Better Watch Out
by Christina Freeburn
If you want a sweet, Christmasy read, then choose another book. In Christina Freeburn’s Better Watch Out, Merry is the main character; her business is handcrafting. As she specializes in Christmas items, her focus as well as the town’s is the same. The town is even named Season’s Greetings. With several murders and embezzlement happening in their town, lots of people are feeling more Grinchy and Scroogey than normal. Even the parishioners of Harmony Baptist are displaying a very mean spirit.
Better Watch Out has a complicated plot. Merry tries to do the right things, but just makes situations more convoluted. She is also dealing with personal issues. Possibly her divorce from her second ex-husband was not finalized. She is still sorting through feelings for her first ex-husband, the father of her grown children. Lottery money is at stake, and trust and friendship fall victim to greed.
I should have liked her guinea pig, Ebenezer, but he just seems to be a squeaky irritation rather than the rescue from loneliness that Merry desires. My favorite part of the book is the ending with a resolution worthy of people with good intents.
I would like to extend my thanks to Edelweiss and to Henery Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: #2 in the Merry and Bright Handcrafted Mystery Series
Publication: October 15, 2019—Henery Press
Memorable Lines:
Now, I felt like I was in a snow globe. Every time the world settled, it got shook up and all the pieces swirled around and all I could do was remain frozen until everything settled back down.
I was thankful the pastor didn’t follow me inside, though his words had come with me, shoving out the Christmas joy from my heart. Nope. I wasn’t going to let it happen. No one would put a damper on my happiness of spending the morning teaching my mom and her friends a new craft.
The first year after a loss was gut-wrenching. It was hard enough to remember to breathe, trying to celebrate something—anything—could make you feel like your lungs were being crushed.
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A good review. I felt it is too Christmas.
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It does seem like overkill with the proper names.
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Cover looks too cute! Like a card.
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Yes, it reflects the author’s and the main character’s interest in all things crafty. I think it is intended to be a homemade greeting card.
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I love the Christmas names of the characters! Thanks for your review!
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Thanks for reading. I think people either love or hate the Christmasy names. They are a little extreme for my taste, but that didn’t affect my enjoyment of the book.
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Nice, honest review Linda. I read the first one in this series and enjoyed it. It sounds like this one was not as good. I think I have it on my kindle, but ran out of time for Christmas stories this year.
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I liked the first one better than this one, but it is an OK read. Maybe you can do a “Christmas in July” event.
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I snagged this from Edelweiss because of your review for the first one in the series, but I still haven’t gotten around to it. Would it be better to start with the first one? Great review!
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Good question. I went back and reread my review of the first one to refresh my memory and get an answer for you. I think you could read this one as a standalone, but I really liked the first one so much more that I encourage you to read it first. Everything seemed better to me–plot and characters especially. I have just downloaded the latest in the series (July publication date) from Edelweiss–Dash Away All. It will be a while before it comes up in my queue. I am curious to see how it compares in interest to the first two.
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Thank you for letting me know. I’ve gone ahead and grabbed a copy of the first one—it’ll be interesting to compare them. I love the publishing schedule for cozy series. The first one came out last January, and if I don’t hurry up, I’ll already be three books behind!
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🤪😂
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