Synopsis:
Rachel Rinehart’s Christmas season is on the brink of disaster when her record label suddenly drops her, threatening to end her music career. Then she receives a mysterious Christmas card, and everything starts to change….
Inside the card are lyrics to a classic Christmas carol urging her to return home to Crystal Falls, the snowy mountain town she left behind 15 years ago.
Once she arrives in Crystal Falls, a stroke of fate brings her face-to-face with her first love, Matt Meyers, who’s now a devoted single dad. Rachel continues to receive mysterious cards filled with Christmas carol lyrics and clues she must follow—all leading her back to Matt. Is it the work of a hometown matchmaker, or could it be Christmas magic? And will the music and majesty of the season help Rachel discover where she truly belongs?
Review:
This was a pretty fun and short festive audiobook that is sure to brighten your day. It’s only a couple of hours long, so the character development is slightly lacking, but it’s set in a cute small town and what more do you need at Christmas?
As mentioned above, the characters don’t really go through a ton of development because there just wasn’t time for it. But our main character Rachel does have quite the change of heart and I expect nothing less in a Christmas novel.
The premise was super fun and I loved all of the little clues pertaining to classic Christmas carols. I genuinely didn’t guess who was sending Rachel the cards, so that made the story much more entertaining. The reveal was a little meh though. Didn’t make too much sense to me, especially as it seemed like the love interest’s wife died purely so he and Rachel could reconnect. I don’t think this plotline was handled too well and seemed very rushed.
As with most full-cast audiobooks, the narration was very well done and I enjoyed the musical parts. I did have to lower my listening speed so they didn’t sound distorted though. I’m a high-speed listener because I lose concentration otherwise, so this was a little annoying, but I don’t mind if it’s for music.
If you’re looking for a short festive read, Once Upon A Christmas Carol is a pretty good one. It was an enjoyable read and the musical sections were lovely.
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