Friday, September 16, 2016

My Bookshelf: God Bless Us Every One by Eva Marie Everson

Charlene Dixon—called Charlie by family and friends—is devastated at the recent loss of her job. For the last five years, the twenty-seven-year-old has blossomed as the activities director of an exclusive all-girls school. But when a misunderstanding with the headmistress leads to a pink slip right before the holidays, Charlie packs up her dreams and returns to her grandmother, Sis, who raised Charlie as her own in the mountains of North Carolina.
When Charlie arrives—broken and confused—Sis immediately puts her granddaughter to work behind the scenes of the local school’s Christmas play, A Christmas Carol. Charlie doesn’t always like working with Dustin Kennedy, the drama teacher, but Sis encourages her to take a deeper look at why the book by Charles Dickens had been written in the first place and what it could teach Charlie about the needs of people in their own community.


God Bless Us Every One is the first book I’ve ever read by Eva Marie Everson, and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed this cute little novella very much, especially since it was set at Christmastime. I loved how there were excerpts of A Christmas Carol at the beginning of each chapter, as it was super cute and it really tied together that whole theme of the story. Christmas is my favorite time of year, and I absolutely love Charles Dickens, so that made this story all that much more lovable to me.
Charlene—Charlie—Dixon is a wonderful character who seems to be doing well despite her somewhat troubled past, until the loss of her job sends her back home to her Grandmother, whom she calls Sis. Though she loves her hometown, the surprising return of two people from her past—one loved, the other unforgiven—turns her already spinning world upside down. It will take the help of her grandma, a few old friends, and an old Charles Dickens novel to help Charlie see just what life—and Christmas—is all about.
All in all, I really enjoyed this novella, although there were just a couple of things that bothered me about it. Charlie’s story with Dustin developed just a bit too quickly for me, while the rest of the book moved somewhat slowly. I know there’s only so much you can put into a novella, but I just wish where would have been a little bit more going on. Other than that though, I really enjoyed this story and am looking forward to reading more of Eva’s novels in the future!
Happy reading!


I received a copy of this book through the Litfuse Publicity Group in exchange for only my honest review.

To see where I’m linking up, check out my Where I Party page.

All credit for the italicized synopsis goes to Eva Marie Everson and Abingdon Press.

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