Christmas in Dogtown by Suzanne Johnson

Hello to all,

                  After the ephemeral first snow,  i'm already in the Christmas spirit, i want magic, feelings and happiness so i will share with you my first review of this month. For several challenges i've entered, the topic of this month is Holidays books and holidays romances, i haven't read a lot of them yet so it will be a discovery and my main focus for now. Today i will share with you my opinion on a small enovella, written by an author you know now that i absolutely adore: Suzanne Johnson.

Happy Reading!

Publisher: Story Vault

Publication: 2012

ISBN:  0373277210

Genre: paranormal romance, Christmas,
Violence: none
Language: normal
sex: none
Public: 16+

Source: received in exchange for an honest opinion

Short description from goodreads :

 A woman who spent years escaping her rural past learns that Dogtown, Louisiana, hides more family secrets than just the recipe for boudin blanc.

Resa Madere’s on the verge of losing it all. The boyfriend’s gone. The job’s history. Her beloved house is on the brink of foreclosure. She’ll do anything to save it--even spend a long Christmas holiday working in St. James Parish, Louisiana, helping her uncle run the family meat business. But the community of Dogtown, which has been home for seven generations of the Madere and Caillou families, has deep roots and deeper secrets. For Resa, going home is one thing. Getting out might not be so easy

My opinion:

          Magical! Such a loving, touching well written novella. It’s really perfect to read it around Christmas but it’s not a necessity to enjoy the universe and atmosphere. I was emotionally drawn to Resa and her wish for freedom and independence and in the same time it’s not really what she is wishing for.

At first, we discover a young woman who isn’t happy with her life, and whose perspectives aren’t good either socially or financially but she is also loyal to her family.  When her uncle asks for her help because he is ill, she accept to go back to a place she tried so strongly to leave. Dogtown is for her synonym of failure.

Worse as soon as she arrives, her family is speaking of the boy, now become man, they always hoped she would marry.  After hearing it so often even as a child, Resa can’t accept to imagine Chan as a potential mate. It’s not possible.

However, when tradition and family are at stake she must face a choice and decide what is really important for her.

I’m not that fond of imposed traditions, obligations and I can see why Resa is fed up with the simple evocation of the boy she grew up with. For her, it’s a friend nothing more simply because as a child she did not try to find something more and then they parted ways. Now she is even fighting the idea of giving him a chance because she is afraid of what others will think, the pressure is so high that she is forgetting her own desire. This novella is not about fated marriage but about acceptance and trust and first love. Her family is ready to stop the tradition, loose their ancestral advantages if means to save Resa’ s happiness, Chan is ready to keep secret everything to let her free to make her choice and for me those actions speak volume of the love they have for her. Sometimes or even often we are searching for something that has been under our nose all along. For tradition to keep living you must accept them, embrace them and it’s something that can’t be done under pressure or obligation

It’s really a beautifully written short story, set in an area the author loves and knows so well that it transpires between the words. A magical story about love and faith that made my eyes filled with tears of emotion.

Score:  5/5

Source: a copy in exchange for an honest review, no other compensation was received.

Challenges:

This book enter in the Romance and Me Challenge