The Mistletoe Countess by Pepper D. Basham Review

Happy Monday Friends :)

I hope you all had a great weekend, and that you're looking forward to the week ahead.

I actually ended up spending the majority of my weekend in my house as we're going through another heatwave, and I just didn't feel like dealing with it.

Because of this, I was actually able to finish 3 books over the course of the weekend, and today I'm excited to share my review of one of those books with you all.

It may seem funny to have been reading a Christmas book during a heatwave, but it worked for me, and I'm here to tell you all about it.

The Mistletoe Countess by Pepper D. Basham:

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Publication Date: September 1st, 2021

Publisher: Barbour Fiction

Genre: Christian Fiction/Historical Fiction/Christmas Read

Synopsis:

Will the magic of Christmas bring these two newlyweds closer together, or will the ghosts of the past lead them into a destructive discovery from which not even a Dickens’s Christmas can save them?

Mistletoe is beautiful and dangerous, much like the woman from Lord Frederick’s Percy’s past, so when he turns over a new leaf and arranges to marry for his estate, instead of his heart, he never expects the wrong bride to be the right choice. Gracelynn Ferguson never expected to take her elder sister’s place as a Christmas bride, but when she’s thrust into the choice, she will trust in her faithful novels and overactive imagination to help her not only win Frederick’s heart but also to solve the murder mystery of Havensbrook Hall before the ghosts from Frederick’s past ruin her fairytale future.

(synopsis from goodreads)

My Review:

I'm going to be honest and say that The Mistletoe Countess did not end up being what I expected, and this ended up being both a good thing and a bad thing. 

First off, I absolutely adored both of the main characters. Grace has to be one of my all time favorite protagonists, and I found myself rooting for her oddities and rather strange ideals over and over again. She definitely meets her match in Lord Frederick Percy, and I loved how much their friendship grows over the course of the story, and how they are both concerned with not abusing their power, and staying true to what God has asked of them.

The faith content is effortlessly breathed into each and every portion of the story, and it never comes across as inauthentic or out of place. Both Grace and Frederick have to truly come to terms with what it means to follow Jesus wholeheartedly, and their faith journey was one of my favorite parts of the story. I always appreciate when a book character is a fellow book lover, and I loved reading all the bookish tidbits that are scattered throughout the entirety of the story. One of my favorite parts of all had to be the library scene that was heavily reminiscent of my all time favorite scene in Beauty and the Beast.

Pepper Basham is the type of author who knows how to make her readers laugh and cry, and knows how to take them to places they never could have seen coming. The Mistletoe Countess ends up being a lot more than a simple historical romance as it quickly turns into a murder mystery with a dastardly plot that will have both Grace and Frederick scrambling to put together all the pieces.

Everything weaves together beautifully, and this story ended up being so much more than what I initially expected when I picked it up. However, there was one negative side to this as well. I can't wrap up my review without commenting on the plethora of sexualized content that rounds out this otherwise beautiful story, and I was definitely a tad turned off by it. Nothing is super graphic or explicit, but it plays a large part of the story, and it just seemed really out of place to have conversations of faith followed by many, many conversations about lust and desire and the like. I was definitely thankful that none of these type of situations occur between the mains before they are married, but I wasn't a fan and would have enjoyed the story much more without them.

Still a pretty amazing story though, and one that I will be recommending. I just advise that if you're uncomfortable reading that kind of content, then this book might not be for you.

Final Rating: 4/5.

Thanks so much to Barbour for allowing me to advance read and review this!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary advance reader copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks so much for reading guys! Have a great rest of your day :)