When Grace takes her sister’s place and marries Frederick, the Earl of Astley, she never dreams that she’d find the fairytale prince she’d always dreamed of.
My Review of The Mistletoe Countess
The Mistletoe Countess was a perfectly delightful read. Grace was quirky, fun, adventurous, and brave. She also had of faith and the ability to see the best in people. She was exactly what Frederick needed.
The Characters in The Mistletoe Countess
Frederick had had a hard childhood and had made some mistakes in his past, mistakes that he was still trying to recover from.
Grace was a breath of fresh air. She brought light into the darkest recesses of his heart and made him a better man…a true hero as Grace would say.
She also had a way of getting everyone around her to want to be better (all except her mother-in-law but she found a way to deal with her as well).
I liked watching these two characters find their way even as they unraveled a mystery that showed the darkest side of humanity.
The Themes in The Mistletoe Countess
Readers will be reminded that though there is darkness in the world, God has not left you alone to deal with it. He’s always with you and can redeem what seems hopelessly lost. God uses our trials to strengthen us and that’s a reason to celebrate.
The Mistletoe Countess will also remind you that God’s love is unfathomable and that there is no place we can go that His love will not surround us.
Final Thoughts on The Mistletoe Countess
This is the first book I’ve read by Pepper Basham but I’ll definitely be checking out more of her books. The Mistletoe Countess was well-written and had great characters. I spent much of this book with a grin on my face because I just wanted to see what Grace was up to next.
I received an advanced reader’s copy from the publisher through NetGalley; a positive review was not required.
About The Mistletoe Countess
Will the magic of Christmas bring these two newlyweds closer together, or will the ghosts of the past lead them into a destructive discovery from which not even a Dickens’s Christmas can save them?
Mistletoe is beautiful and dangerous, much like the woman from Lord Frederick’s Percy’s past, so when he turns over a new leaf and arranges to marry for his estate, instead of his heart, he never expects the wrong bride to be the right choice.
Gracelynn Ferguson never expected to take her elder sister’s place as a Christmas bride, but when she’s thrust into the choice, she will trust in her faithful novels and overactive imagination to help her not only win Frederick’s heart but also to solve the murder mystery of Havensbrook Hall before the ghosts from Frederick’s past ruin her fairytale future.
About Pepper Basham
Pepper Basham is an award-winning author who writes romance peppered with grace and humor with a southern Appalachian flair. Her books have garnered recognition in the Grace Awards, Inpsys, and the ACFW Carol Awards, with The Thorn Healer selected as a 2018 finalist in the RT awards. Both her contemporary and historical romance novels consistently receive high ratings from Romantic Times, with Just the Way You Are as a Top Pick. Most recently she’s introduced readers to Bath, UK through her novellas, Second Impressions and Jane by the Book, and taken readers into the exciting world of WW2 espionage in her novella, Façade. The second novel in The Pleasant Gap series, When You Look at Me, arrives in October and her contribution to Barbour’s wonderful My Heart Belongs series hits the shelves in January 2019 with My Heart Belongs in the Blue Ridge. Her books are seasoned with her Appalachian heritage and love for family. She currently resides in the lovely mountains of Asheville, NC where she is the mom of five great kids, a speech-pathologist to about fifty more, and a lover of chocolate, jazz, hats, and Jesus.
You can get to know Pepper on her website, www.pepperdbasham.com, on Facebook, Instagram, or over at her group blog, The Writer’s Alley.