Holiday REVIEW- A Christmas Wish for Love - Mariah Lynne

Title: A Christmas Wish for Love
Author: Mariah Lynne
Genre: Holiday Romance
Publisher: World Castle Publishing LLC
Release Date: Oct 2, 2023
Format: Kindle
Pages: 159
Source: Amazon

Have you ever had a holiday cookie that came with a set of instructions? You’re about to.

In this sweet, heart-warming holiday romance, a precocious twelve-year-old named Luci, short for Lucia, never met her mom because she died giving birth. Her dad, a Florida Gulf Coast Island veterinarian, loved his late wife so much that he does not date or look at any other woman even though women are attracted to him. He still wears his wedding ring and, every Saturday night, shares a box of her mom’s memories, hoping to keep her alive in Luci’s heart.

Luci’s elderly Swedish next-door neighbor Meta loves Luci like an adopted granddaughter. When Luci’s dad gets called in for an emergency on her birthday which happens to be Saint Lucia’s Day, Luci and her dog Chester visit Meta.

Meta gives Luci a surprise birthday gift as she leaves to take home and open later with her dad. Then the holiday magic begins.

A CHRISTMAS WISH FOR LOVE is an enchanting and inspiring story you will want to share with others!

Reviewed by Linda Tonis

Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team

A sweet Christmas romance is always a welcome treat, and this was an especially sweet treat because it was the result of a Swedish Wishing Cookie.

Lucia aka Luci with and i as she insists everyone knows and not Lucy with a y. It is her thirteenth birthday another birthday without her mom who died at childbirth. Since her mom’s death her father, Dr. Kyle Mathews has never dated or removed his wedding ring but devoted his life to his daughter and the animals in his care. Luci loves her father and wants him to be happy, but this day is her birthday celebration, her dad, pizza and pink cupcakes.

When her birthday is interrupted by an emergency at his office Luci and her precious dog Chester take a walk next door to Meta’s house, a woman she considers a grandmother. She arrives to find 82-year-old Meta covered in flour looking like a snowman so after Luci decorates the tree, she and Meta take a break for some milk and cookies. Before leaving Meta hands Luci two huge cookies, Swedish Wishing Cookies and explains how they must be broken for a wish to come true.

Luci’s cookie breaks as it is supposed to into three pieces which she quickly eats, her father’s cookie just crumbles. She wishes for her father to be happy again and find love and when she is visited by her mom’s spirit encouraging her to help her dad find love, she can see her mom for the first time since her birth.

Miraculous things happen to lead Luci to a new neighbor, Sage Domano, the new Librarian and a woman Luci likes. Sage has also lost someone she loved, her fiancé killed in Afghanistan and like Kyle the loss is never far from her mind. With help from Luci, she, her father and Chester spend time with Sage, her dad always has a smile on his face and for the first time has taken his wedding ring off.

Everything is pointing to a new future for Luci with her dad and Sage being part of it until guilt and a feeling of betrayal threatens to end that future early. Two people who suffered great loss have a chance at a new beginning, but the past is hard to put behind them. It will take a spirit and a thirteen-year-old to help them grab happiness.

HEA Christmas stories are the perfect solution to the craziness the world is going through and a welcome respite from it. Luci is the most amazing thirteen-year-old and Sage and Kyle are two people with the capacity to love and love deeply they just need to realize that finding a new love does not mean you are abandoning your old love, a love that will always live in your heart but a new love that will live in your life.