the event to start and dressed as Mrs. Claus, she meets another runner, dressed as Santa, and the two seem to connect immediately and plan to meet after the race at a local bar--but he never shows up, and they haven't even exchanged first names. Susan's best friend, Holly, is a social media professional, and she and bookstore employee and friend, Noah, decide to make her search for her Single Kringle go viral, and much to Susan's dismay, does it ever. There was a large number of men dressed as Santa at that race, and while giving some of the facts of that meeting Susan holds back one clue--her mom's Christmas angel pin, which the man she met noticed. So, do her friends manage to find him? No spoilers from this reader/reviewer.

But this novel is about far more than finding the love of her life--at its heart, it's about loss, grief, healing, and hope, and it's about family, it's about celebrating life, and it's about forgiveness, and it's told in such a way that it never really feels too preachy. Every single character in this novel has a lesson to teach, a message to get across to Susan, and a message for all of us, especially as the holidays approach--and I can't think of a recent novel that accomplishes it better than this one. It's truly a gem.

As stated, I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.

I'm kind of shocked this is the same author who wrote the adorable, quirky, thoroughly enjoyable Christmas novel "The Secret of Snow" last year. This book is so bloated and full of interminable, unnecessary scenes (why was that whole book signing toward the beginning with the mean author there?!) and descriptions of Michigan scenery that I found myself skipping entire sections at a time after a while. If a scene started with a description of the weather or the rocks or the water or the sky or a town street, I skipped to the next page with dialogue on it.

I can't believe who bored I was with this, particularly considering how great the first scene was. I actually laughed out loud at Susan's terrible first date, and it had me excited to read on. But then everything came to a grinding halt about 10% in and didn't pick up again until about the halfway mark, which is equivalent to almost 200 pages.

Themes of grief, forgiveness, hope, love and family abound in this sweet book by Viola Shipman. I've enjoyed several of this author's books and was looking forward to this one.

Susan Norcross lost her parents when she was fourteen. Their car was hit by a drunk driver. Susan was raised by her wonderful grandparents. Susan is now 40 years old, single, and runs the bookstore in a small town. She wants to meet her "Single Kringle" just like her parents and grandparents did and have a wonderful companion to share her life with. Both her mother and grandmother met men who were dressed as Santa Claus and married them and lived happily ever after. Susan wants that for herself.

This book was filled with a love of Christmas by Susan and her entire family. It's definitely an appropriate holiday read. Finding the "Single Kringle" was a fun journey. I did find the book kind of repetitive though and thought it could have been much shorter - but overall I enjoyed it and would recommend it as a light, Christmas read.

Thanks to Harlequin Trade Publishing, Graydon House through Netgalley for an advance copy. This book will be published on November 15, 2022.

Two generations of women in Susan’s family had the ultimate Christmas meet-cute: her grandmother and her mother both met their husbands when they were dressed as Santa Claus.
When Susan was very young, she even won a poetry contest for her poem about how she was going to meet her own “single Kringle” some day.
At 40, Susan just met a man at a Santa Run and felt an immediate connection to him. But she never saw his face, or got his name, and they missed their planned meet up after the run.
After Susan tells her friends and family about her missed connection with Santa they decide to help her track down her mystery man.

On the surface this sounds like a relatively light and fun story. But this story has a lot of sadness to it.
Susan actually lost her parents when she was only a young teenager. Her grandparents raised her.
Susan turned 40 this year and it’s hit her like a ton of bricks. Susan’s mom was 40 when she died and this particular anniversary is really emotionally devastating Susan.

Susan is also looking at her life with extra scrutiny. She feels like, while she doesn’t need a man to complete her, that she’d like to find the love of her life. But Susan is in a bit of a pickle because she also has to admit that she’s so afraid of losing someone she loves again that she’s never really let a man get close to her.

I think more than anything this book is about forgiveness. It’s about forgiving others but mostly about forgiving yourself. Susan has felt so responsible for her parents’ death that she’s practically been punishing herself over it.
Of course we want Susan to meet the love of her life but I also found myself hoping that she’d find a way to forgive herself. It felt like that was the most important goal.

