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–Synopsis–

My Granny leaves me two things when she passes away: her dilapidated old inn and a letter encouraging me to have a Hallmark-worthy Christmas here in Woodfield.

But I’ve seen enough Hallmark movies to know this isn’t one. Because the inns in Hallmark movies? They don’t have squatters. The heroines of Hallmark movies? They never burn their gingerbread cookies. And even though all Hallmark films are about the joy of family, I’d rather stick my head in a snowbank than reconcile with my parents. Nope; Granny’s last requests are going to have to go unfulfilled.

And the town Santa Claus, who’s way younger and way more attractive than any Santa should be? He’s going to have to stop his flirting. Otherwise, I’ll never want to leave this place.

–Review–

I thoroughly enjoy discovering new authors as it is a whole new adventure in of itself. Being my first book from Gracie Ruth Mitchell, I enjoyed her writing particularly when forgiveness and grace was brought up, unfortunately, I wish I enjoyed the romance and the characters as much. This book follows Willow’s perspective the majority of the time, with chapters here and there in Nixon’s perspective. ‘No Room in the Inn’ is a Christmas themed contemporary romance that is bordering on Hallmark territory, and the book makes you very much aware of that fact.

The story starts off in St. Louis, Missouri where Willow thought she was beginning her professional career. We experience very little of this city, due to Willow getting the call about her grandma’s passing pretty early on in the book. Once she moves back to her childhood town in Vermont, we get to visit some places, but the story mainly sticks to private residences. There is a fun scene involving a Christmas parade that was coming down through town, along with another scene in which Willow, Nixon, Sarah and her daughter go caroling for the elderly neighbors. I will say, the book does a great job at making it feel like Christmas in any normal smaller town.

Unfortunately, I was not a big fan of the main characters in this book.

I thought Willow was a tad hypocritical with how she refused to really have anything to do with her parents due to them not supporting her dreams, however, when it is Granny trying to set her up with Nixon and push her into taking care of her out of commission BnB, Willow has virtually no problem with that. Speaking of her parents, out of all the books I have read where the MC has distanced themselves from their family, this book gave the weakest reasoning behind that. I understand that the promise was made that her parents would help with tuition, but that should not be an expectation. I understand her disappointment for sure, but I do not think she should have felt as betrayed as she did. Also, anytime she would throw a fit in the book, she would stomp her feet like an actual child, and I am not a fan of adults who act like this.

Willow did honestly have a good spirit when it came to trying to have that Hallmark Christmas. Even though, it seemed like she was ruining a bunch of the holiday activities like burning the cookies and not being a note in tune for Christmas caroling. Those moments were my favorite hands down to read as it gave her a healthy dose of humility and comedic relief.

Nixon was a bit of an interesting person himself. Due to his own unfortunate family circumstances, he decided to live with Willow’s grandmother helping taking care of her and the Inn. Nixon to a degree feels responsible for Granny’s death, which led to my favorite conversations to be had between him and Willow. I will say, right off the bat Nixon was pretty judgmental to Willow since he knew from Granny that she up and left all those years ago. Basically, he is great at making assumptions since he makes another one in the book that almost ruins everything due to his inability to ask questions. There were also many instances in which it felt as though he was guilt tripping Willow into keeping the Inn, even though he knew that she was thinking of a different path to take. For somebody who takes the time to entertain the kids by dressing as Santa every year, he was coming off as a bit selfish.

The romance between Willow and Nixon felt forced in my opinion. Ever since Willow read the letter from Granny about how she should have a Hallmark style Christmas and take care or “Mr. Nixon”, I could not shake the feeling that was Willow’s main reasoning behind getting close with Nixon. Fulfilling your grandma’s dying wish, is not a good reason to jump into a relationship with somebody, especially after you were just dumped. Also, both Willow and Nixon were a bit too focused on each other’s looks in my opinion. “Hot Santa” was written in the dialogue too many times to think otherwise. One scene that I did like was during the Christmas party and Nixon was getting jealous since Willow was paired up with another guy to be kissed under the mistletoe. This was actually the first kiss shared in the book, and it was quite enjoyable to read.

One aspect that threw me off a bit was how religious the story got seemingly out of nowhere. The majority of the story, I had no idea Willow was even spiritual until she started bringing up the whole forgiveness message with Nixon. Granted, the religious talk is not over the top, it just felt a bit disingenuous coming from Willow especially since it has taken her all this time to begin to forgive her own parents.

All in all, while I may not have been the biggest fan of this book, I do plan on reading more of Gracie’s works as they seem to have gotten some good praise. If you are interested in Christmas themed contemporary romances that you could easily read in a day, maybe check this one out.

-About the Author-

Gracie lives in a tiny town in Idaho, where she subsists on a diet of chocolate, romance novels, and kisses from her cute family. She may or may not have a cheesecake addiction, as well as an addiction to scribbling story ideas on whatever flat surfaces happen to be nearby. Romantic comedy in all forms is her passion.