Happily This Christmas by Susan Mallery

Happily This Christmas by Susan Mallery

Published by Harlequin ISBN 9781335448958

Hardcover,  $28.99, 352 pages

I was introduced last year to Susan Mallery's delightful new series, Happily, Inc. in Meant to Be Yours. The books are set in the wedding destination town of Happily, Inc., California where we meet the various citizens of the town, many of whom work in the wedding business.

In the newest novel, Happily This Christmas, single mom Wynn has a terrific thirteen year-old son and owns her own thriving printing business. She has lots of good friends, but no man in her life. When her handsome police officer neighbor Garrick comes over and asks for assistance decorating his home for the arrival of his pregnant 21 year-old daughter, Wynn thinks this might be her way to get to know him better.

Both Wynn and Garrick had their children when they were young. Wynn was on her own with her son, and Garrick is divorced from his wife, who remarried and now has three young sons with her new husband. 

Garrick's daughter Joylyn is not happy coming to see her father, they have been somewhat estranged, much to Garrick's dismay. Joylyn's husband is away overseas on active military duty, not due home until close to the baby's due date right after Christmas. She also feels that her own mother is abandoning her.

Wynn takes a reluctant Joylyn under her wing, introducing her to the women in her ladies' weekly lunch group, and Wynn's son likes having someone closer to his own age like Joylyn around. Garrick wants to take this chance to get to reconnect with his daughter, to be as close they used to be when she was just a liitle girl.

I really enjoyed my visit back to Happily, Inc. and watching Wynn and Garrick's relationship move in an exciting new direction. The Christmas setting is wonderful, and this being a wedding destination town, there is a wedding to plan. 

After reading the last two books in the series, I immediately ordered the first two books so I could get to know all of the characters from the beginning. Reading this series is like catching up with old friends, and if you are a fan of Hallmark's Christmas movies, the Happily, Inc. books are for you. I highly recommend Happily This Christmas to help get you in the holiday spirit, and don't we all need that now? (And the cover looks so festive you could use it as holiday decoration.)

My review of Meant To Be Yours is here. 

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Harlequin Holiday Blog Tour. 

 

Meant To Be Yours by Susan Mallery

Meant To Be Yours  by Susan Mallery
Published by Harlequin ISBN 978-1335041494
Mass market paperback, $8.99, 464 pages

Author Susan Mallery takes readers to the town of Happily Inc, a destination wedding town in Southern California created in the 1950s by a banker who had seven daughters. By the time the 2000s rolled along, thousands of happy couples, from royalty to Hollywood celebrities and average Americans, have flocked there for the wedding of their dreams.

The town's commerce revolves around weddings, and in her fifth book in the series, Meant To Be Yours, wedding planner Renee Grothen is so busy planning the nearly 75 weddings a year for the company she works for, Weddings Out Of The Box, that she has no time for a personal life.

Renee has not been lucky in love- her first love broke up with her, and then she had a relationship with (unbeknownst to her) a married man. So when famous thriller author and former military police officer Jasper Dembreski takes her home from game night at the local bar, they agree that their hookup is strictly about sex. (You don't have to wait long for a hot explicit sex scene in this story.)

 Jasper decides that he wants to introduce a female love interest for his series detective, so he goes to Renee and asks her if he can shadow her for research. He has decided that the female character will be a wedding planner, and a serial killer will be stalking weddings in his next book.

Renee thinks this is a bad idea, but the owner of the company likes the suggestion, as do a happy couple planning their wedding who are fans of Jasper's books. So Jasper will be learning about wedding planning from Renee, but she has strict rules that he will not interfere or insinuate himself into the process. She takes her responsibility to make couples weddings special, and will not tolerate anything that disrupts that.

I so enjoyed my first trip to Happily Inc and Meant To Be Yours! Even though it is the fifth book in the series, I didn't feel lost not knowing any of the secondary characters. I was able to jump right in and follow the story. (That being said, I liked this book so much that I will read the rest of the series in order.)

Having gone through my son's wedding last year, I was drawn to the wedding planner aspect of the story; I liked learning about all the details that go into the process. And the theme weddings- Scottish, Star Trek, and even an apple-themed wedding- were so intriguing.

Reading about Jasper's writing process was interesting too, and the scene where he took Renee to the library because that is where he spent a great deal of time in school was so sweet.

I highly recommend Meant To Be Yours for anyone who likes a good contemporary romance, it's a great way to wile away a rainy Sunday. You'll feel like you met a new group of friends, and you'll want to visit them again in other Happily Inc books.

Visit Susan Mallery's website here for more info on Happily Inc- there's lots of fun stuff there, including a map of the town and character introductions.

Thanks to Harlequin for inviting me to be a part of their Romance & Women's Fiction blog tour, and providing me with an egalley for an honest review.