4.5 Hoots

I will admit, the cute little skunk on the cover really caught my interest (her name is Lucy by the way) but it was Verity that kept my interest. Verity was about to go to a family Christmas dinner with her fiancé but his mother decided to try and ruin that for her. Just when Verity decides to stay home and call it a night, one of her ghostly friends come to visit and sets her on a path that can literally change her future. I don’t want to give too much away but let’s just say that there is an animal that she is trying to rescue, a gangster ghost from the 20s, and 3 ghosts that are related to her fiancé.

This was a very sweet cozy mystery. Verity was a sweet character and even though this was book 8.5 I didn’t feel like I was lost. Fox did a fantastic job catching you up on who everyone was and how they got to where they are. I mean, wow her future mother in law really did try to ruin her life before. Oh and I also got to find out the background on how she ended up with a pet skunk. It also helped you really get a feel for who Verity was, a smart and kind person. Her kindness is also what leads her to an old mill which is on her fiancé’s family property trying to save a sow and her babies. That is when she runs into the ghosts that help get Verity back on track. Just like in the original Dicken’s classic these ghosts end up representing the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future.

Overall, this was a very sweet and wholesome cozy mystery. The author did a fantastic job creating her characters and making them feel like you could jump off the page. I loved the way each ghost manifested and how they each had an important message to share with her. Verity was a bit stubborn at first, but I really liked that about her. What I found to be interesting is that her stubbornness was making her character seem a little cold which is not how she started, but of course that was kind of the point. Another thing that I loved about the book was her ghost friend Frankie! He had a hard exterior but really was a softie inside. He seriously was one of the highlights of this book.

I was hoping that this book would leave me feeling the Christmas spirit and it really did accomplish that goal! There was not a moment where you didn’t get a reminder that it was the holidays. You were shown the Christmas parties of past and present. And most of all you were reminded that kindness and family really matter. The ending was incredibly sweet and I think I will need to check out the rest of this series!