Evergreen Tidings from the Baumgartners by Gretchen Anthony @granthony ~ a @harlequinbooks Review

by Susan Roberts

This is a humorous look at the strong matriarch who views her family as perfect and wants to make sure that the rest of the world is aware of their perfection. Each section is tied together by the Christmas letter that she wrote that year - boasting of all of the achievements of her husband and daughter and their perfect lives. As the novel begins, she is planning her husband's retirement party with only the best food to impress their guests. Due to a surprise announcement at the party, Violet's world comes tumbling down around her. She knows that there is no way that the shock of finding out that her unmarried daughter is both pregnant and a lesbian will allow her to keep up the facade of her perfect life. So she decides that she will take over control of her daughter's life and pregnancy so that she can be the best grandmother in the world and make everyone else envious of her again.
Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

October 2018; Park Row; 978-0778308416
audio, ebook, print (368 pages)
humor, holiday

Full of humor, emotion and surprises at every turn, Evergreen Tidings from the Baumgartners brings to life a remarkable cast of quirky, deeply human characters who must learn to adapt to the unconventional, or else risk losing one another. This is the story of a family falling to pieces--and the unexpected way they put it all back together.

Even though Violet would be an easy person to dislike - and I have known some 'Violets' in my life - I thought she was funny and emotional and really cared about her family. Unfortunately, she cared more about what the world thought of her family which was an unhealthy situation. I enjoyed the quirky interesting characters in this book and the way that they handled Violet as their mom, wife or best friend.

This was an impressive debut novel and I'm anxious to see what Gretchen Anthony comes up with for her next novel.

Buy Evergreen Tidings from the Baumgartners at Amazon

About the Author

Gretchen Anthony is a Minnesota-based writer and humorist whose work has been featured on scarymommy.com, medium.com, and thewritelife.com. She’s also spent decades as a ghostwriter and has written for some of the best personal brands in the United States, from CEOs to doctors and start-up superstars to BBQ pros. Evergreen Tidings from the Baumgartners is her first novel.

Connect with Gretchen
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Susan Roberts lives in North Carolina when she isn't traveling. She and her husband enjoy traveling, gardening and spending time with their family and friends. She reads almost anything (and the piles of books in her house prove that) but her favorite genres are Southern fiction, women's fiction, and thrillers. Susan is a top 1% Goodreads Reviewer. You can connect with Susan on Facebook, Goodreads,  or Twitter.

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