The Mistletoe Mystery | Nita Prose
REVIEWED BY LINDA HILL
As Molly’s favourite season of Christmas approaches, she notices the love of her life, Juan Manuel, is saying his usual caring and romantic things, but is acting very strangely. With whispering in their apartment block corridors, as well as in the hotel where they both work, Molly wonders just what secrets Juan Miguel is keeping.
The Mistletoe Mystery: book review & synopsis
What a lovely story. The Mistletoe Mystery may be a novella, but it embodies a world of reality between its pages.
Molly is a unique character who frequently takes things literally and therefore becomes completely befuddled when faced with what appears to be duplicitous behaviour from Juan Manuel.
Her anxieties and her self-doubt, wondering why Juan Manuel might love her and not, perhaps, their beautiful blonde neighbour, feels acutely accurate in its depiction. Anyone who has ever lain awake in the middle of the night worrying over ‘What ifs’ – and let’s be honest, who hasn’t? – will find themselves identifying with Molly’s worries and insecurities.
As the story is told in the first person, it feels as if Molly is confiding in us personally and there’s a greater intensity to her emotions as a result. I confess I may have shed a small tear at the end of the book.
A touch of Christmas magic…
There’s such a warm and beautifully depicted feeling of Christmas magic in the narrative. Traditional elements like advent calendars, trees and carols, with more modern concepts like Secret Santa gifts, draw the reader into the story. I loved the little aphorisms that often come from Molly’s much loved and much missed gran. They feel like little jewels of comfort and joy for the reader.
But it is the themes of this warm and human tale that are the most affecting. Trust, friendship, love and the true meaning of belonging are brilliantly illustrated. There’s total pleasure in going on Molly’s journey with her as she discovers just what Juan Manuel has been doing. Of course, you’ll need to read The Mistletoe Mystery for yourself to find out exactly what that is. It isn’t hard to guess, and this is one of the delights of the story. The reader is one step ahead of Molly, making her experiences all the more affecting.
The Mistletoe Mystery would make a lovely gift to be enjoyed this Christmas because it sparkles with Christmas imagery, is filled with love and warmth, and leaves the reader with a sigh of complete contentment at the end. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Mistletoe Mystery by Nita Prose is out now (HarperCollins, HB, £9.99) and available from Amazon.
Read more fiction reviews by Linda Hill including Edith Holler by Edward Carey, The Black Loch by Peter May, Rewitched by Lucy Jane Wood, Small Bomb At Dimperley by Lissa Evans, The Book Swap by Tessa Bickers, Scandalous Women by Gill Paul and Island In The Sun by Katie Fforde.
