Mary Kay Andrews | The Santa Suit

The Book:

The Santa Suit by Mary Kay Andrews

Published September 28, 2021 by St. Martin’s Press
Date read: September 21, 2021

The Characters:

Ivy
Ezra
Phoebe

The Plot (from Goodreads):

When newly-divorced Ivy Perkins buys an old farmhouse sight unseen, she is definitely looking for a change in her life. The Four Roses, as the farmhouse is called, is a labor of love—but Ivy didn’t bargain on just how much labor. The previous family left so much furniture and so much junk, that it’s a full-time job sorting through all of it.

At the top of a closet, Ivy finds an old Santa suit—beautifully made and decades old. In the pocket of a suit she finds a note written in a childish hand: it’s from a little girl who has one Christmas wish, and that is for her father to return home from the war. This discovery sets Ivy off on a mission. Who wrote the note? Did the man ever come home? What mysteries did the Rose family hold?

Ivy’s quest brings her into the community, at a time when all she wanted to do was be left alone and nurse her wounds. But the magic of Christmas makes miracles happen, and Ivy just might find more than she ever thought possible: a welcoming town, a family reunited, a mystery solved, and a second chance at love.

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The Review:

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Santa Suit combined so many of my favorite things: a home improvement project, a small town, a hunky handyman, some amazing friendships, and of course Christmas! It was the perfect short read to get me excited for the holiday season–I know it’s early, but I have a handful of Christmas ARCs to read in the coming weeks.

Tarburton seems like an adorable town, and certainly was a great setting for this book. The town loves Christmas, and the house Ivy bought happened to be the former home of the town’s beloved Mr. and Mrs. Claus. She’s a little bah humbug in the beginning, but quickly falls in love with Tarburton’s charms and the magic of Christmas.

There’s a little mystery that comes up when Ivy finds a letter to Santa from another time. She’s determined to figure out who it belonged to and whether she got her Christmas wish. The ending comes together in the sweetest way imaginable, and I wished this was a full-length novel instead of just a novella!