I read an arc from NetGalley and I think it’s entirely possibly that maybe the finished copy trimmed down a bit of the beginning of the book, personally my only criticism is that it felt like the first half of the book was mostly sad and the second part was when the Santa search kicked in. It was a bit too sad for me to enjoy it as much as I had been expecting too. But I have absolutely no doubt that everybody who reads this will be rooting for Susan to find happiness and forgiveness.

I really enjoyed the setting of this book. The town, Petosky, felt like the perfect setting for a Christmas book. I loved reading more about the crucifix, the petosky stones and the blue ice too.

I have always believed in the magic of Christmas… From a little girl, to the grown woman I am now, I’ve always felt the magic in the air so to speak.
The author has done a wonderful job of weaving Christmas, Christmas traditions, past and present and family in this novel.

Loved the grandparents and I hope and pray that is my husband and me in years to come

Another beautiful, hopeful story from Viola Shipman.

However, in the midst of reading this story, in my head and heart I thought it was headed in another direction than the author lead it. So it's a bit disappointing to me how it plays out, but again that's just because I thought it would end differently.

Susan, a 40 year old bookseller, is looking to finally meet her "Single Kringle" - and find love the same way her parents and grandparents did. It's a cute story line, but dragged out a bit. Susan battles her feelings at the holidays after losing her parents at a young age. She just wishes for a Christmas the way it used to be - I'm sure a lot of us feel that way, so she was pretty relatable. The supporting characters are well developed and you can feel the small town community affection.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a temporary, digital ARC in return for my review.

This was a lovely story that takes place from one Christmas to the next. It’s a slow building story. It centers around Susan and her quest to find her Santa. It’s very descriptive.
It really made me want to visit Michigan. Her bookstore sounds perfect too. I really enjoyed this book
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy

Thank you to Netgalley for the Advanced Reader Copy. I absolutely LOVE Viola Shipman novels! A Wish for Winter is filled with family and friends, that are also family. Susan is searching for true love. Family tradition has the women meeting their true love while he is wearing a Santa hat. Chicago’s Santa run provides many men dressed as Santa. Over the next year with the help of her friends, Susan is trying to find the Santa that got away. Forgiveness is also a major piece in Susan’s heart. Can she forgive? Her Grandparents’ love and support are unconditional! Beautiful stories of the Crucifix in the bay and the history of Petoskey stones. The role independent Bookstores, such as McLean and Eakin in Petoskey, play in communities is immeasurable. Picking out just right books for occasions that match the reader. There is just so much to love about A Wish for Winter! A bonus novella, A Sugarplum Christmas, is included in this book. You will want to purchase this for gifts. To add to the love, Viola Shipman has merchandise with quotes from A Wish for Winter and previous novels on Violashipman.com

First time reading this author. I have to say it was great decision to read it.
Storyline is about Susan, who met during Santa Claus run in Chicago, he was dressed as a Santa Claus, she was dressed as a Mrs. Claus, they supposed to meet after run, but fate decided differently.
Her friends and family learn about this and do everything they can to help her find her Mr. Claus.
Wonderful storyline with amazing characters.

Thanks to Harlequin Trade Publishing, I was provided an ARC of A Wish For Winter by Viola Shipman via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
****Publishing November 15, 2022****

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ From the story to the characters to the setting, this book will get you in the Christmas mood with a heartwarming and entertaining story!

Susan Norcross is a bookstore owner in Petoskey, Michigan. Susan is single and in her 40’s. She is looking to uphold the family tradition in finding her husband while he is dressed up as Santa Claus. Her her mother and grandmother both found their husbands this way. Susan has suffered immeasurable loss of her parents who died In a car accident from a drunk driver. Therefore, holidays are especially hard. With the help of her friends, will she be able to find the love of her life or will she have to accept the fact her life is on a different path from her mother and grandmother? What will she discover in process?

I loved how Viola Shipman included references to movies, songs, authors, books, etc.. a wonderful addition to their Christmas novel.

Did you know this book includes a novella called A Sugar Plum Christmas? A heartwarming story that is centered around the Nutcracker Ballet and heirloom Nutcrackers.

This is a delightful heart-warming book that celebrates life, family, love, loss, books, friendship and Christmas! It is also a love letter to Michigan, bookstores and winter. ❤️

This maybe considered a holiday story,but it's so much more. Family, friendships and holiday magic. Makes you believe in the unprovable...I really enjoyed this story and highly recommend. Thank you to Net Galley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.