Spend Christmas in Michigan with Viola Shipman

by Susan Roberts

Viola Shipman is a fantastic author who writes books that take place in my home state of Michigan. Since he didn't publish a Christmas this year, now is a great time to catch up.  Here are three of his books that celebrate the holidays (and the cold weather and snow). Plus a couple of bonus Christmas stories are featured at the end if you need a short, quick read.

If you need more recommendations check out our other 25 Days of Christmas Reading features.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. 

The Wishing Bridge  

Once the hottest mergers and acquisitions executive in the company, Henrietta Wegner can see the ambitious and impossibly young up-and-comers gunning for her job. When Henri’s boss makes it clear she’ll be starting the New Year unemployed unless she can close a big deal before the holidays, Henri impulsively tells him that she can convince her aging parents to sell Wegner’s—their iconic Frankenmuth, Michigan, Christmas store—to a massive, soulless corporation. It’s the kind of deal cool, corporate Henri has built her career on.

Home for the holidays has typically meant a perfunctory twenty-four-hour visit for Henri, then back to Detroit as fast as her car will drive her. So turning up at the Wegner’s offices in early December raises some eyebrows: from her delighted, if puzzled, parents to her suspicious brother and curious childhood friends. But as Henri fields impatient texts from her boss while reconnecting with the magic of the store and warmth of her hometown, what sounded great in the boardroom begins to lose its luster in real life. She’s running out of time to pull the trigger on what could be the greatest success of her career…or the most awkward family holiday of her life. (Goodreads)

This is a great book -- there's a little romance, a little magic, and lots of love between family members.  It's a book about forgiveness - not only of other people but learning to forgive yourself for wrong decisions.  It's a book about love and family and the magic of Christmas. It's a Christmas book that you don't want to miss. Read my review.

Buy The Wishing Bridge at Amazon

A Wish for Winter  

Despite losing her parents in a tragic accident just before her fourteenth Christmas, Susan Norcross has had it better than most, with loving grandparents to raise her and a gang of quirky, devoted friends to support her. Now a successful bookstore owner in a tight-knit Michigan lakeside community, Susan is facing down forty—the same age as her mother when she died—and she can’t help but see everything she hasn’t achieved, including finding a love match of her own. To add to the pressure, everyone in her small town believes it’s Susan’s destiny to meet and marry a man dressed as Santa, just like her mother and grandmother before her. So it seems cosmically unfair that the man she makes an instant connection with at an annual Santa Run is lost in the crowd before she can get his name.

What follows is Susan and her friends’ hilarious and heartwarming search for the mystery Santa—covering twelve months of social media snafus, authors behaving badly and dating fails—as well as a poignant look at family, friendship, and what defines a well-lived and well-loved life. (Goodreads)

This was a fun book to read.  Not only was it set in beautiful Petoskey but it was a book about a bookstore and about a woman who loved to read.  Susan's grandparents were fantastic characters and her best friend and bookstore employees were all hilarious as they tried to help Susan find her Santa.  This is a heartwarming story about love, friendship, family and the beauty and magic of the Christmas season. Read my review.

Buy A Wish for Winter at Amazon

(Kindle Unlimited subscribers can read the ebook for free)

The Secret of Snow

Sonny Dunes, a SoCal meteorologist who knows only sunshine and seventy-two-degree days, is being replaced by an AI meteorologist, which the youthful station manager reasons "will never age, gain weight or renegotiate its contract." The only station willing to give the fifty-year-old another shot is one in a famously nontropical place—her northern Michigan hometown.

Unearthing her carefully laid California roots, Sonny returns home and reacclimates to the painfully long, dark winters dominated by a Michigan phenomenon known as lake-effect snow. But beyond the complete physical shock to her system, she's also forced to confront her past: her new boss, a former journalism classmate and mortal frenemy; more keenly, the death of a younger sister who loved the snow; and the mother who caused Sonny to leave.

To distract herself from the unwelcome memories, Sonny decides to throw herself headfirst into all things winter to woo viewers and reclaim her success. From sledding and ice fishing to skiing and winter festivals, the merrymaking culminates with the town’s famed Winter Ice Sculpture Contest. Running the events is a widowed father and chamber of commerce director, whose genuine love of Michigan, winter and Sonny just might thaw her heart and restart her life in a way she never could have predicted. (Goodreads)

I have read and loved all of Viola Shipman's books but this one is my new favorite. The main character is a mature woman of 50, all of the characters are very believable and remind me of people that I've known in my life and of course, the beautiful setting in snowy, cold Michigan in a town that I love. This is the perfect book to read wrapped up in a warm blanket with a cup of tea! Read my review.

Buy The Secret of Snow at Amazon

Christmas in Tinsel Tree Village

Neve Ford, once the queen of Christmas, no longer loves the holidays. While she once reveled in the magic of the first snow of the season and her collection of heirloom decorations, they now serve as reminders of the husband she lost too soon. With so many painful memories haunting her small Michigan hometown, Neve moved away and never looked back. Now working in Chicago, and a social media star thanks to her spectacular Christmas windows, Neve’s sole focus is creating crowd-drawing displays—and ignoring the pleading letters her grandmother continues to send from home. But then her job unexpectedly takes her back to Michigan to curate displays for a Christmas festival. An expert at avoiding her past, Neve plans to slip in and get gone…until word of her return leaks out. The walls Neve built around her heart may be strong, but with some unexpected help from the community, Neve will learn that she can’t outrun family bonds—or the promise of hope that only Christmas can give. (Goodreads)

Buy Christmas in Tinsel Tree Village at Amazon

A Sugarplum Christmas

The only festive thing about Debbie Hutchins is her online persona, the Sugarplum Fairy. The whimsical screen name is a front for her holiday buying worn-out decorations from estate sales and reselling them online at a steep markup. As a child, Debbie treasured her personal collection of holiday trinkets—especially her nutcrackers. Encouraged by her grandmother, Debbie’s passion for The Nutcracker grew into dreams for a future as colorful and fantastical as the ballet. But when her grandmother passed away, Debbie’s days of dreaming abruptly came to an end. When she unexpectedly comes across a large collection of authentic vintage nutcrackers, Debbie can’t sell them soon enough. Until she finds a note tucked among the collection, written from a great-grandmother to her great-grandson. As nostalgic memories of her own grandmother flood back, Debbie’s new holiday mission is to reunite the heirlooms with their rightful owner. Helping a grieving family will be challenging, but the process just might help Debbie rediscover the Christmas dreamer that still thrives inside her. (Goodreads)

Buy A Sugarplum Christmas at Amazon

Susan Roberts grew up in Michigan but loves the laid-back life at her home in the Piedmont area of North Carolina where she is two hours from the beach to the east and the mountains in the west.  She reads almost anything but her favorite genres are Southern Fiction and Historical Fiction.  You can connect with her on Facebook.

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