Melissa Tagg rounds off her Enchanted Christmas collection with "One Enchanted Noël," about the final Renwycke sibling, Leigh--a woman who has made a lot of mistakes and knows everyone, including her own daughter, is just waiting for the next relapse. When Seb Pierce applied to his grandfather for a loan, he didn't expect a year of month-long jobs revitalizing businesses in exchange for an inheritance rather than a loan. His latest job takes him to Maple Valley, IA where he is in charge of renovating the town's movie theater and preparing a reopening event in less than three weeks. The short turnaround time is a shock, but even more so the sight of Leigh, a woman he met years ago--even if she doesn't remember him. Leigh's desire to become an event planner gets her hired on for the opening event of the theater, and she's thrilled for a chance to start over with someone who doesn't know every detail of her sordid past. But starting over may not be as easy as she hoped when she learns the truth about Seb.It's nice to see Leigh make progress in her life. After so many self-inflicted problems, she's finally on the right path. If only people would trust her to keep on it. I can understand her frustration that every time some little thing goes wrong, everyone--especially her own family--assumes she's on the verge of a relapse. In spite of the heavy details about Leigh's past, I'm impressed by the author's ability to maintain her characteristic humor, while not lessening the impact of Leigh's choices.
I enjoy how the author ties together these stories with her Walker Family ones--not that the Walkers play much a role, but if a new thing appears in a Walker book, it frequently makes an appearance here--such as the horse ranch that is being revitalized in All This Time, just in time for some Maple Valley Christmas shenanigans in this one.
With the conclusion of the Enchanted Christmas Collection, could this be the very last Maple Valley story? I hope not! The quirky town has easily become one of my favorite fictional places.
Enchanted Christmas Collection (now together in the omnibus Enchanted: A Christmas Collection)
1. One Enchanted Christmas
2. One Enchanted Eve
3. One Enchanted Noël
Related Series: Walker Family
0.5: "Three Little Words"
1. From the Start
2. Like Never Before
3. Keep Holding On
3.5 "A Maple Valley Romance" (published in Right Where We Belong collection of small-town novellas)
4. All This Time
Maple Valley Romance
1. Now and Then and Always
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